San Francisco–The Evening Edition

After saying goodbye to our Oregon friends who had an early flight out, I heard M3 utter one word, ‘Ghirardelli?’ which resulted in an excited ‘Yes!!’ from the Canadian crowd!  Well…at least the mommy of the Canadian crowd.   Once the little Canadian found out what Ghirardelli involved she was fully on board just like her Mama!

We jumped in the van and headed to this wonderful San Francisco landmark and as usual, the place was hopping!  We placed our orders and then while Auntie M and family held our spots at a coveted table, Hannah and I went to the back to see chocolate being made.  Oye!  I can still smell it now!!

Yes, that is a huge vat of chocolate behind us!

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’.  Keep that chocolate rollin’.

Soon after we returned to our table our amazing desserts were delivered!  Can you smell the chocolate?

Good to the last drop!  And yes, given the opportunity I’m pretty sure my girl would have licked her dish clean.

Just in case you thought we’d had enough chocolate, um, no.  Uncle Scott – this one’s for you!  (LOL!  Can you tell the sugar had kicked in by then?)

We purchased 2 little bars of chocolate and left the store with full tummies and chocolaty smiles on our faces.

We tried to hit one more famous San Francisco landmark before leaving the city, Lombard Street, but it was crazy busy! 

We were about 30 cars from the crest of the hill but didn’t budge more than a car length or 2 in 20 mins so decided to leave that for another trip.  TubaDad was able to drive us closer and we walked to the top though and captured this beautiful picture with the Golden Gate bridge in the distance.

What a beautiful city San Francisco is!  If you ever have the opportunity to visit, go for it!  There is much we’d like to come back and experience another time.  Riding the Trolley Cars, Lombard Street, the Wharf, a tour of Ghirardelli’s….just to name a few!

Hmmm….what are you doing next July Auntie M?  Here’s hoping for another flight bump on Wednesday!

We’re OK.

Some may be aware that we were scheduled to fly out of SFO today.   We are fine although praying for all those who were affected by the crash.

Our first flight has been changed and we are now flying out of a different airport but will make the same connecting flight in LAX for our flight to Salt Lake City.

Catherine

San Francisco!!!

I was super excited when M3 mentioned that this trip would include a day in San Francisco!  Couldn’t wait!!  I had only visited there one other time and it was for a brief couple of hours on a cold, rainy February afternoon back in 2008.  This year’s trip ended up being a bright sunny day and the best part was that we were all together!

We left Casa Salsa just after 9am and watched as the temperature quickly dropped by over 40^oF!  We made a quick stop off at Wela and BobBob’s for Apricot Dream Bars – I mean, to drop off Dusty, and then we were on our way. 

The change in temps meant the donning of hoodies in the morning but that was just fine with us.   Hannah was chilly so S2 offered up her hoodie which she looked adorable in as it’s still a couple of sizes too big for her.  Some of the clothes Hannah inherits from Ro and Ree have been handed down from H2 and S2 so there is a possibility this hoodie may make a reappearance in a couple of years.  Fun!

After a quick stop at Starbucks for lunch (a first for us and it was yummy!) we were off to the Exploratorium. 

Even before entering we found a great little twirling ride that the girls all enjoyed.

While the girls were spinning we took the opportunity for an impromptu photo shoot.  LOL!  Notice that the purse has survived without being taken back.  Yes!

What a beautiful city San Francisco is! 

Inside the Exploratorium there was more than the girls could possibly see and experience in the time that we had there.  We had a number of hours to enjoy it and yet we probably visited only about 1/4 of it!  If you have to opportunity to take your children there, they’ll love it!

Playing with sand that has a large iron count in it and a couple of magnetic tubes.

This one little spot occupied them for over 10 minutes so it was easy to see that this visit would be one where the kiddos took the lead and we happily allowed them to explore at their own pace.

Tinkering exhibit.  Using the materials provided the 3 girls built the marble track you can see on the wall.  Thanks for the lift Uncle TubaDad!

At one point we moved on to the ‘pin play’ where the girls spent ages creating these awesome flowing designs!

At the magnet display, extra concentration was needed which involved sticking out your tongue.  Hee!

There was a neat spot with mirrors that created a fun visual effect.  Many would say 1 of someone is enough but not when you stand here!  Hannah’s favourite part was when we danced in front of the mirrors.  I love her creativity!

There was a lot of walking and Hannah was happy when K2 offered to give her a ride.

A final group pic of the kiddos in front of a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge.

What a great time we have visiting the Exploratorium!  Hope we can return there again sometime!

I really wanted to eat in the city so we walked next door to a beautiful restaurant called The Waterfront.  It offered a breathtaking view of the Bay and I ordered Lobster Risotto which I moaned with happiness with every single bite I think!!  It was beyond delicious and my mouth is watering again now just thinking of it!  Hannah enjoyed fish and chips but I think her favourite part was the cute little ketchup bottle.

Sadly all too soon it was time to say goodbye to D2, K2, S2, and H2 as they were flying home early the next morning.   Saying goodbye to the girls was tough so Hannah gave them each a hug that will hopefully remind them of her love.

