San Francisco Trip

We escaped the tail end of Snomaggeden 2019 and I was never more thrilled to see snow-free streets and sunshine! We spent the kids' winter break in Northern California visiting my brother, Allen, and his family, as well as touring San Francisco.

We spent the first couple days with Allen and his three oldest boys in Capitola hanging around the beach and Santa Cruz boardwalk where we spent the day on rides and eating corndogs.

 We spent a day hiking around Ano Nuevo, a state park that is a haven for elephant seals. 
It was so awesome observing them in their natural habitat. Plus the day was gorgeous.

Allen's wife, Natasha, met up with us at some point in San Fran to play at a playground. That's where we met their two youngest, Charleston and Harper. 

We did several days in San Francisco with just us. I love that city!

We found a fabulous dumpling place near our Airbnb and ordered way too much food. YUM!

Did all the touristy things around San Fran like Pier 39 and the barking seals. I could really watch all the seals all day long.

Clam chowder time! Sienna is in the middle of quoting the poster behind her: "Wham bam, thank you clam!"

We spent an afternoon at the aquarium. The jelly fish were mesmerizing.

One of the workers dissected a squid. So interesting.

My personal favorite stop on any SF trip: Ghiradelli Square. I'm dying just looking at this.

A major highlight was touring Alcatraz. I had never been interested in it because it seemed like it'd be too touristy. But we all loved it. The ferry ride was lovely, the island has a lot of other buildings besides the prison that had their own stories, plus the whole history of the place was something I didn't know. The audio guide for the prison itself was spectacular. It featured voices from eight former inmates as well as several prison guards. Their experiences were fascinating.

Shower room.

Sienna in front of a cell.

The remains of a former home where prison guard families lived.

I can't remember if this is a school or some kind of meetingplace.

 
Sienna in front of the SF skyline.

On one afternoon I made everyone trek to two architectural landmarks of the city, the Columbus Tower (green) and the Transamerica Pyramid.

They were mad about it but then we ended with ramen and we were all friends again.

The final couple of days we spent near Sunnyvale hanging with Allen's whole family. We went to a train museum.

All the cousins together.

We hung out at their house for a bit while the kids terrorized each other in various ways.

I dubbed this Harper's Hideout, where she would often retreat to and giggle quietly from while her brothers roughhoused.

On our last night, Al and Natasha got a babysitter and we brought our kids and we all had Thai food together. Great trip! Good family time! Glorious weather! Delicious food!

January + February

This is how I blog now. Month by month summaries. Boring! 

January was super rough. I wished it was over the day it began. But for one nice respite, we found ourselves at one of my favorite Seattle haunts: Olympic Sculpture Park. I love that place. 

At some point I made buttermilk roast chicken. It was a real highlight.

 The kids celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at school and made signs and marched around outside the school. Sienna kinda missed the message on hers but I think it's still a really good thing to rally for. She's got my full support!

 My kids are not too old for Playdoh! Hooray!

 At the beginning of February we went to Wenatchee to see my cousin Carrie's daughter, Lucy, get baptized. My Aunt Rita was there, too, and it was fun to catch up with her.

 Little Matt loves Mr. Noah.

 Lucy's a precious gal!

 Sienna was reunited with a friend from kindergarten. So fun to see these two sweet girls together.

 We made sugar cookies for Valentine's Day, obvs. I didn't have food coloring (I'm still stocking my kitchen after moving) so I used a half packet of fruit punch flavored Emergen-C. Did the trick. Kinda.

I rode the bus downtown with Adam one morning and got a tour of his office for the first time. He's in a skyscraper near the Amazon Spheres.

I met my neice, McKenna, nearby for brunch.

She played with her band The Aces at the Crocodile and we got to see them.  Seattle was their first stop on a monthlong North America tour. Really fun night!

It was snowing on and off all week and that night it was the start of some serious storming.

Seattle shuts down when it snows because all the hills make driving truly treacherous. Downtown was a ghost town. It was eery and lovely.

McKenna gifted me this Aces hat and Noah took it over right away. So cute!

Every now and then we spend Saturday lunchtime at Zeek's pizza. YUM.

Yes, it DUMPED and the kids were over the moon. They played outside a lot and then I was over the moon.

 Over a two week period, their school was cancelled five days total with three partial days. And my school was closed all two weeks, for snow and also for sick professors. It was a couple weeks of highs and lows. At first, it's a blast staying home and hanging out. The wintry whiteness makes everything magical and beautiful. Then you run out of things to do. I still had assignments to work on but the kids didn't have much. I broke down and one point. Cabin fever is real and I had it really bad. There are only so many walks you can go on before you need to DO SOMETHING.

 All the main roads were fine for the most part, though, so Adam just walked down the street and hopped on the bus and carried on at work like nothing was different.

Finding friends with sleds was awesome and I learned my lesson for next time: if it's going to snow, go buy a sled.