San Francisco Trip

I love San Francisco! Our trip was awesome and a much needed break from routine. Although I missed the kids terribly, and worried they would think we'd abandoned them, it was really, really nice to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. On the other hand, I was pretty much on my own the entire time because Dennis was at his convention from 8-6 every day so I did get a little lonely not being able to share the sightseeing with him. I did get to have coffee with him in the mornings though, and met him for lunch as well. And in the evenings we went out with the other guys from his work that were there (and ate almost every ethnicity of food you can imagine, including my first sushi experience). But for the rest of the day I pretty much walked a LOT and took tons of pictures :) For this reason, I am still recovering from some serious shin splints :/ But totally worth it!

I thought about writing out a detailed review of all things San Francisco that I did on our trip. But personally, I hate to read long novel-like accounts of someone else's vacation, ha! So here it is short and sweet :)

Saturday - checked into the hotel, and Dennis was off to meetings. So I walked around the financial district where our hotel was and just took random pictures. I discovered right away that it is definitely a quite colorful city! And I stumbled upon Chinatown by happy mistake. And four hours of walking later, Dennis and I went down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. We ate at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Compnay. Mmmmm good!






Sunday - I headed out to find the "Crookedest Street". I took a bus to the general area, and hoofed it from there. This adventure was the cause of my shin splints as I had to hike up some seriously steep streets! I tried taking pictures but just couldn't get the rediculous incline to translate in a photo :( Anyway, I found it, took a few pictures, and then decided to check out the rest of the neighborhood, but somehow wound up all the way down at Fisherman's Wharf. And so I took the bus back to our hotel, ha!
After lunch I took the Alcatraz tour. We took a ferry out to the island, and once there, they let us stay as long as we wanted, choosing whichever ferry we wanted to leave on, so I stayed a few hours. The tour was a pretty cool audio tour. I really didn't know that much about Alcatraz before my visit, so it was really neat to learn about it and see it first hand. Surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as depressing as I imagined it would be. Though, it was full of tourists when I went and not convicts. I'm sure that makes a difference.
That night for dinner we all walked to Chinatown and had some amazing, authentic Chinese food.




Monday- I took a bus to Golden Gate Park. I got there rather early, and had I put more thought into my plans for the day I would have gone later because the place was full of bums, lol. Luckily I found an area with lots of joggers and dog walkers so I felt a little better. My goal that morning was to find the Japanese Tea Garden, but after 2 hours of walking around taking trail after trail, I still had not found it. So I just started asking random people how to get there. I'm quite sure a couple people led me astray just to be punks, but I did eventually get there and let me tell you my shins were screaming at my by then. By the time I got there I just wanted to get my photographs and go back to the hotel! But once I got back on the bus going to the hotel, I decided to make a side trip to find the "Painted Ladies", the iconic victorian style houses that you find on postcards, and portrayed in the movies. Afterall, I was in the right part of town and I didn't know if I'd make it back up there before we left. So off I went to hike up and down more steep hills. Thankfully it was only 3 blocks, though it felt like 30. I'm glad I went though, because I got some great pictures, and turns out I didn't get time to go back to that area.
After meeting Dennis for a quick lunch, I took the ferry around Alcatraz Island, and under the Golden Gate Bridge. They were predicting rain for Tues and Wed so I figured I should go while I had the chance. Froze my rear end off, but got some amazing pictures. So again, totally worth it :) And they were right about the rain, so I'm glad I went when I did!
Dinner that night was Italian and very scrumptious :)

Tuesday - It drizzled off and on all morning. There was a mall about a block from the hotel so I headed there since it was indoors, and well, who doesn't love shopping? :) I made it into one store, and then went back to the hotel because my shins were killing me and I didn't want to walk anymore. At lunch I went over to the building where Dennis' geek convention was (hehe) and took some pictures of their booth and of them posing together like geeks do :p. Then we had some delicious Indian food for lunch.
That afternoon I relaxed in the hotel and sorted pictures and surfed the web while I rested my shins. Then I took a nap....ah, bliss.
Dinner that night was Sushi. The guys dennis works with (so they don't remain nameless they are Karl, Dan, and Martin - who actually works at the NY office but for the same company) are all sushi fanatics and convinced Dennis and I to try some real sushi. So we did. Raw fish and all. I did not like it. I did not like it one bit. But I guess now I can cross "Try Sushi" off my bucket list. That night I felt like I had an eel swimming around in my stomach. I think maybe I did.

