San Francisco May 30, 2010

Since the crazy California weather messed with our camping plans - we had to cancel last-minute because there was still SNOW on the ground - we still wanted to get out of the house. So we decided that a day trip to San Francisco would be nice. We realized that we hadn't been since before we got married!!! So off we went!

We passed by a jazz bar on our walk down Embarcadero. I didn't know this about Josh until that day, but he really likes "a good brass band." Okay, babe, you go with your old-man self!




Shortly after leaving the bar, we came across this gentleman. Followed by, "Babe, go kneel on the ground next to that guy so I can take your picture!" While I'm thinking, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! This is San Francisco. You don't know what's on the ground and you want me to TOUCH it????" So I did...


We walked past the piers, past all of the seafood vendors, past the mini-marina and the restaurants, and came across a wharf-thing that we'd never been to before. Mind you, we've both been to Pier 39/San Francisco 20 thousand times... On this wharf-thing, you can tour old boats. There was a pirate-like boat, with the masts and sails, a tugboat, old fishing boats, etc. We thought it was pretty dang cool.

Here are some shots from there.





Along the pier/wharf thing, there were these knot tutorials. Josh was able to get them but my brain wasn't quite able to get the knot right just by looking at a picture.




The boats. All of them have been completely restored and have a little picture board in front of them with a back-story. The history behind each of them is pretty cool...although I can't remember enough of it to explain it all here...









We were able to get pretty decent pictures of Alcatraz from this wharf thing.


There was a little beach next to the wharf thing so Josh and I got a little silly.

This is my Titanic "I'm the king of the world" impression. What you can't see in the picture is a little boy in the back of the boat rocking the heck outta it...

Josh, doing his George Washington impression. With the aforementioned rat, er, kid acting as his oar man.


An artsy pic.


Quick, mom, what kind of bird was this???

It was getting to be close to dinner-time so we headed on back to the Pier 39 area. Of course, being in SF, we wanted sea food. Along the way, we passed the infamous Bush Man of San Francisco. He didn't get Josh...dangit...


BOO!!


It's hilarious to watch him completely scare the heck out of unsuspecting people as they're walking by. Regardless of he crowd of people standing around, people walk by him, completely oblivious, and JUMP when he reaches one of his tree "arms" out to them. Unless it's you getting scared...

On the way to eat, we stopped at the end of Pier 39 to get a pic with Alcatraz in the background. After a not so successful attempt at the put-your-arm-out-as-far-as-you-can-try-to-stead-the-camera-and-try-to-get-a-passable-shot shot, a nice veeeeery Southern lady came up and asked if she could take a picture of us. As we're settling into our pose, I slyly side-mouth whispered to Josh, "Are you ready to run?" because I was scared she would take my camera. I think this shot is better than the one we woulda taken ourselves. ;)



OH!! And we saw the sea lions on the way. They're back!!


We went to eat at this place.


And were met with at THREE HOUR WAIT! Uh, what???? Heck, no. So after looking at the menus, and freakin PRICES, of the other restaurants on Pier 39, we hightailed it outta that place and went to the fresh crab stands.



We got what we really wanted: warm clam chowder in a bread bowl. And didn't have to pay out the wazoo for it.


We had an awesome day together. We just walked around, people watched, looked in some of the way overpriced shops on Pier 39, and just really enjoyed each other's company. It's kinda disgusting how much we actually LIKE to spend time with each other. HA!

We're still taking our camping trip, we just pushed it back to the end of July. HOPEFULLY, the weather will be a little warmer, the snow will be melted, and the ground will be dry. It's hard to tell though because it's mid-June now and we haven't hit 100 degrees yet...

Our Little Legion

Legion turned 1 on May 27th!! Time really has flown with this little guy. He's still very much a puppy and very unaware of his size. He's such a sweetheart though and is becoming more and more cuddly (which I'm loving) as he's getting older. Okay, so you were right, Josh... ;)

Happy birthday, baby boy!!!

The Whole Fam Damily Goes To Park Ceeety, Utah

On May 11th, my mom, dad, Josh (yes, JOSH), and I all boarded a plane to head to visit Dan, Tami, and the kids in Salt Lake City, Utah. My parents had rented a condo close to Salt Lake in Park City. It was nice!! We didn't have plans to do anything so we just pretty much winged it every day that we were there. Which was really nice because we didn't have to worry about a schedule. Dan and Tami played awesome hosts to their new home and we had a great time being shown around. So much so that Josh and I are wanting to move there. Again, yes, JOSH. It was gorgeous. We took little hikes and the entire time we kept saying "the dogs would love this." Someday kids, someday.

Here are some of the hundreds of pictures that were taken on the trip. Keep in mind that we were only gone for five days...

Nevermind that it was COLD outside, Noelle wanted to go swimming...with Papa. She's her father's daughter...


But what if there's an Emergecy???? How will I know if it's an Emergecy???


The view from the pool.


I pink puffy heart love these kids!




I think I'm gonna keep this one until she's a teenager and show her first boyfriend. Hee hee... Oh, and this was HER idea.


Dan let Josh drive the GTI (yikes!) and we split everyone between the two cars and took a nice, scenic drive to Homestead Crater.


Josh, at the entrance to the crater.


Walking into the "pool" area.


The reason that I'm looking less than enthused in this picture is because we were on a floating dock-like thing and every time someone else took a step, it would rock the entire thing. I wanted to keep both feet well away from the edge. So when Josh said "babe, go touch the wall," I complied but I was cursing him in my head the whole time...


Noelle, being a show-off. ;)


We climbed the 564831346 steps to the top of the crater and were able get a 365-degree view from the top. So nice... We got a couple group shots from up there.




I saw this little, random, green bench on the side of the crater and I wanted to make sure I got a shot of all three kids sitting on it. Seemed like a good idea...


And it was. :)


For the whole time that we were there, one of the kids was always on Josh's hip...or shoulders.


Getting a little Ansel Adams-y atop the crater.


The next stop was Bridalveil Falls. No, we didn't teleport back to California. Apparently, there's one in Utah too... I got to share the backseat with little Corom. He even let me play with his car-car for a minute.






Now here's a sight that you don't see every day: unattended tools. And a freakin' GENERATOR!!!






Uncle Josh doesn't just give piggy-back rides, oh no, he gives horsey rides and 4-wheel drive rides. Depending on what was around us (rocks or a path), he'd alternate between the two. He'd 4WD up and over the rocks, benches, etc., and he'd go into horsey mode along the path. He had Corom laughing the whole time.


Dan and Tami put together a nice little picnic lunch...with sandwiches on bread that looked like a mushroom...


On the way back, we passed a reservoir.


The weather in between Park City and Salt Lake City was so crazy! We'd go from cold and sunny, to rain, to just a little chilly all on the drive down. Makes for pretty rainbows though!




The last day that we were there, Josh and I decided to take a walk up the hill next to our condo.







Back away from the sheep... Back away from the sheep....


Note to self: wet snow makes for wet pants...


When we got back into the Salt Lake-ish area, we took a little walk along a bike trail.


True California girl! Excuse the piggies, I'm in dire need of a pedi.




We had a great, great time in Utah and it was so nice to visit with Dan & Tami & the kids! Can't wait to see you all again!!

Kaput....

I kinda gave up on the pic a day thing because I got too far behind... I may start up again at some point. But for now, my camera is just another thing that is cluttering up our kitchen table.