Krakow 2026

This is the apartment we stayed in. It was around a 15 minute walk from Old Town. It was small but nice. The sofa pulled out into a bed where Jackson slept.

 

Europe Extravaganza 2026–Day 7

 We didn’t get out the door in time this morning, so we missed our train to Bratislava, Slovakia. We were able to purchase new tickets and even upgraded to first class which had sooo much more leg room and wider seats. It was worth the extra cost. 

By the time we arrived in Bratislava, instead of having a few hours to check out the city as we’d planned, we had three minutes to find and run to our next train. We felt like experts at train stations by now, so we were confident we could do it. Well, we hadn’t come across the Slovakian train system before and were unprepared for it’s ridiculousness. In the other countries we’ve been to, we just looked down the departures board until we found the information that matched our tickets: departure time, train operator (company), and train number. Once we matched the info, we would see the platform number we needed to go to catch our train. EASY!

Well, in Slovakia they only show the departure times and the trains’ final destinations. I’m not sure why they think foreigners will know their trains’ final destinations if they aren’t going there. PLUS some cities are called something different here than they are in the U.S. For instance, we needed to take a train to Breclav, Czechia, but the train’s final destination was Praha (known to us who are from the U.S. as Prague). Um, how exactly were we supposed to know any of that?! So obviously, we missed our NEXT train too.

After attempting to speak to several people at the train station, but being unable find anyone who spoke English (another first for us on this trip), we were able to purchase new tickets to Krakow. Yay! Things were looking up until the train we were to catch arrived 20 minutes late due to mechanics, then lost another 25 minutes due to construction on the tracks. 

We finally made it to Breclav, Czechia, but our connecting train had left long before we got there. So, after a looong day of missing trains, I was unwilling to rebook our tickets for tonight with 2 additional stops before Krakow, and decided to stay in Breclav tonight and start out refreshed in the morning.

Europe Extravaganza 2026–Day 1

 Jackson and I are all smiles at the San Francisco airport, where Judy Mollo was kind enough to drop us off for our flight to Copenhagen, Denmark.

On the plane, Jackson decides he will perfect his “sinister” look while on this trip, so there is a common theme in most photos of him. 😁

Norwegian Krumkake

 

• Traditionally made at Christmas time.  
• Must contain cardamom to be considered Norwegian.

INGREDIENTS

SCALE

• 2 ¼ cup of sifted all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoon cornstarch
• ¾ teaspoon crushed cardamom
• 6 eggs
• 6 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 tablespoon melted butter, but not hot 

---

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add flour, sugar, cornstarch, and cardamom to large bowl. Mix well.
2. In smaller bowl, beat eggs and then add cream, vanilla, and butter. Mix well
3. Add liquid mixture into dry mixture and combined until a smooth peanut butter like consistency
4. Preheat krumkake maker (set between 4 and 5)
5. Each Krumkake will require about 1 ½ tablespoons of batter. Add batter to your Krumkake maker and cook until golden brown. For my tool, this is about 2 minutes.
6. Remove with fork and use Krumkake tool to form into cone before it cools down
7. Allow grill to heat back up, repeat until batter is gone
8. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Fill with whipped cream and fruit. Eat! 

Makes approximately 30 krumkake

Our House Is Sold!

Thanks to our house looking so great and the housing market being so crazy right now, we found a buyer within a few days.  It closed escrow in only 21 days, so just a little over a month after putting our house on the market, it was sold, we had moved out, and the new owners had moved in.  So fast!

On the day we moved out, Jackson and Tera still had a week of school left in the school year and Jackson had over a week left in his Little League season, so we stayed at the campground nearest to Davis, which is in West Sacramento, and drove them back and forth.

I am happy to say that a family bought our house.  The husband works for Morgan Stanley, the wife is beginning her medical residency, and they have a four year old child.


Family Reactions to Moving

Matt:  Relief and excitement.  He couldn't wait to leave Davis.

Jackson:  Not sad.  Ready to move on to something new.

Tera:  Sad, because she will miss her friends.

Judi:  Sad, but excited.. sad...looking forward to new adventures...tear-eyed, sad, and nervous...and I'll miss my friends...but relieved.

