Park Time

You may remember last year when we began having both boys, at the same time. We took them to the park and well, I may have let T take a header off the steps where there may have been blood involved. I am happy to say that we have survived and are thriving at the park. We're learning what T can handle and also, what we can't handle. T is doing much better than we are. While we can still move about, it is tough on the joints. Especially difficult is trying to fit in to the tunnels and crawl. We do that once, learn, and do not repeat.

The slide is always fun, for everyone

Theo set up shop, Ezra was his customer before he went pirate

Theo still loves the speakers and I'm happy he can reach them all by himself

Look at that blond hair! He looks so much like his cousin Charis that it fools iPhoto.

Wine Country Visit

I think this might just be our very first wine tasting trip of 2013.....we are working way too much.  Off we go with our Wine Rock Star friends to a "pairing" at St. Francis.

The weather was perfect and the grounds are absolutely beautiful. The staff is friendly, unpretentious, and they all are informed and passionate about wine.  They were debuting a new menu and everything was really tasty. The wine is very good quality and the prices remain a good value (especially since our friends are wine club members so we share the discount). We were hoping to find a few items for a wedding shower gift and we did score several nice items in their gift shop. We loaded the car and were off to the other side of the hill, to Napa.

Sequoia Grove is a sister winery of St. Francis so our friends get free tastings and super discounts. This is a very small winery located in a grove of redwoods, hence the name. We had a great time here. Our pourer was Sarah and she was fantastic. We tried a few wines, she took us down for a quick tour of the cellars where we did a barrel tasting (and I'm pretty sure I need to come back in a few years to buy some when it's ready), and then we sat at a table in the grove tasting the high end stuff. Sarah's pours were very generous and we had reached out limit...or some of us had reached our limit. We did find a couple more items to add to the shower gift, SCORE!

We had a stop to pick up wine at Onward, chat with the winemaker Faith, and play with her new little girl, Chloe. Our final pick up was at Acacia. We arrived just after they closed, so we knocked and they actually opened up and offered us up a quick tasting while they got the wine club shipment. We did buy a few bottles so everything worked out for all of us.

By now it was the commute time and we had been tasting all day (except for our DD, designated driver). We wisely chose to grab dinner and then head home.

Our wine closest is now full. Time to kick back on the patio and open a bottle.

Filoli Gardens with Dave and Friends

Can you believe that Dave consented to a trip to Filoli Gardens? Friends invited us to join them for a look at their annual Mothers' Day floral exhibit. There's a theme, this year it was Storybooks.

This is one of my favorites, based upon the book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes", which I am not familiar with....but will be very soon because I ordered the book from Amazon while still on the tour. Isn't technology awesome?!

Dave wasn't enamored with the floral arrangements, but he did really enjoy exploring the house and learning about the history.

We all enjoyed walking through the gardens. I just can't imagine how many people were required to plant and maintain the gardens.

Then we went for lunch nearby at the Lobster Shack (Great food, friendly staff, and perfect weather) and took a tour of the local neighborhood where Teresa showed us the home her dad built. Another great adventure with friends.

More Museum Fun

We BARTed in to SF to see China's Terracotta Warrior exhibit at the Asian Museum with some friends. We don't get out during our busy season, but we schedule all these events so we get to see our friends again. If it doesn't get on the calendar, it just doesn't happen.

This was a well done and interesting exhibit. If you haven't seen this, get online and buy tickets (you need tickets because they limit the number of people in the rooms so everyone can enjoy the exhibit without being too crowded). Don't dawdle because the exhibit is over May 27th.

We arrived before our tour time so we had time to take in part of the permanent exhibits on the top floor. Lots of interesting information on Buddha, Hindu, etc.

We finished up, walked through the City Hall (we've driven by and never been inside, just seen it on TV when they had all the same sex wedding hoopla. It is grand and beautiful. I can see why people get married here. Very photo friendly. There were two wedding parties when we walked through), and then found a lovely little restaurant on Gough. They had a 3-5 pm Happy Hour with much only 50% of the regular price. Heavy appetizers and 8 glasses of wine (don't judge) for only $50...SCORE!

BARTed back home during the heavy time....we each snagged a seat since we boarded at the Civic Center. Still...so glad we don't do this on a regular basis.

Cultural Outing or Dave's Day of Museum Horror

Living in the SF Bay Area, you would think we're hitting all the sights...but you would be terribly wrong. When we have a spare moment, we either climb on the motorcycle (which if you have ever spent any time with Dave, does NOT include many opportunities to stop and meander), play with the grandkids, or sit on our butts and blog

I was really sad that we missed out on the two recent exhibits of Impressionists. What a great opportunity, and we missed it. I'm determined to not let that happen again. I heard that the Dutch Museum, Mauritshuis, was shutting down to expand and sending their collection on tour.....right here! Yeah!  At the de Young! Where are friends are members!!!!!

We learned all about the Dutch Golden Age, etching process, Rembrandt van Rijn (yep, Rembrandt was his first name, who knew? Not these two business majors!) and gazed upon the Dutch Mona Lisa, Girl with a Pearl Earring. We even spent time on the top floor and took in the panoramic view of the City, draped in fog.

Fun time with friends, delicious lunch at Park Chow's, Legion of Honor (where a new exhibit "Impressionists on the Water" is coming in June!!!!), walking through Golden Gate Park (which has instituted the most ridiculous parking that is in no way safer for bicyclists but I'm sure it made plenty of people feel good), taking photos that may or may not be included on a Christmas card (even though the best spot was taken by a Yogi having his photos taken by professionals while wearing orange sports shoes that matched his orange pajamas), introduction to Russian pastry (Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store on Geary where we were the only people not speaking Russian), sitting in commute traffic leaving the city to get on the bridge (how on God's earth does anyone do this on a regular basis?) and then safely home.

I can hardly wait to see what we do next!!!!!!