S2

H2

A final group pic of our girls all together (l to r: H2, Hannah, Ree, S2 and Ro)

and then finally we remembered to take a group picture of all 10 of us together.

This is our 2nd year that we have shared July 4th together and hopefully we’ll be able to do this again next year!

There is more San Francisco fun to share but this post is long so I’ll wrap it up here.  Suffice to say I’ll leave you with this little teaser:

A Day of Recovery

After the fun of party prep and playing early into the morning of July 4th, we decided a quiet day at home was the perfect plan.  Hannah first woke up shortly after 7 but was easily convinced that it wasn’t time to get up yet and promptly fell back to sleep until 9ish.  Ah yes, that’s more like it!

We came downstairs to find that sadly the post-party clean-up fairies had not shown up while we were sleeping so we had a big job in front of us! 

Grasping this fact we did what we excel at….we napped!  Even Dusty was exhausted from the previous night’s festivities.

The girls were also in quiet moods and we suddenly realized it was eerily quiet upstairs.  K2 went up to check and quickly called for photographers and we came running.  How sweet is this?  I love that all 5 girls enjoy reading.  Well – 4 read and one enjoys the pictures but reading is beginning and that’s something exciting happening in our home!!

Shortly after this K2, Hannah and I hopped in the van to pick up a few last minute groceries.  As hoped Hannah dozed off almost immediately and K2 quickly offered to stay in the van with her while I shopped.  Thanks K2!  We picked up the last ingredients to make delicious Chicken Enchiladas for supper (or dinner as my west coast friends call it.)  Regardless – they sure were yummy!

After supper it had cooled off enough that a trip to the pool was in order which is always something the girls enjoy.  This time I went in with Hannah and she spent a lot of time without her water wings.  She’s doing so well and with a little more strength she’ll be swimming up a storm!  She has the confidence and now her strokes just need to catch up with that.

We came home and ended our day with a wonderful treat for the girls – a sleepover!   Hannah stayed with me as normal and the 4 big girls shared the twins’ room.  They did great and quickly fell asleep.

A good night’s sleep was in order because Friday we were heading to San Francisco for a day of exploring the city together.  Fun!!!  I was there briefly one time about 5+ years ago and have always wanted to go back!  Tomorrow is the day!

Happy 4th of July!

We Canadians can’t get enough patriotic celebrations so not only did we celebrate Canada Day on Monday, we also celebrated July 4th with our CA BFF’s and Oregon friends on Wednesday and Thursday.  Well…technically we celebrated the evening of July 3rd and recuperated the day of the 4th.  A party for 70+ people requires a day of recovery! 

One tradition Hannah and I have when we visit Auntie M is that on the days we’re getting over jet lag and awake early, we head to Target.  That hadn’t happened this trip since Hannah had flipped her clock immediately but she was still asking for this special Mommy and Hannah time daily so Wednesday we woke early and headed out shopping for last minute party essentials.  No trip to Target (in the US since sadly Canada stores don’t have snack bars) is complete without a bag of popcorn.  Who cares that it was only 8am?  Not us!

This year M3 switched things up a bit and changed the BBQ into a Desserts and Drinks night and it was still a huge success with much less time needed at the party preparing food.  Besides, we couldn’t ask TubaDad to man the grill for hours on end when it was still well over 90^o at 6:00 at night. 

During the day the girls were a big help preparing the food as well at taking care of the decorations.

Didn’t they do a great job?!!  A quick supper of pizza and we were ready for the fun to begin!

Wela even made sure that Dusty and their dog Tippy were decked out in their patriotic best!

Our girls ready for the guests to arrive.  (L to R:  Hannah, H2, Ree, Ro and S2)

Mmmm…desserts including Wela’s infamous Apricot Dream Bars.  They are absolutely amazing!

Wela (M3’S Mom) and Hannah sharing a sweet moment together.

From the time everyone began to arrive, the playset looked like a variation of this each time I looked over at it.

S2 and Hannah

As dusk rolled around we began to move our entourage out of the house and back yard and took to the street for the walk to the fireworks.

Ready for the show to begin and once again it did not disappoint!

This year when we walked home everyone was hot and thirsty due to the current heat wave so they came in for a refreshing drink – and the after party began!!  All I can say is that my girl can party with the best of them!  She played hard with the other kiddos until the final families left.  Hmm, she doesn’t look very tired to me considering it’s 12:40…AM!!  All I can say is that when I did put her to bed almost an hour after this picture was taken she was asleep within seconds of her head hitting the pillow!

Now, this would be a nice way to end this post but I have to share what happened to me when I went upstairs to bed.  It was late and I was tired.  The door to our bathroom was closed so I opened it, flipped on the light and after recovering from the shock laughed myself silly!!  Guess one of the kiddos thought the horses needed a drink from our bathtub.  LOL – Wish they’d warned me first!  I just about jumped out of my skin when I tiredly flipped on the light and saw THIS!

I was cracking up and went to tell M3 what had happened and she had this impish look in her eyes and a big smile on her face.  Turns out she’d already seen my bathroom guests but asked the kids to leave them there are a surprise for me.  Yup – I sure was surprised!  Heh!  Now that’s a good friend….I think!

Happy 4th of July!