Mr. Cheese Please?

What do all good parents promise to encourage good behavior while they are gone for 6 days? I'll give you one guess.

This was MG's first visit to meet ole Chuck E Cheese. She loved the moving rides but apparently she takes driving very seriously. I don't have one picture of her smiling on any of them but you can see the slide was a big hit. She must have gone up and down that thing 50 times laughing and smiling the whole way down .

There's no place like home...

Dorothy said it best. If I owned a pair of red shoes I would have worn them today and clicked them all the way home. We are home safely. Grammy and Nene had a great time with the children. As for us, GREAT time. Beautiful city. Perfectly perfect trip. More to follow in a few days.

love to all,
Mommy

Day 5: a little glimpse of Heaven

When I think back on some of the most amazing days of my life, today ranks near the top of that list. There were moments when I literally thought I was going to cry Charlie Brown tears at the beauty before my eyes. I'm not much of a nature girl (no comments from the peanut gallery) but I think I caught a glimpse of the beauty God truly meant for us to experience here on Earth.

We picked up our rental car, hooked up the handy dandy GPS and we were off. I haven't felt that "free" in a long time...just me and my man exploring the world together...it was perfect.

First stop on the "Womble San Francisco Road Trip Extravaganza"...back to Golden Gate Park. We visited on our Friday tour but did not get to see the wind mills and tulip garden. We navigated our way through Monday morning traffic which was an adventure in itself. GPS doesn't have a handle on Monday morning reroutes and one way streets so we took the scenic route. Once we made it inside the park it was so peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful. It was 9 am and you could still feel the dampness in the air. The tulips were standing at attention and if you listened closely you could the waves crashing onto Ocean Beach. The windmill was beautiful. For just a moment I felt like I was in Holland surrounded by Dutch windmills and beautiful tulips. It was perfect.Then it was off to Ocean Beach and to take in the view from the Cliff House. This was the first time on our trip that we saw the rocky cliffs of the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco is surrounded by the bay on three sides so the water had been calm up until this point. The landscape was much different than what I think of as a beach. The sand was a medium brown color and in all honestly I thought it looked dirty (even though I know it was not). Of course, the sand I am accustomed to is white/beige so it was quite a change. Once over the Golden Gate Bridge, we navigated our way through the winding roads to Muir Woods National Forest. I thought I was going to be sick several times while Daddy was wishing for a sports car and a helmet. I was reconsidering my must see attraction by the time we arrived but I am so glad we didn't turn back. I don't even know where to begin to describe this place. It was freezing cold but breathtakingly beautiful. You couldn't even see the sky for the trees. It was definitely a little glimpse of Heaven. My words could never do this place justice so I will let the photos speak for themselves. Breathtakingly beautiful!
















Next stop: Point Bonita Lighthouse. I read the best view of the ocean and the bay could be seen from Point Bonita Lighthouse. Our friends Rachel and James are lighthouse hunters so I knew we had to take a few pictures just for them. We drove the winding roads to the entry point, walked about a mile (through a tunnel running through the middle of a huge rock) to reach the lighthouse. They were right about the view...beautiful. I couldn't bring myself to walk the suspension bridge over the rocks and crashing waves below to see the lighthouse up close and personal. It was built to replicate the Golden Gate seen in the distance. It was still very windy from the storms that blew in so there was no way I was going any further. If there is a sign that says "only 2 people on bridge at one time" and a group of adolescent school children nearby, DO NOT GET ON THE BRIDGE. I think my zoom lens showed me everything I wanted to see. :-) Again, see the pictures. My words can not even begin to describe this place.
















Before we left I read that you COULD NOT go to San Francisco without eating a hamburger at a place in Sausalito called "Hamburger". Original, huh? Daddy loves a good burger so off we went back down the hills to find some lunch. We ate and did a little bit of window shopping before we headed back in to the city. It was a yummy burger but I think Daddy (AKA Bobby Flay wannabe) could give them a run for their money. :-)

Photos from Crissy Field, driving down Lombard Street and exploring the neighborhoods of San Francisco rounded out our final day. Notice the word "CLEAR" at the top of Lombard Street. It is there to keep pedestrians from getting plowed. The road is so steep you can't really see where you are going until you've already started down the hill. I found it interesting that the street is made of brick. Daddy said it was kind of difficult to maneuver but I was busy hanging the camera out the window so I wouldn't know. :-)
We returned our car and walked back to the hotel exhausted yet invigorated by such a memorable time together. This was hands down my favorite day of our trip. We returned to our room, changed clothes and hopped a trolley for our dinner reservation at Frascati. Our food was out of this world. They get the award for Best Restaurant and Best Dessert for our trip. We devoured a White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Hazelnut Ice Cream that was unlike any chocolate dessert I have ever eaten. It was heavenly and a perfect ending to a perfect trip. Next stop...HOME!

