When two people come together with their many traditions, sometimes it's hard to figure out how to make it all work for the new family. I'll give you a little picture of our backgrounds
While neither are "right", our Christmas tree backgrounds differ pretty dramatically. David's family had a fake tree. My family not only had a real tree, but for most of my childhood, we went to a tree farm and cut down our own tree.
So, it took me a couple years to convince David that real was what our family should do. We compromised that while in apartments we would do fake - a good compromise I think! I decided to back off of the cutting trees down idea until our kids are old enough to get it, so until next year - to Home Depot we go!
The bad news is that's not where our differences end. David is rational, and wants a tree that goes well in our home. I on the other hand want to get the BIGGEST tree we possibly can. I want it to rub the ceiling, and bulge out into the room. We have the same discussion each year as we banter back and forth about if it's really "too big" or not!
Well, I've won the past few years, but this year I agreed to a reasonable sized tree. Don't get me wrong - I understand by most people's standards a 9 foot tree is large. But, we have 10 foot ceilings, so really...it's a foot too short! ha!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
After our yummy dinner, my mom did us one more favor & took the girls home to go to bed, so that we could make a stop by the Terry house. Cody was David's best man, and just had sweet baby Abigail Grace join their family! We hadn't gotten to meet her yet & were so excited to!
When we got there, they had gotten me an ice cream cake!
It's true that having babies around makes men even better looking...
Their middle daughter Kyla is a HOOT! Both girls are pretty crazy about Uncle David (and I'm sure Abigail will be too someday), but she keeps us laughing the whole time. She asked me to take their picture together....
...and then decided they should make funny faces!
Cody got in on the action...
...then they finally roped in Peyton too.
We love that our families are getting to become friends! So fun to watch a friendship that started between two highschool boys continue to grow!
As they say, 'all good things must come to an end', and on the morning of my actual 30th birthday, we packed things up and headed home.
We made a quick stop through Starbucks for breakfast - one of my favorite things to do in NYC with "the girls" for breakfast.
One final hike up that massive hill (since drinks aren't allowed on the cable cars!), and we settled in with our new driver for a ride back to the airport. It became clear in our chatting that he was a believer, and such a sweet man! If you ever need anyone in San Francisco, we would *highly* recommend them!
Then came the longest 3.5hour plane ride of my life. The 24-year-old girl behind us talked the ENTIRE trip to the 40-something man next to her. LOUD. It was fairly comical for awhile, she only talked about herself, and if he attempted to turn the convo about him, she quickly steered it back on track. I swear I could tell you every detail about her life from how her grandpa married this younger woman after her grandma died, to her crazy ditzy sister who hunts & wants to be a "club wife". UGH! And it wasn't one of those things you could just tune out. Funny now. DROVE US CRAZY then.
We were really glad to be home in time to get to spend a little time with my family for my b-day. We stopped by a local botanical garden for some family pics (more later!), then headed over to Hula Hut for dinner!! Thanks to a fairly incapable waitress, our dinner lasted close to 2 hours (which is a little crazy with 4 kids!), but it was so, so good & I was super thankful that my family wanted to go out and celebrate!
I'm looking forward to my 30s. So much changes in your 20s - graduate college, get married, move (lots!), have kids, have some more kids, learn about this crazy, wonderful thing called marriage, and more I'm sure. I loved my 20s, but I'm really looking forward to settling into my 30s & enjoying all that it will bring.
--stands independently even longer. seriously. I thought this girl was going to walk early. Guess not :-)
--gives "hugs" - puts her head on your shoulder when asked for one
--was weaned. I had hoped to make it a year with at least a couple feedings a day, but between being pregnant & a weekend away from each other, I weaned her a little early. Was a fairly easy process since she was already used to taking bottles.
--has gotten more picky about foods. She'll shake her head or turn it with her mouth glued shut. Loves something one week, hates it the next. So, I keep just changing things up.
--tries to mimic lots of what we say
--says "hiiii" while waving, "taht" for Kate, "he-o" while holding the phone to her ear
--has "come into her own" even more as my mom would say. Sometimes I can't even remember that before this one was 6 months, she was mostly a silent child who sort of just watched things happen. Not anymore. definitely. She is busy, busy, busy & DEFINITELY has her own opinions. Silent - no more!
--LOVES the TV remote!
--uses more objects for their purpose - tries to put rubberbands in hair
-blows kisses - sometimes puts her hand on her ear when trying to do it though
--plays "pat-a-cake" - claps, rubs hands together for "roll 'em up"
--added the sign for please into her repertoire
--still not as great at traveling long distances as I remember Kate being, but a little better. I think she will be a LOT better when we can turn her around!!
--added signing all done. she does this SO CUTE!
--ducks down out of sight, then pops up and says "pee-a-boo!" or sometimes just "boo!"
--walking behind push toys
--REALLY looking forward to facing forward in her carseat. Sister does not like not being a part of the action!
We started off Day 2 back at Sears for their famous pancakes. Yum!
Next, we caught a cable car, walked awhile, then a bus, and another bus, and finally an hour later ended up at Golden Gate Park. Our guide book had raved about it as one of the top sites to see. We were a bit disappointed. Maybe it was that it took us so long to get there, or maybe it was the $30 we paid for a pretty lame museum, but other than a few things, we definitely decided it wasn't something we'd recommend.
a band playing at the end of this tunnel - love stuff like this!
Even though it was raining, it was lunch time, & we were pretty wiped, we were determined to redeem our day & headed over for the must-have pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge. Another 30 minute wait in the rain & a crowded bus ride over, it was well worth it. The rain stopped & we got our pictures!
