San Francisco! (Week 114)

Ooh, I am SO late with this week's post! I'm going to cheat though, and postdate it as Monday (even though it's Saturday night!). In our defense though, we're pretty under the weather over here - Will got and is getting over the cold and I've got Shingles. YES...that ailment that affects people mostly over 60. Yes. I'm THAT lucky. Anyway - on with the blog!

Before heading off to SF for our big adventure, I made sure to get in some quick KMT time with my girls at In-n-Out! Plus, Trina was Mojo's food/water supplier so I needed to drop off our key. Thanks Trina! I had a strawberry shake that night - mmm been so long!
Thursday morning we headed out to SF. Very early morning. I was quite proud that we were IN the car and driving by 4:30am. Yowza! We had thought about possibly driving at night while Tyler slept, but didn't like the idea of us being so exhausted afterward. I was hoping Tyler would sleep in the beginning but he totally woke up when I got him from bed and put him the car. He seemed confused and kept looking closely at me (in the darkness) to make sure it was me! heehee. Good thing it was (obviously) still really dark and he was asleep within half hour or so. First stop was around 8am - at Harris Ranch for breakfast! Here's Will and Tyler outside with a golden bear statue. They were starting to cook prime rib outside too for dinner that night - it smelled good! Tyler was all about this restaurant since it had tons of pictures of horses and lots of mounted animals on the walls - he kept running around looking at the different antlers/horns on the walls.

The drive up north actually wasn't that bad. I had a ton of stuff for Tyler to do - but he was pretty much content with gummies, lychee jellies, and my iphone. Plus he would take lots of naps as well. We got there pretty quick.

Tyler was a great passenger and was most excited whenever we passed cows - and we passed a LOT of them! He kept pointing out trains and barns and got really excited.

Our next stop on our drive was Berkeley!! Whoohoo! It was great timing as Kareen had just picked up my older sister and her kids at the airport at SFO - we got to Zachary's pizza at the same time! The first thing Tyler did was hold Annie's hand. He totally has a cousin-crush on her! It's the big sister Tyler will never have. heehee.

Yum Yum Zachary's. Our favorite pizza place when we were living up here. Probably still our favorite pizza place!

Tyler was really into putting parmesan on his pizza. The other day he was putting some salt on his broccoli too! Kind of weird, since he's never really interested in dipping sauces or anything.

We also had a quick stop at 2201 Channing - our old home! This place will always be special because it's where Will proposed!

Then it was off to visit the Berkeley campus. It was hot that day too - I had flashbacks of the beginning of each school year and it being SO hot as I hiked across campus to the engineering buildings. We parked at Underhill and picked up a cute Cal shirt for Tyler. :)

They even have a Yogurtland directly across from campus on Bancroft next to the Jamba Juice! It's amazing how much things have changed in... yikes... 6 years?! nm.

Being only the 2nd week of September, the semester had only been going on for a few weeks and there were lots of tables set up on Sproul. Total flashbacks! I'm sure we must have looked so old with our kids and strollers and stuff! haha!

Here's a couple cute photos of the kids in front of the fountain on Sproul. How cool is it that both my sisters and myself all went to Berkeley, and all married guys who went to Berkeley also?! We're a total CAL family!

Next time we visit we'll have even more kids to drag around and try to brainwash to become future Golden Bears. :)

Not sure why we are so ridiculously tiny in this picture in front of Sather Gate...

We had plans to walk all throughout campus but it was just WAY too hot. We really wanted to go up the Campanile but it was closed for construction! Boo! Instead we found a nice shady spot to rest while the kids played. Here's some photos - (top left) kids playing, (top right) Tyler and Annie playing, (bottom left) Annie had poked Tyler with a stick and Tyler was upset. He stood there very sullen until we noticed and then (bottom right) they were both grumpy as Annie apologized. But soon after they were holding hands and laughing and giggling again. :)

Not sure what Tyler was running from - but I do love him in Cal gear!