Day 4: Napa Valley in style

Ah, Napa Valley. Much of the reason I chose San Francisco was for this day...a tour of Napa Valley and wine tasting in a limo. Woohooo! We are so small town...neither of us have ever been in a limo until today. What service! I mean, seriously, I think this must be why the rich and famous like to be rich and famous. Who wouldn't love being chauffeured every day? Who wouldn't love a man in a black hat and trench coat who answers to the name Count? Who wouldn't love it if someone nearly jumped out of the car and ran to open your door before you could lift a finger? He beat me to the handle every single time, extended his arm to help me out of the car and held the umbrella so my 'do wouldn't wither in the rain. Ahhhhhh, this is the life (but only for a day or two). I love my life even if I have to open my own car door and hold my own umbrella. See, I digress again...

Back to Napa Valley. Count (don't you love that name) picked us up at 9 AM and we were off. It was amazing. Beautiful area. Very quaint. Not at all like I pictured it in my mind. We stopped at a little gourmet grocery store on the way into Napa called Oakville Grocery. It was awesome. On the outside, it reminded me of a little grocery I used to frequent as a child. On the inside, notsomuch. We didn't have fancy-schmancy sandwiches, a cheese counter and a bakery in our country grocery store. But, hey, this is Napa Valley. I wouldn't expect anything less. OK, so we tucked our fancy-schmanies in the limo cooler and off we went.

At each vineyard we tasted about 5 different varieties of wine. Most of them were 2 whites and 3 reds (2 for me/3 for Daddy). Here's the highlights...

First stop, Cakebread Cellars. Lovely little place and yummy Chardonnay. Second stop, Robert Mondavi Winery. Very interesting tour. They really have their act together. I found an awesome dessert wine that won me over (Moscato D'Oro). Daddy hated it but I was in heaven. I had to have a bottle for the road. Third stop, Grgich Hills Estate. Yummy Chardonnay (my fave of the whole day) but they weren't very nice so they lost points for that. Last stop, Miner Family Vineyards. Excellent blended red wine called The Oracle. We bought a bottle and had it shipped home. By this point, my red wine drinking husband was ready to call it a day. :-) He tasted every wine at every winery. I did not as I'm not a big red wine fan. Our conclusions from our amazing day of wine tasting...I still like whites...he still likes reds.

We took the scenic route back to the city through Sonoma Valley. It was a little more laid back than Napa. We would pass these beautiful estates and then we would come upon an old house with grape vines planted over the entire front yard. I guess when you have prime wine making real estate you take advantage of it.

After we got back to the hotel, we rested a bit and then hopped a trolley car to Fisherman's Wharf for a quick dinner at Boudin's (home of the original sourdough bread). Did you know they are STILL using the same sour dough starter from 100 years ago. I ate it and it was yummy but can you say "ewwwwwwwww"? 100 years old?

It was a fantastic day. Daddy's favorite day of the whole trip. We will definitely go back when we have more time to spend in that area. On to our last day...

Day 3: Chinatown, DimSum and the Chinese New Year Parade

Chinatown:
WOW! I think every person of Chinese descent in the western United States came to Chinatown today. There were people EVERYWHERE! We were lucky that it just sprinkled off and on in the morning so we were able to find the GPS and spend some time in Chinatown before the storms rolled in. We did a little shopping for the kids, found another umbrella and tooled around as much as possible given the crowd. I found the street fair very interesting as it was not what you would have pictured. I'm thinking there are going to be little tents with games, trinkets, free stuff and yummy lo mein noodles from a cup. Ummm...not even close. The cute little red and white tents you see lining the main street of Chinatown were occupied by the San Francisco Water Department, the Chinatown Council, the local school, cell phone companies, etc. Most tents were for information. Some were giving away things like gift cards and free cell phones, etc. This is the one I found most interesting: the Chinatown Lowe's tent. Mr. Lowe's man even had on the vest.


