Our own California Adventure

It'd been almost five years since our last visit to the Bay Area - our friends' Aaron & Gina's wedding when Van was just 5 months old.  We were long overdue, but were waiting until Wes was old enough to enjoy it a little.  We made it!  Ahhhhh - back in the Bay Area again.  The sweet, piney smell of California bay trees and eucalyptus, blooming bougainvilleas drowning the walls along the major corridors, fog rolling in from the Pacific to the west and rolling, velvety golden hills to the east all welcomed us back to a place we used to call home.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, and Shannon had arrived earlier that morning.  She and Vassu were waiting for us at the house with Ahir and Seth to arrive later.  That night we ate, lounged outside in the back yard and got to enjoy some much needed family time.

Trains, trannies & treats in SF

Our first adventure was taking CalTrain up to the city to explore the Civic Center during Pride Fest!  The boys were pretty cheezed to ride the train, but it wore off a bit when we only got to Redwood City from Mountain View and the quizzing started, "Are we there yet?"  After CalTrain we hopped on the Muni train and zipped up to the Civic Center.  Now, we got to the gate, paid our $5 donation and started to walk in... only to see the first character of the day:  Naked Guy.  I had a moment to myself thinking, "I am a horrible parent."  But then I figured, "Just go with it."  The boys were cool.  They asked to have some bead necklaces like everyone was selling/wearing, but we had to carefully help them pick a couple out (green marijuana leaves just didn't seem appropriate for a 5 year old).  After wandering through the scantily clad festival goers, stopping on the grass for some lunch, seeing a bit of the cheerleading competition and being branded by Yahoo! we found a playground the kids could safely run around in and the big people took turns wandering around the rest of the festival.  An icee for everyone and we were off to the trains again to head back to the house.

Sunday was the day of the big party!  Seth and Vassu had very graciously invited a number of our closest friends from the area to their home.  The boys helped in the morning by picking oranges from the tree out front - a novelty as they usually just come from the grocery store at home.  The rest of us were busy cleaning, cooking and organizing, but we all finished with enough time to have at least one Dark & Stormy (my new favorite libation - thank you Shannon!) before guests arrived.  I was just so happy to see all our dearest friends!  We talk a bit on Facebook but to be able to give them a hug and see our kids play together was just incredible.  It was a great, great night and Josh and I, and meant so much.  We are so thankful to Seth & Vassu for hosting!

Cocktail carousing

Monday it was time for Shannon to depart.  Josh & I and the boys were off to Monterey to visit the aquarium there, so we said our good-byes in the morning.  Very sad to see her go, but very, very glad she was able to be there with us for the weekend.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was amazing!  Josh and I had been there before, but taking our own kids was a whole different experience - for better or worse.  Our hope was that it wouldn't be quite as busy on a Monday, but we guessed wrong.  Yikes!  The place was packed!  There was so much to see, but the boys wanted to run and climb just then.  We stopped for a bite to eat after seeing the sea otters (so freakin' cute!), the regular jellyfish exhibit and the Open Ocean tanks - the food seemed to help, but going outside to watch the snorkelers, harp seals and play around on the decks helped get them in a better mind set to go inside and see more exhibits.  The Touch Pools were a big hit for Wesley.  He got to feel kelp, a star fish, a sea urchin and a moss covered crab, and he did very well with his "gentle touch."  Van's favorite part of this area was the tidal wave you got to stand underneath in a huge glass tunnel.  Admittedly this was pretty sweet.  From here we wandered through the sea horse exhibit and on to the new Jellyfish Experience.  The latter was super cool!  Lots of different jellies from what we saw upstairs and a number of awesome interactive exhibits that lit up and/or glowed just like the jellies we were seeing.  Strange little creatures, but oh so cool!  After seeing oodles of fish, octopi, shrimp, sharks and a huge sea turtle it was time to walk back up Cannery Row and drive up Hwy 1 to the Bay.  We drove up past miles and miles of strawberry fields being picked, as well as artichokes, celery and what I think was cauliflower.  The boys didn't pay much attention to the fields and passed out pretty quick after a busy, exciting day.