After that exhausting excursion, we headed to SF to check into our hotel (Laurel Inn). I was actually pretty impressed with the hotel - we had a kitchenette attached to ours, and it was an adjoining room with my sister's. I was worried since it was 'pet friendly' and I was imagining it smelling like dog, but it was actually pretty clean. I still made sure Tyler kept his socks or sandals on at all times though.

After we got all settled, we headed to Kareen's place (super close, which is why we chose the hotel). It got cold! - I LOVE IT! Darnit, if only Orange County could have SF-like weather. haha! But I guess if it did, it wouldn't be OC anymore... Oh well. Anyway, loved that Tyler was willing to wear a beanie to keep his head warm. Love his dimple!

We also headed to a nearby park for the kids to work off some energy before dinner. It was very sandy there.

Here are the kids at Kareen's place. How cute are they! Notice Tyler's the only one not wearing his CAL shirt anymore - he insisted, like REALLY insisted on taking it off once we left Berkeley. How weird huh!

Dinner was at a local Thai place - very yummy. It was kind of cool being out at night in SF - it was bustling and very city-like, plus it was past Tyler's bedtime! I had already prepared myself ahead of time that vacation = not being able to stick to Tyler's schedule. Plus he had slept so much on the drive that morning that he was still in a pretty good mood. Oh - Tyler can smile on command now! He's smart - we've took SO many pictures of him that he knows that we'll only stop once we get him to smile. Now if only we could tweak his smiles a little bit... heehee...still adorable!

Ahhh. They key to Tyler's heart - gummies. I brought a HUGE amount and we were almost out by the end of the trip. Ack! It's like our surefire way of distracting/pacifying him. Haha!

Giving Tyler a shower was quite the disaster. The rooms only had standing shower (no tub) and Tyler really hates showerheads! I ended up holding him in the shower and he screamed the whole time. It sucked! That night the kids all went to bed pretty easily. There was a small pullout couch in our room that we put against the wall (facing the wall) that became Tyler's bed! Sweet huh! With the high/cushioned sides, we didnt have to worry about him falling out or anything. However, not so convenient when you have adults that aren't ready to go to sleep so early. With my sister's room full of 3 kids sleeping and ours with Tyler's in the corner, we all hung out in the area outside the bathroom (blocked off by an open wall) and played Monopoly...in whispers! Surprisingly, very fun, and even MORE fun because I WON! whoohoo!

Friday. Big day - lots to do. Here's Annie helping Tyler get dressed in the morning. Good thing the hotel had a free continental breakfast so we could save time without stopping somewhere.

First stop - Academy of Sciences. Really cool place! We got there right when it opened and still didn't see everything! Here's a group shot Will took while we were outside.

There was SO much to see there. Do they have something like that here in Orange County? Here we are checking out the sting rays. They had a planetarium that we were planning on visiting - until we found out kids 6 and under weren't allowed! Oh well.

There was a wing that was kind of like the Museum of Natural History - lots of stuffed animals in their natural habitats. At the end of the hall were penguins - super cute! Very friendly too - they would want to play with you through the glass!

Here's a short video of the kids watching the penguins - Tyler and Annie decide to mimic the penguin walk!

We checked out a lot of different exhibits and then headed upstairs to see the 3D bug movie. Here's Will and Tyler outside the theater.

Not only has Tyler never seen a 3D movie, he's also only been to 1 actually movie in public! I was a little concerned. The movie was interesting, and WAY too gory for me - I did NOT need closeups of a praying mantis biting the head off of a fly. Seriously. Tyler would be get really concerned and yell out 'what happened!?!'.

How cute is Tyler - what a little poser.

Afterward, we hit up the Rainforest! Super muggy, but full of birds and butterflies!

Next stop - the aquarium! Seriously, this place never ends! Tyler really enjoyed getting his hand shocked on this display (below) - feeling the shock of an electric eel! He got his fingers in the correct place, and then pulled them away quick as soon as he felt the shock! I wasn't sure how he would react...until he decided to go back for more and more!

Here we are in the Aquarium - they have an area where you're actually in a tunnel and can watch the sea life all around. I just liked that we could sit and rest! :)

There was even a tidepool area. Tyler did not touch anything.

