Our house is 1450 square feet, built in 1950, with four bedrooms and two baths. The kitchen was remodeled with new cabinets, granite counters, and a commercial-grade gas stove. The front and back yards are professionally landscaped and maintained. The back yard has a large lawn with plenty of space for kids to play, outdoor toys, a tool shed, and a barbecue. There is a queen-size bed in the master bedroom, two twin beds in our daughters' room, and a twin trundle bed in the guest room. The house is kid-friendly, with plenty of toys and books for kids up to elementary school age. Some of the other amenities include a 40" HDTV, TiVo, DVD player, home stereo, DSL internet connection, washer/dryer, and a Yamaha U1 upright piano.

Our house is located in Mountain View, CA, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Mountain View is 40 miles south of San Francisco and 15 miles north of San Jose. Our house is located in a quaint, older part of the city, called Cuesta Park. Downtown Mountain View is just a few blocks away, and offers a wide variety of amenities, including Asian, Italian, Mexican and Middle Eastern restaurants, bars, and cafes. There are several city and county parks nearby that offer beautiful hiking trails and recreational activities.

Mountain View is very accessible by public transportation. Our house is located a mile away from the Mountain View transit center. From there, you can take Caltrain (www.caltrain.com) to San Francisco (40 minutes), Palo Alto (10 minutes), San Jose (20 minutes), and many other cities in between. Caltrain can also take you to and from the San Francisco and San Jose airports. The 22 and 522 buses are three blocks away, and provide service every 7 minutes to Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and San Jose. The VTA light rail provides service every 15 minutes to North Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and North San Jose. If you're going to San Francisco, another option is to drive to Millbrae and take BART into the City. If you would like to rent a car, there is an Avis office three blocks away. You're also welcome to use our bicycle and trailer.

Destinations

Here are some popular destinations, along with approximate driving time from our house:

San Francisco - 45 minutes
Palo Alto, Stanford University - 15 minutes
Downtown San Jose - 20 minutes
Santa Cruz - 45 minutes
Monterey - 90 minutes
Napa, wine country - 2 hours
Mendocino, Fort Bragg - 3 hours
Hearst Castle - 3 hours
Lake Tahoe - 4 hours
Yosemite - 5 hours
Santa Barbara - 5 hours
Los Angeles - 6 hours

Unfortunately we can't stay in a house that has a cat, because our daughter has severe allergies.

We're available for long exchanges during the following dates in 2013-2014: Aug. 1-19 2013, Nov. 23 - Dec. 1, Dec. 21 - Jan. 6 2014, Feb. 15-23, April 5-13, June 7 - Aug. 20. We're also available for weekend getaways to other parts of California year-round.

We're pretty open-minded about destinations. We're particularly interested in places that are rich in history and the arts. We enjoy the outdoors, and like visiting places that have beautiful views and hiking trails, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Banff and Hawaii. We also welcome opportunities to see other parts of California. Feel free to contact us even if you don't see your location in our listing.

We are couple with two daughters, 9 and 6 years old. Boris is a software engineer. Terri loves her job as a stay-at-home mom. Boris is a part-time keyboard player who regularly plays in local jazz, funk and Brazilian bands. Terri enjoys hiking, gardening and going to the theater.

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