Anne Francisco!

A couple of weekends ago I got to spend a gleeful, joyful, exhilarating extended weekend in San Francisco with my best friend, Anne. And then I got back and got woefully behind on my weeks, catchup and documenting. Fear not. I have WAY to many photos to post now.

And being that we LITERALLY DID EVERYTHING in Anne Francisco, I asked my beautiful tour guide to give me a synopsis. Here's our weekend+ in Anne's words...

Soooo here is a run-down of our amazing weekend in San Francisco!!

Wednesday – arrival day.
I picked you up at the Oakland airport

We drove across the Bay Bridge to my home in San Fran!

We walked around the neighborhood and went to dinner at Nopalito (yum)

Thursday – city day!!

Walked to Zazie in Cole Valley
(Had an amazing latte)

Enjoyed the Mexican eggs with the garlic potatoes
Took the N-Line (Muni) to Powell Station
Shopped a bit
Walked up to Nob Hill and went to the Fairmont,
where we crashed a luncheon and took pictures from the Crown Room 

 



 Hiked up to Lombard Street and took pictures

 


Walked down to Ghirardelli Square the along Fisherman’s Wharf
Hopped on a Trolley (Muni) to the Ferry Building 
 Had a tasty lunch, nicest waiter, tasty sandwiches, aggressive pigeons.



Walked to Embarcadero Station and caught the N-Line home
Relaxed for a bit, refreshed ourselves for an evening out 
Caught the N-Line back to downtown. Got off at Montgomery Station 
Walked to catch the 8x to North Beach
Got off at Green

Walked to Soto Marre and had a killer dinner of cioppino
Were greeted with a glass of wine because there was a slight wait
(Awesome family run joint, all about the food)
Everyone had the cioppino
We wore bibs – hot!!

 
We made friends
We said good-bye
Walked to Cigar Bar for Ellie’s birthday
Met a bunch of Anne’s friends
Met some gentlemen who bought us drinks
Only remember one of their names, sadly not the one Anne is going to go on a date with – awkward!!
Caught a cab back home
Poured ourselves into bed around 1:30 in the morning
Epic Day!!

Friday – Adventure Day
Drove out along Lincoln Ave to Ocean Beach
Had breakfast at the Cliffhouse – popovers? Yes please!!

Drove through the Presidio to the Sports Basement where we rented bikes for the day

Biked across the Golden Gate Bridge
 
Stunning!

Weather cleared
 
Cute photos galore 
 
Dolphins!!! So cool

Rode down into Sausalito – so cute
 
Coffee by the water
 
Wandered the shops 
Found Jeremy’s Christmas present
Biked down the way to Bar Bocce
Enjoyed a refreshing pitcher of white sangria and a yummy pizza

Two ladies again asked if we were sisters

Played some Bocce Ball – won 1 of 2 games,
could have won 2 if Lindsey hadn’t been so aggressive
Biked to the ferry terminal

Rode the ferry back to SF

Biked along the waterfront, through Fort Mason, along the Marina Green and back to the Sports Basement

Found an awesome deal on a ski jacket for Parker

Went home and grabbed some sushi from across the street

Could barely stay upright while eating – so exhausted

Saturday – Wine Country!!
Breakfast at the house

Coffees on the way – barista messed up the order but didn’t realize it until we were at Taylor’s, but we're crafty so we did some mid drive mixing.

Picked up Taylor – who by the way had quite an evening on Thursday… not really sure what happened between the Cigar Bar and home. Somehow ended up back in Union Square at Johnny Foley’s (all by herself). Thank goodness her boyfriend is amazing and was able to locate her and bring her home safely.

Then picked up Natalia and we were on our way!!

First stop: Paraduxx  - beautiful
 

Taylor is a member – free tastings!
Amazing reds

Waiter in red pants – Anne has a pair just like them (not sure if he was impressed by that)

 Beautiful sun and comfy chairs

A lovely stop

Second stop: Beringer
 

Nat’s a member – free tastings again

Beautiful grounds

A quick stop

Last winery: Charles Krug

Anne, Nat and Taylor are members
 

Free tastings – including reserves and limited releases! Love the X Clones!!

Anne is a bad member and hasn’t picked up her last 3 shipments – the back of the car was fully loaded with more than 20 bottles from all the girls needing to pick up their shipments
Dinner at Farmstead in St. Helena

Incredible food
 
Super nice waiter – even got his email because we thought we would get along well

with his wife. Besides, who doesn’t want another local hook-up in Napa?!
Drove home
Thanks Anne for being a responsible driver

Time to sleep

Sunday - Sad day
Coffee and Dutch Babies at home
Lots of debating about whether to shower… (didn't)
Packed
Drive to Oakland
Cried. Hugged. Love each other SO much. 

