Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, Aunt Heather treated us all to a Giants' baseball game at ATT park in San Francisco. On our drive up, we made a stop at the National Cemetery, where my great-grandpa, John Linebarger is buried. He served in WWI when America joined the war in 1917.

 Afterward, we got to watch the ball game with Heather. She not only got our tickets, but treated us to ballgame grub, and bought hats for both the boys. We LOVE living close to Heather!

Biding Our Time

I don't know about Reed, but to me, January just felt like a long stretch of waiting for the baby. I could barely take it! I was to the point where I was uncomfortable 100% of the time, and no matter what I did, there was no relief. Pregnancy is not for the faint of heart! :) 

Despite the discomfort, we tried our best to distract ourselves from the waiting game with fun activities. Reed did another Escape game up in San Francisco with a bunch of friends. I'd planned on going, too, but poor little Cal got sick, so I stayed home with him. Too bad -- if they'd had my brain there, they may have gotten out! 

Cal and I spent lots of days at the park, rinding bikes, having picnics and playing with friends. (Did I mention this was during the Polar Vortex? -- We love California!)

Okay, little baby. We're ready for you!

Saturday in the City

One of my birthday presents this year was a day trip to San Francisco.  As I've probably mentioned before, I find SF a little intimidating.  Before I moved to the bay area, I never would have considered myself a "country girl", and honestly, I still can't say those words with a straight face, but I am realizing that I tend to gravitate toward wide open spaces.  And that is one thing you will find none of in San Francisco: free space.  Thankfully, there are enough cool things in the city to overcome my doubts about driving down endless, winding roads in search of a rare parking spot. Exhibit A: Tartine Bakery.

Check out that line out front!  I was coming on a recommendation from a friend, and this place did not disappoint. 

They are famous for their morning buns, but I opted for a fruity scone and a hot chocolate.  A perfect breakfast to start my day!

I am nuts about historical buildings, and that is one thing that San Fran has in no short supply.  One of California's crowning historical legacies is its chain of Spanish missions running up the state along the Camino Real.  I had been to several growing up (they are standard fare in 4th grade classrooms all over California), and was excited to visit a new one; each has their own specific personality and story. 

The Mission Dolores in San Francisco:

It was built in 1776, and is the oldest extant building in San Francisco.

 It even survived the earthquake of 1906, although the same cannot be said for the more recent basilica to the right, which had to be nearly completely rebuilt.

The museum had photos on display which showed the damage to the basilica roof, and hearses out front carrying victims of the earthquake:

The basilica today:

 The inside was peaceful and quiet, lined with beautiful stained glass windows (many of which had to be replicated and replaced after the earthquake shattered them).

I just kept gasping and pointing, reading plaques and graves with excitement... what a historical treasure.

By the time the (self-guided) tour was finished, I'd worked up quite an appetite. Look at this cute little restaurant next to Golden Gate Park.  We killed time waiting for our names to be called by shopping for kids' clothes at a consignment boutique up the street, and then got to sit up on the rooftop addition, next to a cozy fire.  Lovely!  (And Cal scored two new shirts!)

After lunch, I made us go over to the Conservatory of Flowers, a beautiful Victorian structure dating to 1878.  (There's actually a controversy about its origins. COOL! History Mystery!!!) Isn't it just stunning?  It was one of the few structures to escape largely unscathed from the earthquake.

From there, it was a lovely, meandering walk to the de Young art museum lookout tower, which offers a panoramic view of the bay.

The last stop was an adorable bookstore across from the goodwill boutique.  (I had much more luck at the bookstore than with the clothes, as usual!)  I took pictures of about 10 new books to add to my to-read pile...which is getting frighteningly large...

It was a wonderful day in San Francisco, a city that intimidates me less and less with each visit. :)

Paramore Concert

For my birthday, Reed surprised me with tickets to the Paramore concert at the Warfield in San Francisco! We had an awesome time. I even chalked my hair blue for the occasion, but it all rubbed out before the night was over. 

The Warfield is an amazing, historic theatre that is unfortunately located smack dab in the middle of the tenderloin, which is filled with homeless people, drugs and trash. It was a disturbing experience waiting in line outside, but once we were in, the concert was a total blast. 

Quick visit from Mom and Mark

The first week of March, my sister Hannah came to San Francisco with her high school wind ensemble, and my mom and brother tagged along for the trip.  It was wonderful to see them, even if it was only for a day or so.  

While the band was on a sightseeing tour of the city, my mom took us to the California Academy of Sciences, which rocks.  Its crowning feature is a three-story rainforest simulation dome, filled with tons of creatures Cal had never seen before.  Here he is saying hello to a gecko:

 Afterward, we walked down to Pier 39 to shop and see the seals.  Cal loved watching the boats sail past Alcatraz.

