July 2nd
so very ready for a trip up north!
Clay has an apartment up on Treasure Island this summer for work, so we took full advantage and made a trip up to San Francisco!
It is so fun to travel with older kids now.
I mean, they still get on each others nerves, etc... but I don't have to take care of so many details anymore. We are loving this phase of our family :)
leaving tuesday morning
Chester gets the whole back seat to himself and is happy as a clam in his "nest"
as much as I did not want to stop here, they were hungrier than all the food I brought
thank you taco bell
we arrived in the late afternoon so we took a walk around
Crystal Springs Resevoir
new bridges and trails to see...a lot happens in 10 years!
the cool breeze whipping off the water and fog floating over the hills
summertime :)
first stop Toto's!
We have many memories of going to Toto's pizzeria.
We told the kids I was pregnant with Chester there :)
It is ridiculously good, tried and true.
Still there.
Still amazing.
next stop....Betty Jo!
Betty Jo, me, Betty Kunz
honestly, like toto's, it felt like nothing had changed being with her. She was my confidant and friend. She took care of me while I served as a relief society president. And when I say she took care of me, that means she just told me to keep going, don't bother with this or that, made me laugh and did things when it was too much for me.
She is still the same. Still a rock in my life.
we wrapped up reminiscing in her home where my children remember playing with friends and stealing jelly bellies out of her crystal dishes :)
July 3rd
next day was Lucy's 17th birthday!
she is the loveliest of lovelies
She decided museum visits on her birthday will be her new tradition. So we met up with her old childhood friends at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park!
this is what makes her so fun to go to museums with :)
art is art is art
interpret it as you will
Karen, Aidan and Callie met us
Karen and I had children at the same time but I don't think that is what totally binds us. We laugh hard together and talk intensely with one another and she is my twin tower. It's nice for one tall girl to have another tall girl along with in life. I look over and there she is :)
I have missed her all these years and so, so good to see one another.
I took them to my secret spot in Golden Gate Park, the shakespeare garden.
It is quiet, simple and beautiful.
we just talked our way though golden gate park, haha
after we parted from the Fewkes we headed to the Stowe Lake Boathouse
off we went on a paddle boat
it was seriously hilarious
Chester was steering, feet were furiously paddling, trying to avoid row boats with kid captains, baby duck sightings, and pot headed boat attendants.
I played Sound of Music off my phone :)
( "i am sixteen going on seventeen" and" sailing" by christopher cross, "come I sail away" by Styxx...)
It was so funny to entertain those around us as well... Henry screaming in the tunnel after a sweet couple shared a kiss..."I AM A GIRAFFE!"
If you know Lucy well, you know she wants to go eat good asian food...thai, vietnamese, japanese, but she hadn't had burmese!
...we knew right where to take her:)
The line is always an hour long,
so here we are waiting for them to open the doors.
No cake, just Salt n' Straw ice cream
I am not a huge ice cream person but it really is incredible ice cream
she checked her lactose sensitivity at the door and ate all she wanted :)
Up the street from ice cream was my very first apartment I lived in.
Corner 1st floor apartment. Oh how I had to get used to the ambulance sirens from the hospital across the street, the bus line in front of my kitchen window, synagogue on the other corner. It was 1994. No money to my name but a friend of a friend offered me his apartment and I jumped at the chance :)
it was perfect
taking a walk up Fillmore to the school where the movie
"Princess Diaries" was filmed
so she wanted to take a closer look...
then along comes the resident photo bomber
failed attempt and yet so appropriate at the same time
haha
walking by remodels and wondering what is going to happen? restoration? modern? somewhere between?
Clay being Clay
hahaha
me being content
It was a good day to celebrate our first born :)
July 4th!
Marin Headlands
I can't remember the name of this beach but it was a nice surprise to find a good picnic spot
the men are modeling the cookie motto for me
picnic time!
we headed through the headlands and this is a viewpoint of the bay with the bridge below....
typical opaque, foggy summer day
We got to the other side and decided to walk the bridge
(we went half way)
Clay told us more than once the bridge color is called international orange.
And if you know Clay, you know how much orange means to him :)
4th themed observations
Fort Point down below the bridge
After the golden gate we headed to find our original boba spot!
Same lady running it. She hasn't aged in 20 years.
Chester got the best one. Fresh mango.
Next time, we might all have to get that one:)
Irving Street sights
We drove south to our land.
I had Lucy reenact a photo with her and I.
I will have to do it again when we clear all the 16 years of vegetation off of it.
side note: the littlest crashed every night on the couch
we ran him ragged
July 5th
was the relax from all the city day with my dear friends Michaela and Chiara.
We met at Michaela's charming home in the city. Kent came home for lunch. He was my home teacher long ago and I tried to match-make for him. Turned out I did not have to look far as Michaela was my roomate and first friend in the city. They clicked and now have a wonderful life together :)
Here is Bowie. If Clay would relent, we would find ourselves a Bowie.
The kids fell in love with him.
I liked him too.
And I am not a dog person.
her home is beautifully curated
and her 2 boys with my 2 boys made me happy :)
later that night we went to Toto's AGAIN and saw the new Spiderman movie but my girls seem to be very excited about this movie...haha
we started a new tradition of bringing a puzzle on vacation with us...Audrey and Clay mainly worked on it though as there brains together are unmatched at sticking with it.
July 6th
Final full day of our trip was a whirlwind!
get it?
look at that humongous sculpture
got muni mobile passes for the day so we could get around
super fun to be on the old streetcars
Ferry Building farmer's market!
it is crazy and full of people but so worth it
We ate:
big, fat chinese pork buns
brie and jam sandwiches
meat sandwich with butter
empanadas
and even more bread
this place is not for the gluten faint of heart :)
in line for pork buns :)
cheese!
heath ceramics!
(I should collect these now. Yes. I should collect these now.)
Bay Bridge
this sign was confusing to me
We took the street car to Lombard Street,
aka, the" crookedest street in the world"
my favorite flower
leg day!!!!
we came to look with the rest of the tourists, haha
but it was a perfectly sunny day
having our children in the city with us was like a dream
they loved being there! I probably loved it more :)
now a workout for the quads going down
we had time between activities so here we are passing time at bus stops
and malls
he got permission to play :)
on our phones at Union Square
(I should have gone into Neiman's)
Got on another street car for our crowning moment in the city!
HAMILTON!
waiting in line to get in the theatre
#andpeggytour
Henry in love
our seats :)
For a small fortune I splurged.
The kids love this musical and know every single word to every song.
this is Clay putting me in front of him,
"quick, stand in front of me so I don't look fat"
It was an amazing show and cast. We loved it so much. We kept talking about it the next day. What talented people and artists. Whoa. Blew our creative heads off. Costumes, check. Gorgeous and glorious. One of my most favorite nights with my family ever. The small fortune seemed priceless :)
It was a fabulous way to spend the week of the 4th.
It still feels like home.
And someday very soon it will be home again.
I can walk down the streets of San Francisco, and here I’m normal.
Robin Williams
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