SF: Stuff we did

I'm not going to lie to myself and think that this post will have any interest to those of you not directly related to Fred, Elise or I, so don't feel badly for skipping over it. Be warned though, you will miss some great pictures of the world's most adorable child in one of the most beautiful cities. Wow, that's a lot of hyperbole... except the world's most adorable child part, of course.

Anyway, you won't be seeing pictures of the amazing scenery that SF has to offer. I guess because we used to live there, we don't feel compelled to take pictures of that stuff.

Our first attempt at an outing went horribly wrong; due to scheduling problems, time zone issues and a general lack of communication. Try #2 went much better, as Elise go to experience her first boat ride via a ferry trip from Sausalito to SF. She loved it and kept yelling, "I'm on a boat!" (Thank you Andy Samberg for ruining what should have have been a rather cute comment by my daughter. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, don't worry... you're not missing anything).

Walking the plank to the boat... yar!

Elise was sooooo excited. Fred too.

Momma and the beans.


She loved looking at the water


Jumping and dancing on the boat

Checking her BG during the ride. Stupid diabetes.

I love everything in this picture, even the view in the background

Totally rockin' the string cheese

Once we got to the city, we took MUNI down to Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately, it was too dark to take any decent pictures by the time we got there.

Riding MUNI

Elise loved riding in these old cars... every time the driver made a stop she would say, "more please!"


On Saturday morning we took a trip to the Kid's Discovery Museum in Sausalito. This was the best place ever! Elise was so sad when we had to leave.

Don't worry, not a real fish!

Not a real crow carcass either... just a puppet

Making music!

Elise LOVED the train room. I sorta wanted to play too.

Learning about currents. Fun and educational at the same time!

Elise taking off for the play area

Aye aye captain!

Trying on her hat... note the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, what a beautiful location!

We drove to Golden Gate Park on Saturday afternoon, but didn't make it in time to do any of the fun stuff. So we drove around and looked at some of the amazing architecture. Sorry, no pictures of that stuff, but I did take one at the top of Twin Peaks.

Poppa and the beans

We set out for Golden Gate Park early the next day. First stop, a boat ride on Stow Lake!

Row, row, row your boat

Then we rented a Surrey bike. Talk about hard work!

Elise loved the ride

Our wheels

Our final destination in the park was the carousel... it was beautiful!

Elise on her Zwebra

The girl loves her some carousel

And that brings me to the end of my pictures. I have to say that this was a rather tough experience compared to our trip to Kansas City. I'm glad we did it, but I came back from our vacation, needing a vacation.

That's just wrong.

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!

Conversations with Elise: There's ants in them thar hills

So here we are in San Francisco, beauty as far as the eye can see. On our left we have the the slate-blue Pacific ocean. The sun glinting off the water's surface, sending a spray of diamonds into the air.

And on our right we have the magnificent towering mounds of dirt, filled to the brim with ants.

Wait... what?

It seems that Elise has some strange, unnatural fear of the beautiful hills that line the coast here in the north bay. Every time she sees one, she points and says, "no go over dere." Today I decided to get to finally the bottom of this fear.

Elise: No go dat way, no go over there (pointing towards the hills)

Me: Why not, beans? Why don't you like those hills?

Elise: I get ants on my shoes, and all dirty

Me: Wha'?

Elise: No step on hills because of ants

It suddenly dawned on me that in the state of Texas, the highest thing Elise has ever seen (at least where we live) are the fire ant hills I'm always telling her not to step on because of the ants.

There is something so sad about that.