And he didn't mind chomping on the churro that Grandma bought him, either:

Hannah's wind ensemble then performed on the pier. It was delightful to sit and listen, and clap and cheer with the tourists after each number. We were so glad it didn't rain on the kids!

Cal loves his grandma so much. My mom is such a wonderful, positive influence in all our lives.  I loved being able to see her!

Oh and P.S. - she and Mark got scared by the bush man. Awesome. :)

Date Night: Pinball Museum

One of the cool things about living near San Francisco is that there are infinite things to explore. You could probably live here your entire life and still not have seen everything there is to see. I was reminded of this when our friends asked us to accompany them to the pinball museum in Alameda. My response: "There's a pinball museum? Like, on this planet?" Who would've thought!

It actually had some pretty amazing historical pieces. There were several rooms, and the machines were organized by decade, starting with some of the old wooden penny machines from the 30s and 40s. Very cool! All the machines were lined up side by side, making for a bright and noisy display.

 We played tournaments on several machines, where we'd play our turn and then rotate to the next machine, like a crazy relay race.

 See that high score? It's mine. No big deal. I won most of the tournaments. Hate to brag! :)

 We spent most of our time with the machines from the 80s and 90s. I was excited to see "The Black Knight", which I spent many childhood hours playing at a friend's house, but unfortunately, it was out of order for the night.

Another fun date night! Visiting such a fun little nook of the city made me want to be more proactive about exploring the cool things at our fingertips. I see many eclectic date nights in our future.

It's fun being up here in the Giants' home turf while the World Series is going on. Cal is really getting into the spirit of things...

In other news, I've been called as an Achievement Days leader in my ward. I was a little nervous about it at first, but it has turned out to be extremely fun. I'm getting along really well with the girls (I'm with the 11-year-olds), and the leader all treat me like I'm an expert with "tweens". I do feel pretty happy where I am, but I definitely walk into every activity thinking, "Welp, hope they like this." I'm very relieved when they get into the activity. Last week, I taught them Halloween songs, and tonight we did a modest costume fashion show. I'll probably be hitting you all up for ideas, so please stay tuned!

Visit from Diana and Chris!

This weekend, Diana (Reed's sister) and her husband Chris drove out from Utah to spend the weekend with us. We had so much fun! We were all debating whether or not it was worth it for them to make the trip, since they'd only be here for 2.5 days or so, but it was SO WORTH IT!!! (Well, definitely worth it for us...hopefully for Di and Chris as well!)

Saturday, Reed and Chris woke up at some horrific hour of the morning to make a golf tee-time at 7:00am...Di and I crawled out of bed around noon -- perfect timing, because the boys were just finishing their 5-hour golf game! That's how we roll...

We had a delicious lunch at Pluto's (a yummy sandwich/salad place in Palo Alto, where I proceeded to ruin our day by ordering a plate of garlic fries...which I claimed were "for everybody"...thank goodness Diana had gum. I love being prego), and then drove up to the city, where we spent the next 5 hours of the day FREEZING OUR BUNS OFF!!! :) As you can see, in the progression of the photos that follow, I start with no sweatshirt, and end the day with a sweatshirt. My hubby is very patient with, and responsive to, my whiney neediness.

We drove down Lombard Street (it's the windiest road in the world or something). Plus, we accidentally cut in line, and so we skipped out on probably 45 minutes of backed-up cars, waiting to drive the street. Sweet!

To appease my love of all things historical, Reed took me to the Harbor Museum. But then, he made up this story about the Bay Ark Ghost (Bay Ark was the name of one of the ships there), and I was kind of terrified, but more just mad at him for always teasing me...and how I always fall for it!

You can see how foggy and cold it was in this picture. I guess it's not San Francisco's fault that I wore flip flops and bermuda shorts. It was very pretty, though.

Okay, this picture deserves a long, long caption. So here's the story: we were walking around outside, FREEZING, and wanted to get the chowder bread bowls (we were doing the tourist thing!). We decided we wanted to get two bread bowls and split them. Total cost = $10. Well, there were TONS of places, outside and inside. Since we were freezing, we decided we'd sit inside. Well, after our waiter brought us our drinks, he informed us that there was an $11.00 minimum for each person. Hmmmm... well... we weren't that hungry, and we really just wanted two soup bowls, so I kind of whined/pouted at the waiter, and he said he'd just overlook it, which was VERY nice of him. However, we could tell that he was totally ticked about it (as he had a right to be), and when he brought us our food, none of us could look him in the eye. We ate as fast as we could in order to free up his table, and left a really good tip, but there was no saving it... we had doomed ourselves to an awkward situation...

This is me in the sweatshirt that Reed bought for me. I think I'm kind of high maintenance.