Saturday in SF

We headed to SF on Saturday to hit up a wet suit sale at Wise Surfboards in Outer Richmond. Kev is planning to swim from Alcatraz to SF sometime this summer and we lucked out and he scored an awesome deal on a suit. We went in, he tried one suit on, Andrew ran around the store getting chased by one of the surf shop workers, and then we were done.


Next we headed across the street to the beach. It was just south of the Cliff House, right by Seal Rocks. The scenery was beautiful. Andrew proved he was a full-fledged California boy by rolling around and around in the sand and refusing to leave. Forget the gorgeous Maui beaches (that he didn't like so much), California beaches are more his style.




After some beach time, we headed over to Patxi's Chicago Pizza in the Marina. Kevin's been telling me we should go for awhile, so we were happy to discover that a new restaurant had just opened up in SF.


Andrew was most excited about the rootbeer and the bouncy benches.



The pizza was very similar to Zachary's Pizza (our favorite pizza place in the East Bay).


The pizza takes 30-40 minutes to cook. Little dude was a good sport and then got tired out from all of his seat jumping and lounged on Kev's lap... sometimes he would start licking Kevin's jeans. I'm not sure what the fascination with licking is lately... but it was really funny.


As we wrapped up dinner we started smelling something foul coming from Andrew's vicinity. I started walking back to the car with him and discovered a nice big wet spot in front of his pants from a major explosion he'd had during dinner. He walked the 5 blocks back to the car with his legs wide open trying not to bring them together. I was laughing so hard I could barely walk.


Fortunately the weather is so finicky right now, we had two different outfits in the car for him to change into.


Our last stop before we headed home was Chrissy Field. We ran along the beach, played in the sand, and checked out the sunset.






We ended the night after Andrew fell off a bench and did a face plant onto the concrete. He talked about his "boo boo" the entire drive home.


If I could choose, I'd be spending Memorial Day in SF too! What a beautiful city... especially when the weather is warm and sunny!

A Gold Star Kinda Day

Our day started off with Mom's Day Out. It was the last week for the year... so I was really hoping that Andrew would stay and not throw a huge tantrum. He has only stayed alone twice since he started going back in January. As you can see from this picture, he isn't flipping out. Yay!


I enjoyed a fabulous morning run through Walnut Creek while he played with friends. They also made cute little graduation caps for their craft. Here's Andrew showing his off.


Check out his beautiful chalk artwork on the top ;)


After MDO we headed down to San Jose to Happy Hollow. Andrew decided not to take a nap on the drive down, so I started preparing myself for major tantrums at Happy Hollow. Last time we went he was overtired and he wouldn't go any rides and was kind of a grump.

We met up with my friend Alie and her two cute little girls.

I was pleasantly surprised that as the afternoon progressed Andrew was super happy and went on EVERY ride.

We went on the carousel about six times.


Then on the cars 2-3 times



on the ladybugs


and on Danny the Dragon! It was such a fun trip!
Afterwards, little dude crashed in the car on our drive to get Kevin at Google.


He woke up happily just as we arrived at Shivas (our favorite Indian restaurant). I have been craving Indian food ALL week and didn't want any bad moods to get in the way of me getting to enjoy dinner. Fortunately, Andrew continued his gold star behavior all through dinner! I told him his behind was stuck to the seat with glue and he barely came off it all night. He has become a really imaginative kid lately and we spent our wait time at dinner cooking our own food and feeding his little toys. It was so cute. Our dinner was amazing as well and the service was SO FAST (unlike the last time we went). Last Fri night when we went out to dinner Andrew was practically running around the restaurant by the end. I was so happy and full of yummy food on our drive home. It all hit the spot perfectly.

The drive home was awesome as well. Barely any traffic... and then I think I fell asleep on the couch the second we turned on the TV (at 9:30pm) and then got to sleep in til 9:45am... so today might be another gold star kinda day too!

A little change of plans

Things that didn't happen today...

- mounds of dishes (that have been sitting in the sink for far too long)
- laundry
- or really anything on my responsible adult "to do" list

Instead... we headed off on an adventure. We were supposed to go to Ardenwood Farms for a day of playing with the animals and outdoor fun. Unfortunately the skies opened up and began pouring buckets of water as we were driving to the farm. Someone in our little group at least had a plan B, so we took a few different highways and a bridge or two and found ourselves in San Francisco at the Exploratorium. We also got in for free, so that was a definite bonus.


Every school in the Bay area also decided to go to the Exploratorium today too. ;) It was entertaining. The kiddos held their own with the teenagers though and weren't beyond grabbing and screaming. I learned quickly to say in a loud voice (to Andrew and friends), "Oh don't worry, these are nice big kids and they know how to share really well... so they'll give you lots of turns in just a minute." Worked like a charm every time... kids were handing Andrew and friends whatever they hadn't been sharing previously and even would show the kiddos what to do at some of the exhibits.

Highlights from the day...