Our Davis Home Goes On the Market

Today is a bitter-sweet day for me. We put our home for the last 12 years on the market today. We are moving on to bigger, better things: traveling around the U.S. for several months and then relocating near Santa Cruz, CA. We're excited to live near the beach and coastal mountains, and nearer to the many family members that live in the Bay Area.

But it's hard leaving the only home that Jackson and Tera have ever known.  They came home to this house after they were born, and their hand and foot prints are in the cement by the playhouse that Matt built for them, and we have celebrate many birthdays and holidays here.  It is also difficult to move several hours away from our many wonderful friends that we now consider family. *wipes tear*

 Living Room

 Jackson hanging out in the living room

Kitchen

 Kitchen

Desk in kitchen

 Master Bedroom

 Hall Bathroom

 Hall Bathroom

Jackson's Bedroom

Jackson's Bedroom

Tera's Bedroom

Tera-isms

These are a few cute/funny things Tera says:

oatmilk = oatmeal

peckeroni = pepperoni

Uncle Judy = Aunt Judy

dunk my head = duck my head

Tera's First Work Of Art

Notice that Tera's first work of art was done in the same medium as Jackson's first work of art.  :)

Play Ball!

Jackson and I were just shooting baskets with his myriad of balls, when he noticed one was dented in on one side. He pointed to the dent and said, "Uh-oh!". I told him, "It's okay! We just need to put more air into it." After which he put his mouth on the ball and blew on it, then proudly stated, "I fixed it!"

Jackson and Tera

The first "conversation" Jackson had with Tera was while she was crying in the car (she does NOT like riding in the car). As we pulled into our driveway, Jackson said, "Don't cry, Baby! We home! It's fun!" It was pretty touching how he was trying to console her. Before that moment, the only thing he ever said to her was, "Hi, Baby!"

For the first 4 months of Tera's life, Jackson insisted on calling her "Baby" or "My Baby", but NEVER Tera. Finally, he will now call her Tera about 25% of the time. By the way, his friends have called her Baby Tera since day 1 . . .

Halloween 2010

Ashley, Jackson, Allie, Tera, and Grandma

      Jackson the Giraffe

Tera the Ladybug

Our 1st Pumpkin Patch of 2010

Here are adorable pictures from the Impossible Acres pumpkin patch:

Mom Brain, Newborn Version

Today, after I picked up Tera's birth certificate at the County Health Building, I drove behind a car going 45 mph in a 55 mph zone for several miles, and saw numerous cars pass it before it occurred to me that I could pass the slow car too. Also, I sat at a four way stop for several seconds waiting for the light to change. I'm like a walking/driving blonde joke! :-S I have several other examples of stupid things I've done while sleep-deprived, but I'm too tired to remember them . . .

Peach Berry Crisp Recipe

Our playgroup made this at our latest dinner made easy playdate (at Michelle's house). It has a lot of sugar and butter in the crust, and that's probably what makes it taste sooo good!

INGREDIENTS:
3 1/2 cups chopped peaches
1 cup fresh blackberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press half of mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle peaches and berries over crust. Sprinkle remaining crumble mixture over the top.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Jackson's Actions @ 2 Years Old

Talking: 
Mama = Grandma 
Papa = Grandpa 
Oggie = Ashley Ollie & Aw-ye = Allie 
pop pops = candy 
mote = remote 
paint = the action of drawing or painting 
cracker = crackers or cereal 
marney = money or Barney 
baw ball = baseball or basketball 
doggy = Lucky (our dog) 
baby = Tera or any other baby 
my baby = Tera 
toot-toot (usually said while pumping arm up and down) = train 
pack-pack = backpack 
fruck & *uck = truck 

Doing: 
When Jackson gets hurt, he comes to me, shows me the "boo-boo", and sadly says "kiss". After I kiss his boo-boo, he smiles and excitedly says "Is beddr!" (translation: It's better!). 

Jackson likes to fill a muffin tin with water, then hold it out to people and offer them a "cookie". Then we, Jackson included, pretend to take a cookie out of the muffin tin and eat it. 

