La Quinta, California: Passover and Spring Break coincided this year. We enjoyed a fun and busy week - and never left the walls of this country club. So much exercise (golf, walking, jogging, bicycling and swimming) and so much food. I cooked several Kosher-for-Passover meals a day. One night, sushi was delivered.
I made two quarts of home-made ice cream for the kids. One afternoon, Lisa made strawberry milkshakes and drizzled chocolate syrup on the sides of glasses. Leo is 9; Lucile is 6.
Rose 
Future olive?
Lucy and I made a few visits to the garden/orchard on the southwest side of the house to inspect the hummingbird nest. The birds have flown the coop. The baby hummingbirds were as large as the mom last week, so I guess she decided enough was enough. Poor lady - every time we looked out the window, she was hovering over her two babies, feeding them. There are so many roses blooming in the garden now. The bushes have no tags, so I can't tell you their varieties. They are just pretty. The tiny buds on the olive tree are mignola, but will rarely produce fruit. Our olive trees are the "non-producing" type, but there were a dozen-or-so olives on the trees last July.
Rose 
Future orange!
Our orange tree is loaded with beautiful fragrant blossoms, and the bees are very busy. Maybe we will get some fruit?
This was the situation most days. Lots of pool time. The temperatures were in the 90's all week.
Our beautiful family!
Lisa cut my hair! My last cut was 20 February 2020 - two days before we went on the cruise to Mexico. She cut her dad's hair as well. Someone raised that girl right!
It was a great week with Leo and Lucile. They are set to return part-time to actual physical school on the 19th of April. They read a bit every day and did worksheets this week. During the Seder, Leo (3rd grade) read his portion of the Haggadah without missing a word. His reading has dramatically improved over the past few months.
Mostly, they were in the pool. Leo went golfing three times with Dave and Lenny. A few evenings, we watched movies. I cannot recommend Godzilla v Kong (HBO Max), but the special effects were impressive. CGI, I believe it is called? Dave and I finally saw Frozen II, (Disney+). Always good - great animation and music.
Red (Dave's college roommate) and Marcia stopped-by for a social-distanced outdoor cocktail one evening. (Marcia snapped the photo of our family.) More and more of our friends are now vaccinated (as are we - and Lisa & Lenny), and we feel more confident venturing outside our home/neighborhood (wearing masks, of course). Monday, I am going to the grocer for the first time since October!
Speaking of vaccinations... protect your card! Don't laminate it though, get this CDC Vaccination Card Protector.
The house will seem so quiet and empty now. Insert sad face here.
Until my next update, I remain, your resting correspondent.
Beautiful family picture!!
Very nice haircut, good style !
Like the idea for the vaccine card….I’ll order for us.
No restaurant eating yet?
No restaurants yet. It’s been 13 months. Thinking of having a beer on the outdoor terrace at our golf course after a round soon. Maybe.
Since you are the queen of all things food and kitchen. What brand of vacuum sealer to you have/recommend? I keep a lot of food on hand as well as always trying to save and use every little bit of excess, but my Zip Lock habit doesn’t seem to be all that efficient. It would appear the FoodSaver brand is pretty popular, and it is going to be on sale at Costco in a few days. However, do I really need the top of the line with five different applications? Thanks.
I have a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, and use it so often, it is always out on the counter. Though I have tried the accessories, they just don’t keep a seal for me and are difficult to open (for my old hands). Get the most basic system, but be careful as the “space saver” version (the one we keep in the RV) is only capable of sealing 8-inch bags, while the standard sealers can seal up to 12-inch bags. FoodSaver bags are ridiculously expensive, but good quality sealer bags – made by other companies – are available at amazon at very reasonable prices. Even Seal-a-Meal bags work well.
I bought an inexpensive food saver, it works only when the food is dry.
I am also thinking of getting the Costco model so it will seal wet items.
If you are sealing wet things for the freezer, put the food in the sealer bag, clip it closed and freeze. When solid – seal.
Thank you Terry. You have validated my intuitions and will go with the full-sized FoodSaver brand.
I have two vacuum sealers, one in my RV and one in my home and everything Terry said is true. I put my wet foods in the bag, clip them and stand them up in a loaf pan to keep them upright and freeze them and then seal them. If something has some liquid but not too much, I put the end to seal in the machine, lock it down and hang the bag off the counter and seal it while gravity does it’s work, too. Otherwise, you need to leave a LOT of header so it will seal before the liquid reaches the top and I hate to waste the bags. The kids are getting big and their hair is getting so dark. I miss the blonde curls. Your entire family looks happy and healthy.