Old Friends, New friends

If there was a theme for our recent trip to SF, it would be about friends, both old and new. Although we had planned this little mini-vacation as a time for Fred, Elise and I to get away from the stresses of day-to-day life and have fun as a family, I'm glad we were also able to see some friends as well!

Since we took so many pictures, I've decided to split my SF post in two; the friends we saw, and the stuff we did. This will be the friend edition!

It all started off at the airport when we ran into our friend Christi from SF! She was headed home from Thanksgiving in Florida and just happened to be connecting through DFW, and was sitting only 5 rows in front of us! What a fun surprise. She also was able to help me get Elise and all our carry-on bags onto the plane when Fred had to go back out through security to pick up Elise's "beek" (blanket) that we had forgotten at home. Thanks to our amazing friend and neighbour Brek for the ride to the airport and bringing "beek"!

On Friday, we went to Brice and Susan's house for Raclette... mmmmmm! Brice and Susie are some of our oldest and most dear friends. I don't think there are enough words to describe what these two mean to us. They have held down the fort in SF while everyone around them have moved away. It was so much fun for Elise to meet their boys (of course there are no pictures of the adults!)

Jake and Elise

Jake, Elise and Owen

On Sunday night, we were lucky enough to be invited to dinner by Meri's in-laws. Wow! I haven't eaten that well in a long time (well, probably since the Raclette on Friday!). And the dessert! Pears! Pastry! Need I say more? It was great meeting everybody, and Elise had so much fun playing lego with all the boys.

Me and Meri

Elise and all of Meri's kiddos, including Lawton! Such a sweet puppy!

Continuing the theme of old friends, on Monday I got to hang out with someone I hadn't seen in 10 years. My older brother's ex-girlfriend, Rekha. This amazing chica was like an older sister to me when they were dating. I was in high school, and they were together about 8 years. She was so much fun to be around, and I LOVED it when she would go shopping with me. She has the coolest fashion sense. She just so happened to be in SF the same time we were, and it took some planning, but we managed to hang out for a little bit. Unfortunately, no shopping.

Rekha, Elise and I

How pale do I look standing next to her?

Thanks to our very generous friends, Amy and Philip, we had a lovely house to stay in during our trip. Their oldest daughter, now 9, is who our Elise is named after. It was so much fun for little Elise to meet big Elise; and of course Elise's sister Zoe! These kiddos are so adorable and so much fun! Little Elise absolutely LOVED being around them and told me several times, "no go back to Dallas." She was very sad to leave her new friends.

Elise and Zoe... awwww!

Elise and Zoe goofing around

Big E, Little E, and Z-O-E! Best buds

Once again, no pictures of the adults... oh well. That's it for my friends post. Stay tuned for a tonne of pictures and the "stuff we did" post!