He loves to give Tera hugs and kisses. Unfortunately we have to discourage the hugging, because they involve him laying on poor Tera and squeezing her.

Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party

This year, we celebrated Jackson's and Ashley's birthdays at Micke Grove Park in Lodi. It was a simple party, but nice and fun. We had a huge picnic lunch, sang "Happy Birthday" to Jackson and Ashley, ate cake, opened presents, then went to the amusement park. Trains are one of the many things that Jackson is into right now, so he was thrilled that our picnic site was close to the train tracks. Every time a train went by he would pump his arm and yell, "Toot! Toot!"

We thought Jackson would be excited about going on the rides at the amusement park, since he enjoyed them so much at the Yolo County Fair this year, but he wanted nothing to do with them. He must have been quite tired by then, because he fell asleep as soon as we started driving home.

Cake Time: Jackson had a Thomas the Tank Engine cupcake and Ashley had a Snow White cupcake.

Quality Time With Grandma and Grandpa:

Kissing Boo-Boos

Here's the latest totally adorable thing that Jackson does: His grandma (Chris) taught him about how kisses help boo-boos feel better, and they kissed each others boo-boos. Over the next few days it evolved to Jackson kissing all of our boo-boos, and having us kiss all of his boo-boos. Now he's cut out the middleman and he kisses his own boo-boos.
:-)

The Arrival of Tera Nicole Medeiros

All Friday night, I had contractions that were just painful enough to keep me awake and annoyed. I assumed they were just Braxton-Hicks (false labor), so I drank tons of water and kept changing positions but nothing helped. They finally just went away at about 4 AM on Saturday morning.

Around 9 AM on Saturday, the contractions came back, but again, I assumed they were just Braxton-Hicks. Matt, Jackson, and I went out to breakfast at Crepeville and walked around the Farmers' Market. On the way home (around 11:30 AM), I decided that since my contractions seemed to be getting more painful, I should start writing down the time when each one started. At 1:30 PM, they were about 20 minutes apart and getting a bit more painful (like menstrual cramps), so I called the ob-gyn on call. She basically said not to worry about it unless they get about 5 minutes apart.

At 6:30 PM, my contractions were still about 10 minutes apart, but a little more painful, and I didn't want to spend another night awake with contractions so I called the ob-gyn again. She said to go to the birthing center and they would check me out. I threw some necessities in my hospital bag and brought it with me just in case.

By the time Matt, Jackson, and I got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors, my contractions were varying from 3-8 minutes and were VERY painful (like the worst menstrual cramps EVER). The nurse said it would only take about 20 minutes to have me on the monitors and make a decision about whether to send me home or do a c-section, so Matt and Jackson went to wander around and I was to call them when I was ready to go (we assumed I would be sent home). Finally, and hour and a half later (at 9 PM), I was told that since I couldn't talk through my contractions they were going to schedule a c-section for 10 PM that night.

Aunt Judy came and hung out with Jackson (who fell asleep and missed all of the excitement) at the hospital, while Matt came into the operating room with me. Everything went quickly and smoothly.

Tera Nicole Medeiros was born at 10:52 PM on July 17, 2010. She weighed 5 pounds 15.4 ounces, and was 18 inches long. She was perfectly healthy, with a full head of jet black hair.

Happy Boy

How do you make a teething toddler THIS happy?

First, on a hot day, let him run around in the backyard with one shoe on. Then let him get soaking wet playing with a hose and playing in a wading pool. Invite his cousins over to play and get wet too. Finally, hand him a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting (or ice cream, as he calls frosting).

Bliss!

Solano County Fair 2010

Just like last year, Jackson's favorite activity was playing in the corn box.





He and his cousins, Ashley and Allie, played there for about 45 minutes. Judy and I enjoyed sitting in the shade and chatting while they played, so I guess it was our favorite activity too! :-)

Future artists

I wasn't allowed on any of the rides because I'm pregnant (not even the kiddie rides, duh!), and the carousel was the only ride that Jackson was tall enough to go on. Luckily, Grandma was willing to go on the carousel with him so he wouldn't totally miss out!