Stories Under the Stars

Last night the three of us went to a potluck dinner at Bella's pre-school. Bella attends the Los Altos Parent Preschool every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 11:30am. Bella LOVES school and a huge bonus is that her cousin Lauren is in her class. Lauren's older sister Jordan is a graduate of LAPP and now attends kindergarten.

Bella 'smiles' while roaming around the grounds of LAPP.


Bella and Jordan share secrets under the slide on the playground.


Bella and Lauren smile with their teacher: "Teacher Jean" - whom they both LOVE!


Bella and Lauren sit together on the grass and listen to stories as the sun goes down.

A Ravencliff Reunion

Last weekend Mark, Icha and Bella went to visit Anne Marie, Andy, Lilly and Lucas! Anne Marie (or Oompa) and Mark (or Slug) met 18 years ago at YMCA Camp Ravencliff in Redway, Ca. Soon Bella and Lilly will be heading off to camp together!

Bella shows off a ballet move while playing soccer with Lilly.


Bella and Lilly get ready for dinner.


Sign of getting old: a kids table is present at the bbq!


Bella loved getting dressed up!


Anne Marie smiles with little Lucas.


Bella and Lilly say goodbye... more playdates coming soon!

Sunday Morning in America

Bella and Mark had a great Sunday morning today.... with 4 of the neccessary things for a happy morning present in the Murnane household this morning... there were smiles all around.

What are those four things?

1) Cup of Peet's coffee
2) A happy child
3) Great game on the big screen!

and..

4) Maple donuts... (not shown)



On top of it all.... Man U won giving Rio F a clean sheet and the win.... adding 6.50 points to Mark's (thus far) pathetic EPL fantasy team.

An Honest Days Work

Mark's new job as a kindergarten teacher is off to a great start. Mark is currently teaching the little ones at Bullis-Purrissma Full Day Kindergarten in Los Altos Hills, California. Bullis-P is a part of the Los Altos School district... generally regarded as one of (if not the) best districts in the entire state. Mark has 18 kids in his class, and much like JIS, many of them come from different countries and speak two languages. Bullis-P is a very, very small school of only 98 students placed into 5 full day kindergarten classes. In fact there are only 8 full time employees at our school! Each teacher has an aide for 2 or 3 hours per day and we have a part time English Language Learner (ELL) teacher, librarian and school psychologist. While most kindergarten classes in California are half day, we are in the 3rd year of a three year pilot program to assess whether or not the school board wishes to move to full day for all the kindergarten classes in the district. This decision will be made sometime in the coming months.

Come on into room 4... making the world a better place one day at a time.


Mr. Murnane proudly shows off his student's work.


The room 4 student library.


Icha and Bella are regular after hours visitors to Mark's classroom. Bella loves to play 'Franklin' on the computer.


The Bullis-P playground. Check out the clear blue sky!


Bullis-P is a very, very good school. Great teachers, great kids and great parents. JIS does have much more 'support' in terms of aides, specialists, resources, custodians, maintenance etc. Those of you back in Jakarta... appreciate what you have: it doesn't get much (if any) better!

For more information you can check out:

http://www.losaltos.k12.ca.us/
OR
http://www.bullisschool.org/Bullis-Purissima%20Elementary%20School.html

The First Day of School

Today was Bella's First Day of School at her new pre-school! This morning Bella and Icha had their first day together at Los Altos Parent Preschool (LAPP). Bella will attend 'school' every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 to 11:30am. As LAPP is a cooperative preschool, Icha will be working at least once every other week as a 'parent worker.'

Bella smiles with her mommy and daddy on her big day.


Bella began the day by making her own placemat!


Bella checks out the paints at LAPP.


Hanging out on the monkey bars.


Fun with the drums... this is one toy that we will NOT have at home!

A Weekend of Fun

We just got back from a weekend in the mountains and at the sea! On Friday we headed out to Big Basin State Park. We camped out amongst the redwoods for two nights. Saturday morning we drove over to Santa Cruz for some fun at the ever enjoyable "Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk." On Saturday afternoon Michele (Mark's sister) and her two kids (Jordan and Lauren) came over for a visit. More info and pics about their visit on the Murnane Family blog.

Icha and Bella fool around while Mark sets up the tent.


Bella gets up bright and early.


Fun on the boardwalk!


Bella rides a 'roller coaster' for the first time.


Don't be fooled by their smiles... Bella and Icha were devastated the 'Deep Fried Twinkie' stand was closed.


Back at the campsite... Mark and Bella fire up a gourmet meal.

World's Greatest Sandwich?

Can a sandwich actually have TOO much corned beef? The answer is, surprisingly, yes.

In his continous quest to find the world's greatest sandwich, Mark visited the world famous Carnegie Deli in New York City just over month ago. Although it was early (11:30am) on a Saturday, the place was packed... and for good reason. The food was very, very good.

Carnegie Deli -- located at 854 7th avenue in the heart of NYC's theater district.


YES - that is a sandwich!


Not a bad way to kill a few hours...


The review: all in all a very, very good meal... but not quite great. While the meat was fresh it lacked world class flavor. Portions were ridculously huge... and at times it felt like I was eating a bowl of beef - not neccesarily a bad thing. While some die hard New Yorkers may disagree but I believe a truly great sandwich includes more than just a pound of beef and 8 slabs of cheese.

3.5 stars out of 5.