the DimSum experience:
I was told (by the guide books) that when in Chinatown you simply must eat dimsum at a place called Gold Mountain. I have talked for weeks about eating dim sum in Chinatown on Chinese New Year. What was it I said earlier..."when in Chinatown do as the Chinese"? After all, we are adopting a baby girl from China so we need to get in touch with our Asian side. That is what good parents would do, right? It never crossed my mind to do a little more research into what exactly IS dimsum? It was described as little carts that stroll around the restaurant offering little Chinese appetizers. Mmmmmm...appetizers. I loooooovvveeeee appetizers so this was right up my alley. I never thought another thing of it. We're going to eat dimsum in Chinatown because that's what everyone does. Well, girls, let me tell you. Gold Mountain did not have any ham rolls, sausage balls or creme puffs. Their idea of appetizers and my idea of appetizers are NOT the same.

So, we find Gold Mountain in the sea of Chinese writing and head on in. Oh, girls, I was so excited. We're eating dimsum in Chinatown on Chinese New Year! Isn't that awesome? The hostess at the front door could not speak any English. She stuck up two fingers and just pointed in which direction she wanted us to walk to find a table. Picture a HUGE open restaurant with random tables filled with families enjoying their Saturday as a family and two very cute Americans smiling from ear to ear. There are only two seats open in the entire place. We made our way through the stares of little old Asian men and sat down at the tiny table where a little pot of tea awaited us. Awwww...tea. My friend Rebekah would be so excited if she was here. I looked around for a menu after our server plopped two plates and a piece of paper down on our table. OK...no menu...no Sweet and Sour Chicken for me today. That's OK, I didn't come for chicken. I came for cute little appetizers. See, here is a google image of dimsum at Gold Mountain. Don't they look so cute?Oh, boy, here come those little carts with all the cute little appetizers. Here comes one, wonder what he has? It went something like this...

S: Ca iss [he quickly said]
M: I'm sorry, could you repeat that?
S: Ca iss
[Daddy and I look at each other in confusion...Hmmm...then he opens the top of that little wooden bowl and I am overcome with a horrible stinch]
S: Ca iss! [he is obviously annoyed with me]
M: Oh, cod fish, no thank you [as I look in smiling horror]

This went on and on...dee-fie shimp ball, steem poke bun, ba-b-too poke bun, egg cusar tar. They would wheel by the table and say what was on their cart in the very best English they could muster. After a while I started to say yes because I didn't want to hurt their feelings. You could tell they really wanted us to eat but we kept saying no. I began to notice every time I said "yes" they put these cute little stamps on that paper she put on the table when we sat down. It wasn't until Daddy told me to stop saying "yes" that I realized what those cute little stamps represented. That little piece of paper and those cute little stamps? That was our ticket. OH! I was just trying to be nice.

At this point I was a little antsy as I realized I DO NOT HAVE ONE SINGLE CLUE WHAT I AM DOING!!!!! Then, I broke open one of those steem poke bun (steamed pork buns). THAT WAS IT FOR ME LADIES! I was done. I ate one deep fried shrimp thing and two egg custard tarts without gagging. Then, I had a moment.

When we go to China to bring home our daughter what in the world am I going to eat? I'm going to starve if this is the definition of authentic Chinese food. Who needs Weight Watchers? I'll just go to a foreign country for two weeks. By this point my cheesy American smile has turned upside down. I am watching the butcher in the little window chop pieces of meat with a huge knife and hang it up in the window. I am so ready to go. I can't get out of there fast enough. Daddy quickly pays for all of our "stamps" and we are outta there but not before our server demands her service tip. ;-)

Daddy was a trooper. I dragged him all the way to the far end of Chinatown through a HUGE crowd (which he hates) to eat something that I ended up not eating myself. He can say he ate dimsum. He didn't LOVE it but he experienced it. I can not say that. I will try as hard as I can to expose our daughter to her heritage. I just hope she never asks me to eat a steem poke bun. Hopefully she'll like sweet and sour chicken like her Mommy. :-)

For your viewing pleasure, a few more google images of dimsum. I was too overwhelmed to whip out my camera in the restaurant so google will have to do.So, after this we headed back to the hotel before the bottom fell out. We took a nap and Daddy played with his new man toy (AKA the GPS) while we waited for the parade to start. It is always a rain or shine parade but we were NOT standing in the rain for three hours. So, we watched the beginning of it from our window and then headed out to find some dinner. We ate at a little Italian place off Union Square called L'Ottavo at the recommendation of our hotel. It was wonderful. We almost lost our umbrellas a few times in the wind but so did everyone else so we didn't look that ridiculous. Two hours later we were back at the hotel catching the end of the 3 hour CNY parade. After our marathon day on Friday, it was great to have a little down time. Off to Napa Valley tomorrow...

