San Fran

Thanks to generous parents, we were able to visit San Francisco this past week.  It was so much fun.  We were sooo excited.  Especially Diva.  She couldn’t wait to visit the “Big City.”

We cruised the wharf a little the first night.  The first thing we noticed was the cool weather.  The cold weather.  The fog never let up the entire four days we were there.  And we loved every minute of it.  It was a nice break from the 102* heat back home. 

The next morning my little family  went out alone for a bit while we waited for the rest of the crew to wake up get ready.

 8:30 am.  Who wants some crab?

We passed by this local eatery and Miss M yellled out, “That’s like Mommy!”  For sure.

Alcatraz.

 

We enjoyed watching these amusing sea lions slug around on these docks.  They are pretty famous on Pier 39. 

Did I mention it was cold?

    

Later that day we visited the Aquarium of the Bay.  The shark and sting ray tunnel was a big hit.

  

 

Of course, what would a trip to SF be without good ol’ Golden Gate? 

We even walked across it.  Well, halfway at least. 

My one gripe about Frisco?  The insane amount of people.  Everywhere you go, houses are stacked together, people are milling about.  I’m shocked we didn’t hit somebody with our car.  It was crazy.  We ended up doing a lot of walking.  A lot.

   

For the most part, Diva was an excellent little walker and rarely complained about how much of it we had to do, until the last couple days when her poor little feet started aching. So we took advantage of the muscle and rode on the shoulders of uncles and Grandpa.  Thanks to them for being so obliging!

 

There was some rather interesting street entertainment.  Later, when asked what her favorite part of the trip was, Diva said it was “giving money to the gold robot man.”  She’s easy to please.  Miss M loved the skeleton guy.  He was weird.

Yum.  More crab.  There were crab places on every corner.

A lot of what we did revolved around food.  Naturally.  We ate some delicious stuff whether it was Tony’s Pizza, Ghirardelli chocolate, ice cream sundaes, french toast, crab chowder, grilled salmon, gelato…etc.  It was all good.  Munchkin’s fav was the hot chocolate. 

 

   

So generous with her smiles.  Love it.

We paddle boated in Golden Gate park.  This little one despised her life jacket.  Before^

After-

But Diva loved it!

   

If you ever go to San Fran you have to visit California Academy of Sciences.  It was awesome.  Even though we were up to our eyeballs in people. 

Whatever you do, do not call the underwater sea creatures “weird.”  The worker standing next to you will be offended and will correct you to say, “interesting.”  Oh well, I still say seahorses are the weirdest things ever. 

Albino alligator.

My brother lives in San Francisco and really helped us out on what would be fun to do and see and eat.  He attempted to bring us up to Twin Peaks (I’m pretty sure that’s the name) to check out the view.  Unfortunately the only thing we viewed was fog.  And lots of it.

On a clear day we would have been able to see all of downtown San Francisco, as well as the bay and Alcatraz island.  All we got was a white wall.  Oh well.  There’s always next time.

San Francisco is a beautiful, eccentric city.  We were lucky to be able to check out the sites and sounds and smells.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Checkin Up

 

My girls are growing up.  It’s no surprise.  The other day I took them for a check up, year 5 and year 3.  Diva had two shots, a TB test and a finger prick and didn’t even flinch.  She rocked it.  Even the nurse said she was amazing.  And there I sat wondering why on earth the simple act of brushing her hair causes her to have a nuclear meltdown.  I’ll never understand. 

Diva is 40% for height and weight.  Miss Munchkin?  30% for weight and 20% for height.  Yeah, she’s a shorty.  But she packs a lot of energy in her small stature and I have to admit her muscular, chubby little legs (that she’s had since 3 months old!) are just one of the many things I love about her.

Yesterday the girls and I swam for a good hour.  Just us.  And yes I actually got IN the pool with them and swam and played with them like I was 10 years old again.  It was the best. Diva and I dove for “tor-cheetos” (torpedos), judged one another’s hand stands, tried to guess what the other was saying under water while Munchkin used me as a halfway point trying to swim from wall to wall.  I worked with her on treading water so she could come up for air.  We’re getting there. 

I love my little girls.  I just wish they would stay little for a bit longer.  Is that so much to ask?

 

Wow.  Apparently Diva did a really great paint job.  (see post below)

Kidding.

So, we don’t own a cat.  Probably never will.  But this morning as I was upstairs getting ready for the day I turned around and there she was.  A cat.  Um.  Okay?  How in the…?  Where did she…?  Then I realized the girls had left the front door open and she (or he, really what do I know?) must have wandered in.  She mosied around the house, licked the girls’ cereal bowls and enjoyed sprawling across the stairs while the girls enthusiastically pet her and scratched her back.  And I must say, she is quite the mellow creature.  Most cats I know are skittish and angry and do NOT like kids.  But she was different so I didn’t mind letting her stay for a bit.  I don’t know who she belongs to but I’m sure we’ll see her again. 

In other news:

Little M is a officially a swimmer.  She has had no lessons or help.  In fact, whenever hubby or myself tried to guide her in the right direction, she would scream and cling to us and refused to let go.  So I said forget it and left her to hang out on the steps.  I guess that was enough for her, because she figured how to swim above the safety of the steps and then just two days ago she jumped (belly flopped) right in and never looked back. 

I am grateful for the convenience of having several pools so close!

Oh, and how in the heck do you get the green out of blonde hair?? She’s going to resemble….someone with green hair. 

Meeeeooow

All I know is that I was tired and half dozing in a chair I set up outside while the girls played.   They were painting and riding bikes and suddenly I became aware of Diva saying, “Now hold still and I’ll paint your face like a kitty.”   And the very obliging response, “Okaaaay.”   I didn’t even open my eyes or move one inch because like I said I was tired.  And they were playing.  And I was tired.  And it was washable paint. 

Besides, she looked hilarious.    

The hand of the artist.

Oh I hope this heat would never come back.  I love this weather so much I would marry it. 

Concoctions

My girls can only spend so many consecutive days in the sun.  Munchkin is in fact, developing a tan that makes people question whether or not she is of Latino descent.  A white-blonde blue-eyed Latino munchkin. 

So.  Some days we need a break.  And when it’s 100+ degrees outside the only other option is to stay indoors and drive mommy crazy with “creations.”

Today they made soup.  Or was it cookies.  Or cupcakes.  Or maybe it was just dinner.  Either way it looked downright disgusting.  They even ate it.  Or part of it. 

And what did mommy do while the girls made a grand ol’ mess?  Why I cranked up the oven (I mean who DOESN’T like a hot oven when it feels almost exactly the same outside?) and popped in some banana bread. 

Funny sidenote:  Diva loves Food Network.  “Neckwork” she calls it.  Which makes it sounds like some kind of workout for the elderly.  Anyway, whenever I am whipping up something in the kitchen she tells me to do Food Neckwork.  Which means she wants me to look up at the wall and talk to the “camera” and give them a step by step explanation of what I am doing.  And I don’t feel the least bit silly telling my tile backsplash that I am now mashing the bananas to add to my egg/butter/sugar mixture.  And somehow, whenever I play this game I suddenly have an English accent when the only British food stars I can currently think of are Jamie Oliver and Curtis Stone (or is he an Aussie?).  But boy, does Diva love it.  And she is quite the excellent sous chef.

Independence

I absolutely, positively love the 4th of July.  I mean, who doesn’t? Unless you hate America or something.  Traitors.

I love spending time with family, especially those we don’t see on a regular basis. 

Happy 4th!

Happy Sunday