Chicken legs, roasted potatoes, asparagus and the best chicken soup and matzah balls ever made on vacation. That was our seder dinner tonight. Served poolside at our ultra-cool Palm Springs vacation getaway, we wore our casual clothes and enjoyed the laid back vibe. Nothing could be finer.

(If you are wondering how I got that cool soft-focus on the above shot, it was not intentional. Just a dirty lens.)

Ella and Ben led the way with songs and prayers learned at school. Maddy and LA were pleased with the brevity of the service. And Linda is just easy going when she’s on vacation.

We ended with the hunt for the Afikoman which Ben reminded us was a Greek word meaning “dessert”. In exchange for finding the Afikoman, the kids were all rewarded with a trip to Ben and Jerry’s down on Palm Canyon Drive for dessert. Walking the strip in the warm evening, savouring our ice creams, I realized yet again how much I love Palm Springs.

Have I mentioned that in this post yet? I was loving Palm Springs today. I took a nice ( 25 km) bike ride this morning, swam, went to a small botanical garden, went shopping at a Toys’R'us in Rancho Mirage, swam again, then sat and fried in the sun. All before the seder.

Rounding it all off was a few dozen pages of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Finally, after several attempts and 150 pages, I was deeply into it. More on that later.