Family picture! Not much of a background though...

Here's a cute photo of Kareen and Andy! Much better background.

We left and headed out to Pier 39 for lunch. The kids were able to nap a bit in the car, so that helped their moods. We got clam bread bowls, and then had lunch at Bubba Gumps. We had a great view of the water at Bubba Gumps! Then we rode the carasouel - the one on the Pier is 2 levels! I must be getting old, because our seat was like the Disneyland spinning teacups, and it was making me SO dizzy!! Note - I know it's a tourist attraction but dang, everything was so overpriced! I'm still annoyed about my small bottle of water that cost $3. Sheesh.

Main attraction of the day? - Sea lions! Here's Annie and Tyler getting a good view on the steps in front of the sea lions. Tyler will do anything that Annie does!

Oh man, watching those sea lions made me really jealous. They are SO lazy! They just lay out all over each other and sleep. It made me sleepy watching them.

The day is STILL not over! Next we headed to a park in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Definitely a tourist stop since there were lots of tour buses there. We managed to get some really great photos of our whole group with Will's tripod/timer.

Tyler was ALLLL about pressing the timer button and running into the photo - regardless of who was in the photo. The next two photos he wasn't even supposed to be in! The first one is of my sister's family, and you can see he snuck in at the bottom with a big hug to Annie. The second one is of Kareen/Andy - he ran at them after pressing the button and jumped into Andy's arms and then moved quickly to smushing his face next to Kareen's! Hilarious!!

Then the kids goofed around for a bit. I thought these were funny as Tyler got smushed - I was totally expecting him to start whining but he was having such a good time and laughed it off! Anything is OK as long as Annie was the one that did it...

Oh yes, and we got a family picture as well. Love it!

Here's a video of the kids rolling around down the hill at this park. Kids can have fun doing anything!
After this we headed back to the hotel for a little recuperation. But then headed out to the Conservatory of Flowers at Golden Gate Park. How cute are Tyler and his cousins!

Here's a video of the kids taking this photo - how cute are they - all sitting still for the photo and then getting up to run away!


Here's a video of the kids running down the hill at the conservatory of flowers. Funny moment - watching Tyler running down the hill and then face planting! It brought back flashbacks of the intro to Little House on the Prarie with the girls all running down the hill. :)


They have an awesome dahlia garden there. There are so many different types of dahlias - definitely some I like a lot more than others. I had to fight the urge to pick the ball ones - they are so cool!

Another video - playing at the bike racks at Golden Gate Park.


We had dinner at a local Korean restaurant and then headed home. Whew! WHAT a day! Bathtime was still horrible. Tyler wouldn't even go into the bathroom - he totally knew what was coming. I had to tell him that he couldn't go say good night to Annie if he was dirty! He was very reluctant and still cried the whole time. Sigh. That night we played trivial pursuit, and I was REALLLLLY great at saying the right answer immediately and then not going with it as my final answer. Sheesh.

That night there was a lightning/thunderstorm. I was totally clueless. I woke up starting around 4am wondering who was taking out the trash and shining a flashlight around outside our window. Yes, I'm that clueless! I even got up to look outside in my sleepiness. The sucky thing is that it took out our power for a good number of hours - luckily it got restored before we had to leave or I would have been in hair-catastrophe mode! :)

Saturday! Here's a shot of Tyler's bed against the wall. It was right next to our bed so it was easy to check on him at night. Annie's watching a video on my iPhone in there with Tyler.

Plan for the morning? Seeing the buffalos at Golden Gate Park! Wow, there is like everything in GG Park - I had no clue there were buffalos. It was much chillier that morning as well (thank goodness we stopped by a Starbucks for some coffee and a breakfast sandwich). Not sure what Tyler ate that morning that didn't sit well but as we were parking at the park, he threw up! Yuck! It wasn't like gross throw-up, more like liquid, but still very sad to see. Amazingly, he ate an entire english muffin afterwards (he would never eat them before), so hopefully that helped his stomach feel better. Here's Annie and Tyler walking to check out the buffalos.