Day 3: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"

I was so excited about our day on Saturday. Our travel dates worked out perfectly for us to be in San Francisco the week the Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year. A street fair, the largest CNY parade in the US, lots of shopping, yummy food, etc. This is a huge celebration for the Chinese culture (much like New Years Eve celebrations for the American culture). We took the "when in Chinatown do as the Chinese" approach and celebrated 2008: the Year of the Rat right along with them. We had planned to spend the morning at the Ferry Building enjoying the local artists and the weekly Farmers Market. Then head to Chinatown in the afternoon, have a late lunch of dim sun and do a little shopping before claiming our spot for the parade at 5:30 pm. Ah, the best laid plans...

The forecast called for showers in the morning followed by storms arriving early afternoon and lasting until Sunday night. After our "LOST IN SAN FRANCISCO ADVENTURE" the night before, Daddy decided we needed a GPS for Monday's rental car day. So, instead of the Ferry Building and local artists we ended up at Radio Shack purchasing another man toy (oops, I mean necessary piece of equipment) for our trip. It is important to note that we had to return to the BIG SCARY NEIGHBORHOOD to purchase the GPS needed to keep us out of the BIG SCARY NEIGHBORHOOD. Makes perfect sense, right? We were assured electronics would be less expensive there than in Union Square so off we went to find #38 bus.

#38 bus and the GPS:
You see all kinds of interesting folks on the #38 bus. That's all I have to say about that. I tried to go with the flow but I'll admit that is not my strong point. If the night before didn't do it, this is the moment when I heard Dorothy ever so clearly say, "Toto, I've a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore." Let's talk about Radio Shack. I am not exaggerating when I say everything in there was locked up like Fort Knox. You had to have a key to actually touch most every item in the store. This included the Home Movie/DVD department that included reference signs entitled "Gangsta Flicks". Seriously. I am not kidding. I got a tad huffy with one of the employees as we waited for our purchase. No one could find the key to "the cage" to retrieve the GPS. Instead of diligently trying to locate said key, Joe Cool, our Customer Service Representative walked around the store giving secret handshakes and friendly bumps to all of his Radio Shack friends. After 15 minutes of waiting, the googly eyes were out and my head was about to spin off my shoulders. Daddy quickly reminded me we are not in "our neck of the woods" and to STOP IT NOW! I was blasted back to reality after visions of the night before. Somewhere from within I found my box of patience. 15 minutes after catching up on all the Friday night gossip, Joe Cool returns with the key. The ugly Mommy briefly came out again when he tried to overcharge us. Apparently, I didn't look very honest so he had to go check it out for himself. We'll be waiting...again. Finally, we left with our GPS in hand paying the advertised price I had quoted, of course. "C-ya Mr. Joe Cool. I would suggest you and your Radio Shack friends brush up on your Customer Service skills. However, you and your Radio Shack friends look much scarier than Mommy and Daddy so I will keep that little smart comment to myself." Off to find #38 bus again and get the heck outta Dodge. Then it was off to Chinatown! :-)

Day 2: Lost in San Francisco Adventure

At 7:25 pm we exited the return ferry from Alcatraz. Remember, we had eaten a small yet expensive lunch at 1:00. That was our 2nd meal in two days. We were starving...again. We attempted to catch the F-line to then catch a cable car to get back to our hotel. Well, it was freezing outside and the one F-line that came by was completely full. After waiting about 15 minutes Daddy decided we need to start walking at 7:40 pm in the dark in an unfamiliar city. I politely protested but he was certain we would be fine. The entire time we are walking down these deserted streets I am replaying in my mind the part of the guidebook that said "DO NOT WALK ANYWHERE YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR AT NIGHT". I am telling him this but there was a point of no return and we had crossed it about four blocks ago.