Wednesday- we had to be checked out of the hotel by noon. So we packed everything up in the morning and had them hold our bags until the guys were done with their meetings. I went back down to Fisherman's Wharf to buy some last minute souveniers, t-shirts, and the like. Then headed back so we could meet up and leave for the airport.

I was kind of bummed that Dennis didn't get to do or see much while we were there. But I am really glad I had the opportunity to go and I'm proud that I wore my big girl pants and hit the streets on my own all week. HA!

I will be adding more pictures over the next couple of days. Hope you enjoy :)

Project 365

Today, I came accross a blog by a woman in a photography group I belong to, in which she documents the things in life that she loves on a daily basis. She calls it her 365 project. The point is to stop and take one picture every day of the year to improve upon her photography skills, but more importantly to have a meaningful record of the moments, people, and things that mean the most.

And I am inspired! Starting today I am going to begin my own 365 project. I will take at least one picture every day for a year. Whether it be 200 pictures from a fun event or photo shoot, or a last minute end of the day "Oh crap, I have to take my picture for the day" shot of two slippery, sudsy kids in the tub! Not only will I have an awesome journal of the year ahead, but I'm bound to learn some new things and improve upon my photography skills as well. Or at least that's the plan ;)

And so....here is my first entry :)
Today started out very rainy and dreary but around lunchtime the rain had cleared so the kids and I were able to go outside for a while. We blew bubbles, checked on the kids' vegetable garden (Hollie is anxiously waiting for her pumpkin seeds to sprout and feels the need to check on them at least twice a day) We also filled the bird feeder with seeds and played on the swingset. The grass was wet and a little muddy, but we were just happy to be outside :) Here are a few pictures from our adventures in the yard this afternoon.


My blooming irises.



Hollie not asking nicely for juice. (Note the leftover milk mustache)




Scooping bird seed.




Filling up the bird feeder.



The girl loves to swing.

Easter and Dragons

Easter was a beautiful day :) We went to church and then headed out to Grandma Sandy's for lunch, easter egg hunting, and horseback riding. Hollie rode for her first time ever and she loved it! We've been out twice since then for her to ride and plan to go every chance we get this summer. Hollie wants to buy a horse and name him "Horsey" but we told her he would leave poop all over the backyard which she would have to clean up and she changed her mind.











Yesterday we took Hollie to the movie theatre to see How to Train your Dragon in 3D Imax. Not only was this her first time to see a 3D movie, but her first time going to a movie theatre. I was a little afraid she'd freak out when things started flying at her, but she LOVED it! So much fun and a really good movie. We will definitely be buying it when it comes out on DVD :)



Only one more day until we leave for San Francisco. I told Hollie today that me and Daddy were going on vacation for a few days and Grandma was going to come live with her and Mavrick until we get back. She said she wanted to come with us on vacation, but I told her Grandma would need a good helper to tell her where things are and how to do things and she agreed. The girl does love to be the boss! HA. Good luck Grandma ;)

First soccer pictures

Here are the first soccer pictures taken of Hollie. I didn't have my awesome zoom lens yet, and the 24-70mm I used couldn't quite handle the low light situation but I got a couple cute ones anyway.

Pre-game yogurt snack

Warm up race

Working on some fancy footwork

Team cheer...her favorite part :)

Allergies, gearing up for SF, and a funny misunderstanding

My alleriges are kicking my butt! I've never had allergy problems until moving to MO. So far nothing I've taken has helped one bit. My eyes are watery, my throat is scratchy, my nose runs non-stop, and my lipes are chapped from breathing out of my mouth all night, lol. BUT my weeping cherry tree that I got for mother's day last year is blooming, as are the daffodils, and my grape hyacinth, so I'm a little giddy despite being somewhat miserable:) I'm really looking forward to helping Hollie plant her vegetable garden and getting mine started as well. But still another month or so to go for that.

My 70-200 zoom lens arrived this week and I have been having fun playing with it whenever I get a chance (which sadly has only been twice). I'm really looking forward to taking it out for the next rodeo event so I put it to work :)
I also got a backpack to put all my gear in which will come in handy while we're in San Francisco. Only two weeks until we leave. I'm really looking forward to getting away for a few days and the opportunity to do what I want, when I want :) But on the other hand I'm not really looking forward to leaving the kids for 4 days either. I know they'll be fine, but it will be hard :(

Oh...here's a funny thing. Ludacris' song "How low can you go" is all over the radio these days and Hollie really seems to like it. However, she insists that the lyrics are "Out come pinkie go" and walks around singing this phrase over and over and over. All day. Hilarious! But don't try to correct her, she gets pretty heated over the fact that she is right and everyone else in the world is wrong, haha.