We saw them in the gated area, but they were totally on the other side. Solution? Walking all the way around! We were kind of lame and walked the 'unbeaten' path, which meant the messy dirty road. Adventure!? Anyway, it was worth it because we got really close to the animals!

We were still hanging out there when it started raining - HARD! We ran back to the car and took shelter back in our hotel. What's SF without rain! :) We gathered our stuff up and drove down to Pleasanton to visit our friends. It was really great seeing old friends! Here we are with Michael/Ruby and their 6 month old Jimmy, as well as Jacqueline and Ryan. Notice Tyler's big smiles - he's stoked that he got to press the timer button again.

Tyler the photographer. It doesn't even matter who's in the picture!

From Pleasanton we headed straight back into the city to have dinner with more old friends. This group was Will's college friends! We had dinner at Rigolo, which was great because they had a kid play area in the back with a chest of toys and everything! Here we are with Will/Carolyn and their two boys Ricky and Joey; as well as John (whose 2 boys couldn't make it).

That night we gave in and didn't force Tyler into the shower. We were all too tired for that. Instead, we gave him a bath in the sink. HAHA! Keep in mind he is FAR from a little baby - but it was the only way we could get him clean. I was totally not feeling up for a bunch of screaming. We took it easy that night and played cards after the kids were asleep.

Sunday. First stop was Chrissy Fields. There were SO many dogs there with their owners! It's really quite beautiful there. We took some more nice group shots.

Here's a photo with my sisters.

Family picture!

Then we headed to Stow Lake for some paddle boating. $25/hour - sheesh! Tyler was not feeling the life jacket but he wore it anyway. I was more worried about the nastiness of the water (some parts were quite stagnant!) !

Tyler was not the best passenger. He insisted on trying to pedal himself (totally impossible since his legs were too short) and then tried to get me or Will to move to the back so he could sit on the seat himself! Hmph! We finally convinced him that the steering wheel was his pedal and he sat still - only after insisting on taking off his life jacket though. Ugh.

After the boats we had lunch at Burma Superstar (yummy Coconut milk noodle soup!) and then had to part ways with my older sister and her family as they were headed down to Fremont for the remainder of their trip. Can't wait to see them again next year! Tyler was very bummed about having to say goodbye to Annie - I don't think he realized until later that she wasn't coming back because he kept asking, "Where's Annie?".

We decided to completely chill the rest of our trip (we were leaving the next morning) and just relaxed at Kareen's place. We were so exhausted and totally didn't want to go anywhere anymore. Plus it started raining again. My high school friend Connie came by to visit - Yay! Tyler was such a ham with her, but she won him over with some gummies (I'm telling you - it's the WAY to his heart!!).

As a 2 year old, Tyler had a TON of energy to burn off and not much room to do it since we couldn't go outside. He got busy entertaining himself around the apartment - he loved playing with this pig hand puppet with Uncle Andy; and flipping through this Gon Dinosaur comic book. He also tried to learn to tie his shoes. hehe.

He watched some YouTube videos as well. He's very picky about what he wants to watch now!

We were staying at their place that night and pulled out Tyler's inflatable Thomas the Train mattress bed. It was the first time Tyler had seen it and he loved it! We were able to squeeze it between the couch and our inflatable mattress in the living room. In the middle of the night, I remember Tyler waking up and looking over and being surprised to see that I was right there - just a roll away! So he rolled over and cuddled with me for a bit before he rolled back onto his bed. Heehee. super cute! Here's a picture I got of Tyler as he was waking up the next morning - sheesh, he sure does NOT look like a morning person! :)

Monday morning we packed up our stuff and headed back down to Irvine. The drive was much more tiring this time around, as we were pretty drained from the weekend. But it was definitely worth the effort - Tyler had a great time with his cousins, it was great seeing family again, and we had a fun time! Only bad result - I caught a cold and Shingles. Ugh yes. Still suffering. Will talk more about that in my next post.

Sorry for the delay! Have a great week!