I had many thoughts during this time, especially with one strange scary man trailing behind us. We are not safe! This is not good! We are not safe! I kept whispering this over and over. What do I have in my purse that I could defend us with? Lipgloss, my wallet and my camera. MY CAMERA? What if someone steals my camera? I come all the way across the country and I won't even get to make a scrapbook out of my pictures? Well, I just can't have THAT, now can I? You can have my purse scary thieves but YOU CAN NOT HAVE MY DIGITAL IMAGES. I won't allow it. So, what does a scrapbooker do in desperate times? She takes her camera out of her purse, tucks it her coat pocket, discreetly removes the digital card and places it in her pants pocket. If the scary man behind us decides to go postal on the Wombles at least our kids will know we were having a good time before we croaked.

Eventually, we ran upon another bus station. We waited another 10 minutes for a bus and asked the driver if he was going to our street. Oh yes, hop on. Woohoo!! Thank you Lord! We get off at the street he told us and head toward what we thought was the right way. Oh, silly Wombles. Didn't you read how strange, complicated and confusing San Francisco streets are?

We walked and we walked and we walked and WE WALKED. We passed a group of homeless people playing checkers on the street. We passed burning barrels with people gathered around them to stay warm. We passed people asking for handouts. We passed clubs with barely dressed women on the sign. We passed guys heavily clad in gold just hanging out on the street corner. Wonder what they were doing? OK, so by this point, I was scared. Really scared. You could see the stares of people who clearly knew we were lost. We just kept moving. Finally, I committed the cardinal sin and whipped out the map. You know, the map they tell you not to whip out in a scary place or people will know you are a tourist. Well, at this point I knew that everyone knew we did not belong in this neighborhood. I convinced Daddy we were VERY VERY LOST. We turned around and began to retrace our steps. Then, in one divine moment, we see this...It was in this moment I think I heard the faint whisper of angels singing...Ha-le-lu-juah! I think I even said it aloud. My husband pulled me across the street and hailed a cab just like he had done it all his life. I have never been so happy to get into a cab in my life. On second thought, I have never been in a cab so I guess it was the first time I've ever been happy to get into any cab. I was so relieved to finally sit down in a safe place after walking nearly an hour and fifteen minutes in fear. I had another brief moment of panic when taxi man gunned it and took us in the opposite direction of our hotel. It turned out OK as obviously the taxi driver had better navigation skills than the Wombles. A few blocks, one crazy taxi ride and $10.00 later we were in front of our hotel...THANK YOU LORD!

After our marathon day we were exhausted, discouraged and hungry. We crossed the street to Scala's Bistro to grab a bite to eat. I had the best salmon I have ever eaten in my life. It makes me want to run back to San Francisco just thinking about it. We finished our meal, headed back to the hotel and collapsed into bed after one very eventful day. We were definitely out of our element today but it still ranks as one of the best days of my entire life...well, minus the time between 7:25-8:40 pm.

Day 2: Let's play tourist

Our first day in San Francisco was FILLED with tourist stuff. From sun up to sun down (literally) we took the grand tour of the City by the Bay. We headed out early to meet our tour group at the Ferry Building at 9 AM. Before making it to our destination, we had to tackle the uncertainty of public transportation. Not an easy task to master for two people who know nothing about it. It took us about an hour to purchase our passes and make it to our destination. It should NOT have taken that long. I'm pretty sure we both had the word "CLUELESS" across our foreheads.

We spent the first half of the day with San Francisco Shuttle Tours on a 35 passenger mini-bus. Yep, we were super cool. It rained off and on during our tour but at least it wasn't the entire day. Our VERY ENTHUSIASTIC guide, Tatiana, shared with the group every known historical fact about San Francisco. We visited or at least drove by almost every major landmark you can possibly find in Frommer's guide (and then some).

We hiked up to Lombard Street (the crookedest street in America). I do mean hiked as the five blocks was straight up all the way. We walked through a tiny segment of North Beach past City Lights Bookstore and then on into Chinatown. They were gearing up for the parade the next day so everything was a little chaotic. Actually, I think it is always chaotic but it was extra busy the day before the parade. We then headed off to Nob Hill where the very wealthy used to live. We saw Grace Cathedral which was breathtaking in both presence and detail. Since we didn't get to walk DOWN Lombard Street due to the rain they added a stop at the Cable Car Museum. It was very interesting to see both the history and the actual area that turns the cables for the three cable car lines that are still in service. Then we headed off to find the "Full House Houses". They are much better known as the Alamo Square 6 Sisters but I'll always remember them as DJ Tanner's street. I can't remember which one she supposedly lived in but it was one of them. Then it was back on the bus for a snippet of Golden Gate Park (which was patterned after NYC's Central Park). It was lovely and we headed back there on Monday because I loved it so much. Last stop in the city was the Palace of Fine Arts. At this point, we finished our tour of the city. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, stopped for a Golden Gate photo op and then headed into Sausalito for a late lunch. I love this photo of Daddy! It's one of my favorites from the entire trip.By this point we were two STARVIN' MARVINS! We had skipped breakfast because we thought the tour would stop for lunch sooner than we actually did. We were also running behind schedule so that put lunch even later. We had eaten one meal on Thursday and it was now Friday afternoon. Finally, we had lunch at a little place called Cafe Tutti. $31.00 bought us a tuna salad sandwich, an Italian sandwich and one drink. No kidding. It was yummy, but $31.00? Come on people...is your Coke really that much better than ours? This meal pretty much set the stage for what we discovered throughout our trip. Everything is expensive in California. OK, rant over.

