Pool Time!

After the horrible disappointment from the day before, we finally made it to the pool on Thursday! And the great thing about going to the pool in late September?? There's NO ONE there!!! We had the place to ourselves, practically!

The Perfect Apple!

Well, my plum tree has long since stopped producing fruit. But my apple tree is going strong! Levi found this perfectly shaped and colored delicious, not buggy apple so we ate it for lunch, along with fresh lemon-ade from lemons he plucked from my lemon tree!! No pictures?!?!

Breakfast at Toast

We stopped for breakfast in Marin on our way to take my sister and her kids back to the airport. :( Big boo hoo. I really liked this new restaurant and the literal decor - the walls looked like huge pieces of toast!!!

"The Infamous Fountain"

So a few weeks ago, Daryle and the kids and I stopped here at Toast for breakfast, it was a wonderful little discovery of a new place to eat, and our meal was fabulous. When we got ready to leave the restaurant and come home, I had said that I wanted to take the kids' pictures in front of the cool fountain just outside the door. Well, when we got out there, we saw to our horror (after hearing our children screaming, "OOOooohhh that's so gross!") that there were two children playing and splashing in the very public fountain absolutely stark NAKED. One was a little toddler, but one was school-aged!! Not one stitch of clothing on. Daryle just shook his head and kept walking and mumbled something about only in California, but I was just gap-jawed! The parents seemed to be enjoying all the negative attention, but the people who were eating at the outdoor tables a few feet away weren't all too happy. I wanted to hang around and watch for the inevitable to happen, you know, that thing that always happens when naked babies are in water.... But we went on our merry way. That was an interesting conversation in the car on the way home! "No, you may NOT play naked in water fountains."

So this time we were able to take some lovely fully-clothed pictures of the kids playing by the water fountain.

Playing Tourist!

I've always said that when we have visitors it allows me to do all the fun things that I normally wouldn't have time or make time to do. Like hang around San Francisco and take lots of pictures! I still just love that bridge! It just never gets old... It's such an amazing piece of art and history - it's just iconic, and I appreciate it!! I remember the first time I saw it on my first trip here, and my heart pounded and I got emotional!! I did the same thing with the Statue of Liberty and the St. Louis arch.... So blessed to live where we do!

Going UNDER the Bridge!

Walking on the Bridge

This was a first for my kids, they'd never walked ON the GG Bridge, so we had to make a stop on the way back from the airport to make it happen!!

The View That Never Gets Old!!

A Day Away By the Bay!

Daryle flew home this past Saturday after a long and emotionally grueling week in Chicago. The funeral services for Suzy were Thursday, and then Friday he attended another funeral for a dear friend that he did music ministry with years ago. It's been such a roller coaster week of emotions for us all. He was there and we were here and while that's how it had to be, I so wanted to be there with him through everything. It was hard but at the same time I welcomed the time to just be with the kids.

I've always thought that there was such a dichotomy with funerals... The pain of the loss but the joy of reuniting with friends and family that you haven't seen in years. Thank you, Lord, for bringing joy in the tears. We have felt your prayers for our family and we are so grateful for you!

Needless to say, Daryle was exhausted when we picked him up, but the excitement of us all being together again coupled with the rare opportunity of being in the gorgeous south Bay on a perfectly fun sunny day inspired us to spend the whole day and night there, just hanging and enjoying "being". I learned that my husband used to work in this particular area of the city when he and David first moved to San Fran 15-16 years ago, so he knew some "fun hidden treasures" to take us to. (Don't you just love how after 9 years of marriage you still learn new things about each other?! I do....)

This place was perfect since it was literally right on the Bay waterfront over-looking the San Francisco airport. The boys pretty much had their heads glued to the window of our room watching planes take off and land all evening!

After racing up and down the board walk we hit the pool for a couple hours. My husband challenged me to swim 20 laps without stopping, a challenge which I HAD to rise to, and my true lack of stamina was revealed! :) I felt a lot better after that than after running the same amount of time, though, so yay for swimming!

Our week is now half over, and after working this weekend I will again have some time off of work to enjoy my sister and niece and nephew who will be here in less than 140 hours!! :)