Potential Lawsuit #1- obviously not for toddlers... though they loved them (kept throwing and wacking each other with them... and they were metallic and hard)

Andrew just plopped down in the middle of the hallway to watch this guy dance in front of a cool screen that made rainbow shadows.


Mega tantrum when I really needed to use the bathroom... though it wasn't as fun as the time when Andrew and Izzie both lied down on the floor and had tantrums in the main lobby earlier in the day... I stood far away and tried not to laugh too hard. People kept coming up to Andrew thinking he was lost.


Crazy slanted room. The kids got nice and dirty rolling down and then running back up.


Construction zone- the cool moms in our group actually spent a lot of time constructing things for the kids to try and use- ramps, tunnels, etc. I just took pictures. My brain didn't feel like thinking. Clepto Andrew stole several marbles from this exhibit that we later found as we were driving home. Oops!


We went home with a lot more germs than we arrived with. See below.


Potential Lawsuit #2- the kids kept running through this and crashing into one another. At least one of them got a goose egg on his head... and all of the other ones got pushed or fell down and got hurt once or twice.


Shaking shapes- I just loved this picture because of Andrew's facial expression.


This brief moment of silence was another highlight of the day (that is... until we got home about 15 min after they fell asleep and my little dude was all napped out for the day. Grrr!)


Best part of the day- On our way home Sarah and I took a pit stop at Ghirardelli Square and I ran in to get us some delicious Ghirardelli hot cocoa while she hung out with the crazy dude and dudette (Andrew & Izzie) in the car. It was amazing! We enjoyed every sip on our long traffic filled drive home.

My responsible adult "to do" list isn't going to win out tomorrow either... we're off to Happy Hollow for the afternoon!

Lafayette-Moraga Trail Running

One of my goals this month is to map out 4-5 new East Bay running routes and then try out a new one each week (rotating through them all summer long). Each route has to include at least one park, be between 5-7 miles long, and have a paved trail. Last week we did the Ironhorse Trail so this week we tried out the Lafayette-Moraga Trail.


It was gorgeous. We started at Lafayette Community Park and ran 2.5 miles to Moraga Commons Park. The trail was mostly uphill for the first half, so we were exhausted by the time we got to our halfway spot.

The little guys loved Moraga Commons Park and would've been content to swing all day if we'd let them.


I love finding new toddler parks. This one was so great... Andrew especially like the train.




It also had a good sized big kid area too. After about 30 minutes at the park, we headed back to Lafayette Community Park.


The scenery as we ran was exquisite. The weather was overcast and a little drizzly (but not too bad), so the trees looked extra lush. We loved all the downhill running we got to do on the way back too. We probably ran the 2.5 miles back in half the time it took us to run there.

So pretty!

Lafayette Community Park was cute too. Andrew and Izzie had fun playing together and arguing over things.


They especially liked making music together.


This week was deemed a little more successful than last week's adventure since we finished in about 2 hours and didn't get poured on... the rain fortunately held off until we got home.

I already can't wait for our next adventure! Exploring is definitely more fun with friends... and it is always so nice to get my workout done first thing in the morning!

"Dancing"

Ever since I whipped out my terribly outdated VHS tape of Darrin's Dance Grooves (the one that features N'Sync's Bye Bye Bye dance) about a month ago, Andrew asks to do "dancing" every day.

Kevin was mortified that Andrew was dancing around the living room to "Bye Bye Bye" and I got a little disheartened when I realized that my body didn't dance as well as it used to... say like 10 years ago (and even back then it didn't look too good)... so we've since moved on to other videos.

Here's Andrew rocking out to Billy Blank's Tae-Bo this morning. He thinks all my workout videos are dancing videos too... which helps me get in a little extra workout every day since he begs and begs, "do dancing please mommy?" Can't say no to that, right?


My favorite part of the day is when he starts copying the instructor and saying "work it, work it" or "tight, tight." He has also perfected counting from 1-8 forwards and backwards... since that's how they count everything off on the videos. Who knew working out could be so educational? ;)

When he gets done with the punching and the kicking, he throws all the pillows from the couch all over the floor so I have a tiny tiny spot to stand. Today he also cleaned out everything he found underneath the couch cushions and threw it all in the trash (a little OCD maybe?). I was very happy... other than when he had some "snacks" he found down there too.


Once he has completely exhausted himself from all the jumping and kicking he settles down with a blanket to watch the "dancing" and says, "Go Mommy, go mommy, go!" Today he also decided to "cook dinner" for me while I finished the video. He made me pretend hot dogs, pasta, waffles, cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, cookies, brownies, and a milkshake (perfect workout food) and then tried to feed me while I was bouncing up and down. It was so funny and kept him happy an extra 20 minutes.

With all the rain we've had in the past few months, this has been a way to keep myself sane in the mornings and tire out the crazy dude before his nap. It is so funny how sad he gets when "dancing" is done. The poor kid is going to be so confused some day when he goes to his first dance and doesn't see Billy Blanks or Darrin there leading the group.

Shh!

I have a secret...

Coming at the end of November...

(Baby #2 around 12 weeks old)

To say we are thrilled would be an understatement.