We scarfed down our ordinarily expensive lunch in order to catch the ferry back to the city with our tour group. We were filled with more historical facts on our returning ferry ride. Once we docked the tour was over. So long Tatiana! Thanks for a great day!

We headed back inside the Ferry Building to warm up and enjoy a nice little happy at Ciao Bella Gelato. It makes perfect sense, right? We went inside to warm up and ate frozen gelato and sorbet. Now let me tell you. It was the BEST gelato I have ever had! One scoop of Peanut Butter and one scoop of White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Gelato for me. One scoop of sorbet and one scoop of sorbet for him. Ah, it was wonderful! I wish we had a Ciao Bella in our neck of the woods.

After "warming up", we hopped the F-line (the only public transportation we have figured out at this point) and headed off on our own to Fisherman's Wharf. We tooled around a few shops and observed the sea lions at the abandoned Pier for a bit. Then it was off to Pier 33 for the Alcatraz tour at 4:30 PM. We chose the recommended night tour and it did not disappoint.

Below you will find a slideshow of Day 2. If you click the photographs you will see the description of what you are looking at.
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{If you CAN NOT view the photos please leave a comment to let me know. I'm trying to figure out the problem.}

Day 1: Leavin' on a jet plane

7:30 am we were bound for the airport. Courtney was here to hang with the kids until Grammy got off work. J was sure to let us know that he did not want us to go on our special trip at least 32 times this morning. Broke our hearts. Now on to the airport.

Just in case I haven't made it clear...I REALLLLLY hate to fly. Here's the good news. I did not cry hysterrically. I did not receive any nasty looks from my neighbors. I did not have a panic attack. That's about all I can say. We made it to San Diego only to be delayed on the second flight into San Francisco. Delayed flight = delayed agony for the girl who hates to fly. We finally boarded about 1.5 hrs late and arrived 1.5 hrs later in San Francisco to a beautiful rainbow over the city. Ahhhhh, we're on the ground. Thank you God. Now let's go have some fun!

We took a crazy CRAZY shuttle ride to the hotel. We settled in to our room and then headed out to explore Union Square. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Kuleto's where the food was amazing. No pictures from today. Weary travelers do not make good photos.

Until next week...

I have adopted this as my theme song for the next six days. Please pray for our safety. Please pray that my nerves will not get the best of me. Please pray for the pilots. Daddy would like you to pray for those sitting near us on the plane. Please pray that our children are safe and healthy. Please pray that they will have so much fun they won't even miss us until we are home again. Please pray for my Mom and step-MIL who will be holding down the fort until we return.
We need this trip. After all, as so many of you have reminded me, we were __ and __ before we were Mommy and Daddy. I'll be back with a trip report (and 3,697 photos) next week. The weather looks crummy with rain in the forecast most every day. Hopefully they are wrong. If they are, I'm sure we'll find something to do in the meantime. :-) In case of emergency you can call the house. They will know how to reach us. Everyone be safe and have a great weekend. XOXO.



If you wake up and dont want to smile,
If it takes just a little while,
Open your eyes and look at the day,
You'll see things in a different way.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone.

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

1 day 16 hours 33 minutes and counting...

enough said.
Rachel, this one is for you. I think I'm adopting this photo as my "mixed emotions" blog banner. From now on when you see this photo, consider it fair warning of the rollercoaster I'm on at the moment. Plus, it makes me chuckle. If I'm digging up the George W vs screaming baby photo then I could probably use a good chuckle. 1 day 16 hours 30 minutes and counting...