Dad Days

Last week I got to visit my best friend from college for three and a half glorious days. Jeremy got me plane tickets to San Francisco for my birthday this year and planned out his days of work, grandparents and a weekend down at the cabin with family for some time away for me. It was incredible (more on that later). And the kids seemed to enjoy themselves while I was gone too. Time flies when you're having fun!

 The first afternoon, Jer calmed their sadness with bowls of icecream 

AND cakepops. More power to him!

And it feels good to be missed sometimes. :)

 Jer hung out with a friend by the backyard fire that first night too. And he let this little guy sneak down and snuggle for awhile.

 Grandma took some excited kids to the beach on the sunniest of afternoons.

 And then they all headed down to La Conner...which is their favorite place ever. So much fun was had!

Maiden Voyage

Nearly a year and a half ago, Parker started saving his money. He worked hard to save his allowance, do extra chores, and put away any dollars he got for his birthday. He saved and saved and finally had enough for his first goal - an animal truck and animals he saw at The Country Store. But when he took his piggy bank to get it, he stood in the aisle and held the toy and pondered and inspected it. He walked away empty handed, deeming it "not exactly what I wanted". He put his hard earned money back on his shelf and continued to add to it and save. Over a year ago, he decided he wanted "a real sailboat". We looked up a lot of real sailboats, really investigating the best deals and he decided that a real sailboat might take a long time to achieve, but he could probably save for a toy sailboat that really sails. He did some research with me and wanted me to look for "a boat that is very good quality". We finally found one - a boat that really sails and could stand the test of time. And he continued to save. This spring he was getting close and he ramped up his efforts. I offered him a dollar to help me weed one day and after 5 hours of hard work, I handed an excited boy four dollars. He saved and worked hard and he even consigned a couple of his old toys, and then we counted his money last week and lo and behold, he finally had enough! We ordered the boat (since we couldn't get it in a store), and it arrived yesterday. We put it together and when dad came home today, we took it out for it's maiden voyage. The mixture of pride, delight and ownership on Parker's face was priceless. I'm so proud of this boy.

Bring on the bubbly.

The kids made bubble wands at Evie's party. And then, because my two love a good craft, they made a few more. And then the practiced making some extreme bubbles in the bath. Over the course of a couple days, they came up with The Double Bubble, The Bouncing Bubble, and Bubble on My Head to name a few. It was quite cute.

Spring has sprung

On Sunday, Jer was working and we woke up to snow, sleet and rain. The clouds loomed over and made our moods dark. I tried to make cozy plans, followed by relaxing plans, followed by indoor plans, but it was clear the kids (and I) needed to get out. So we did. We headed out for a couple errands, then lunch and by the time our sandwiches were finished, the sun was out and the air was warm. Oh, hello spring.

 Spring sunshine was just what we needed. Four hours at the park was not enough. 

I had to drag them home for dinner at 6pm.

Party-up!

I like this tradition we've started of celebrating with a birthday party for the kids a little while after their birthdays. We were gone this year for Evie's, then spring break happened, so I planned her first "big girl" party for this last weekend. A few of her friends from school and church came over and we had a garden party in our living room. The day started off with an instant April snow storm in the morning and kept up until the grass and gardens were covered. By the time of the party, it melted and by mid afternoon the sun was shining and kids were running around on the sidewalk blowing bubbles. Bring it on, spring!

Rain, sun, snow didn't bring us down. We decorated bird houses, made bubble wands and colored  butterfly masks anyway. In the coziness of indoors.

then life caught up with me.

We've been busy. Jeremy is working a second job right now. I'm always working my freelance nights. The kids have school and co-op volunteering days and kindergarten volunteering days and lessons. We have the foodbank garden and various other commitments and this week it all felt like it was piling down on me. The wonderful thing about my husband's firefighting schedule is his ability to be home with the kids when I'm at work. The bad thing about my husband's firefighting schedule is that we go days at a time without seeing each other and with his new job, our meetings are few and far between. My husband is my best friend. I like to hang out with him. And I like to parent with him. And going that alone makes me feel like a single mom sometimes. Which is A LOT of work. So this week I let it pour over my shoulders and heave it's weight on my while I cried and sought comfort from friends and poured myself a glass of wine with dinner I ate in a dark house at 10 pm. And then the days of the week went on and it's slowly getting better. This too shall pass.

This previous weekend we spent the last three days of our spring break down in La Conner with friends. Thankfully, Jer's kelly day fell on this week so we had three wonderful days in a row when I did not work and the kids didn't have school and we met friends at the cabin. These two, amazing people with a friendship steeped in history with us. Cami and Jeremy met during high school and have been close ever since, moving to Bellingham together to go to college. The summer after Jeremy and I met he moved to Alaska with Cami where she met her now husband Brian and they all worked together. Over the last 20 years our various circles have overlapped and intertwined in some sweet and 'how on earth did you meet them?!' ways. We spent a rainy beach weekend atop the Fidalgo cliff with their twin five year olds, four year old Evie, five year old Parks and their fifteen year old and his friend. A full and chaotic house of fun.