We grabbed a little snack, and our next stop was at Ghiradelli Square! Yum!
David got hot chocolate & I got a candy chunk shake (with carmel candy!), and we both thought ours was better than the other - can't complain!
We looked around Fisherman's Wharf a little, then headed back to our area of town by way of the historical trolley.
By this point it was getting super cold, and the rain was getting harder and harder. We ducked in H&M to do a little shopping, then headed over to Macy's to find a potty. While in there, we realized our original plan of heading back to the hotel before dinner was probably not a great one since it was Friday night and things were already super crowded.
Sure enough, when we just decided to head upstairs to the Cheesecake Factory, the wait was already an hour! Just down the escalator was their couch section! We headed down (with about 20 other couples!) to just relax and wait for our table.
We enjoyed a super yummy dinner, grabbed our cheesecake to go & enjoyed a warm, cozy night back at the hotel! I may or may not have fallen asleep by 9!
We ended up having to wait about 20-30 minutes for our trolley to get down to the coast, so we had to hurry past Fisherman's Wharf, in order to catch our ferry out to Alcatraz.
Alcatraz behind us from the ferry
We were both looking forward to the tour, but had no idea how much there was to Alcatraz. More than just the prison, there was so much to see - gardens, etc. You could take these trails all the way down to the water & see all the currents swarming around. David was just a *little* intrigued (ahem...obsessed) with this part & we spent quite some times watching the currents in the bay!
San Francisco in the back of the photo
After exploring the island for a little while, we headed into the actual prison where we picked up our fancy walk-mans to hear the audio tour.
It was super neat, they had old guards & prisoners giving you the tour as it gave directions for you to take different turns, and described specific things that happened in different cells.
David in the "black hole" isolation cell
We really like getting to see it, and I think if you ask David it was his favorite thing we did. If only we could've gotten tickets to the night tour!
We set off again to find a place in Little Italy we had picked out to eat for dinner. Because of our hurry to get to our Alcatraz time, and a big breakfast, we had skipped lunch, so by this time I was exhausted and STARVING (come on, I was 9 weeks pregnant!). We finally found the little whole in the wall place we had heard about, only to realize it was 4:30 and they didn't open til 5!
We set off to find some sun to sit it (it was chilly) while we waited & ended up across the street from a new place that was willing to let us come in. We had looked it up on Urban Spoon & everyone seemed to love it!
It was such a fun experience. Since it was so early, we were the only people there, except the staff - who were all Italian. When this bread landed on our table I was in heaven. I thought I might eat the whole loaf (and may have gotten close!).
The food was much more "authentic" than what we were used to, but we still enjoyed it!
After a super yummy dinner, we decided to head back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so before we going for more cheesecake (ha!). We had walked MANY, MANY miles by this point and I was super tired. Well, once getting a warm bath, and a chance to sit down, it became obvious that a night of movies and relaxing sounded much better than getting out for cheesecake again! I loved just getting to sit around & enjoy hanging out without feeling the pressure to get out and see. Perfect vacation!
Next up - Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge & Ghiradelli Square!
Since we were a little messed up from the time change, we were up and ready to go at 8am our first morning - so much for sleeping in!
We decided to spend the day exploring on foot & headed down the enormous hill to "Sears Fine Food" (you can see it behind the trolly) for breakfast. It was very good! At had a great little atmosphere. In the 2nd picture, you can see the inside - lots of close little tables, low lighting, dark wood.
We grabbed 2 passes to be able to use the MUNI (the public transit), and headed through Nob Hill. This neighborhood is where the "old money" is - some super nice hotels & incredible neighborhoods.
This is by far my favorite way to see a city - just walking and taking it all in. We found a great "walk" in a guide book we had & set out to explore
Our first stop was at Grace Cathedral - don't know if you can see the lady in the front of my pic, but it has labyrinths on the ground - seems like a crazy thing in a church, but it was neat to watch people do. Love old churches like this - the grandure takes your breath away
Our walk took us winding through neighborhoods & by all sorts of really neat sites...
...definitely not what you see in Longview!
We made a stop at the cable car museum, (which I had my doubts about), but it was free, and very small.
Did you know the cables are ALWAYS moving??
Next, our walk told us to take a left down the middle of a street, that ended in what looked like a dead end, but if you kept going it took you up the "Valejo Steps". Seriously, a LOT of steps.
this was only the first little section of them!
a stop to take a pic along the way (really just an excuse to sit down - ha!)
We climbed & we climbed, and we climbed! Along the way there were little parks & houses, so muchh to look at! To give you a better view, we thought we'd take this little video...
and no, i can't turn it. so annoying.
After climbing all those steps though, there were some INCREDIBLE views of the city!
Now that we'd made it to the top of this crazy hill, we headed down...
the hill was so steep, they cut stairs into it!
The sign underneath this tells people to park at 90 degrees. Would be embarassing if your car rolled down this hi
In the picture on the right, you can see me way down the hill. Can you tell we were intrigued by how crazy big these hills were? I mean you hear about San Francisco being that way, but it was totally different experiencing it!
We passed a local artist along the way...
We continued along our little walk & around the next corner was the famous Lombard St. It's a street that just spans 1 block, but is so steep, that made it turn 8 different times back and forth! I couldn't get great pictures from my perspective, so google it if you want to see all the turns.
Don't worry, we just walked up it. :-)
A view from the top...
After climbing to the top, we waiting for a cable car to take us down to the coast so we could check out Fisherman's wharf & head to the pier to get on the Alcatraz Ferry. Here, you can see the coast at the bottom of this street.
On our ride down that hill in the famous trolley!
Next up: The Second Half of Day 1 - Alcatraz & Dinner!