Aquarium amusements

They needed the nap, too, because that evening we were invited to our friend's home for dinner.  Curt & Dyan had a busy week of their own, but found time to host dinner for us at their house.  Their kids, Zander and Mayla, were wonderful hosts to our boys, too!  Van and Wes were so smitten they have been asking to see them frequently since leaving.  Hopefully we can return the favor in Colorado soon.

Tuesday was Josh and Seth's birthday!  For those that don't know, these brothers share a birthday:  5 years apart to the day.  We celebrated with a day at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and a kid-less dinner out in Napa. Vassu diligently hunted down a babysitter for our evening excursion and bless her for it because after two and a half hours of stopped traffic to get out of the city we needed a little time apart from our offspring.  The Exploratorium was wonderful!  The boys had a blast playing with all the tools and experiments.  Josh and I tried as much as possible to explain exactly what they were doing, but sometimes it was just fun to play.  A quick snack at a gourmet chocolate shop and we were off... to sit... in traffic.  Oy vey.  BART workers were on strike and San Francisco felt the effects.  Seth wisely called to move our dinner reservation back a bit, so we got up to Napa with about a half hour to spare before the sitter arrived.  Dinner was at Celedon.  A very pretty semi-casual restaurant in Napa.  All our dishes were just wonderful and we almost had to be rolled out the door.  We came back to two sleeping boys and a sitter who had nothing bad to say - perfect ending to a pretty good day.

Exploratorium excursion

There was no real plan for Wednesday other than to explore some part of Napa and head back down to the house in Saratoga.  Well, we discovered our hotel was only about 5 min away from the Jelly Belly factory!  Josh and I had seen that this was here many times on our way up to Tahoe but never stopped to check it out.  We surprised the boys with a tour - they were soooooo excited!!  The tour was nice, just long enough to keep everyone interested, and ran along a long hallway that ran above the main factory floor.  There were windows down low so the little guys could see, which was awesome, and they got a bag of beans at the end of the tour as a thank you.  We bought more beans, took some "we've been there" photos and were on our way south.  Because there wouldn't be another chance to see it, we took the long way home to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.  Lunch was a stop at Davey Jones Deli in Sausalito, which we took up to the vista point above the bridge to enjoy with the view.  The fog was coming in across the center of the bridge, the spires just peaking out above.  This made for a very magical drive across the span - I really wished we'd had the convertible to experience it better.  So beautiful.

Jaunt around Jelly Belly

That evening the family gained a new, albeit temporary, member.  Marius, a 17 year old "exchange" student from Denmark, came to join Ahir, Seth & Vassu for the summer.  The idea was to keep the festivities for the 4th of July kinda low key, not only to accommodate the jet lag of this young man, but because the week had been pretty exciting up to that point anyway!  So, we all thought, "What better way to beat the heat and chill than to head to the coast?!"  We drove over 92 to Half Moon Bay and up to Montara State Beach.  It was beautiful!  The weather's usually about 30 degrees cooler out there than in the Bay, and it was about 70 in the sun, the sand wasn't burning our toes.  The fog formed a wall just south of us, but our beach was clear and sunny.  Van, Ahir and Marius were playing and running in the waves as they washed up, and having a grand time!  I hadn't seen Van that excited all week!  He didn't care if he got wet or cold - he was having the time of his life!  Wesley... well, he let the water just touch his toes and decided that part of the beach experience wasn't for him.  He did love playing in the sand and around the cliff bases though!  We busted out frisbees, kites, buckets, snacks and drinks and just lounged and played in the surf.  Marius was such a good "big brother!"  Van and Wes took to him very quickly, as did Ahir, and the Dane seemed to revel in the attention.  Poppy's Crab Shack On Wheels rolled up just in time for lunch and a few of us enjoyed a mouth-watering crab roll from the little food truck.  Oh lordy was it tasty!  Soon it was time to go.  We'd breathed the salty sea air, soaked up the sun and would be carrying sand back between our toes - everyone felt refreshed and happy.  Going back we breezed by miles and miles of cars who'd all had the same idea of how to spend their holiday, but just didn't get out of bed early enough.  Josh and Vassu took the boys to see fireworks that night - it wouldn't be the 4th without a few explosions!

Beachy bliss

Friday was our last full day, and it was to be spent in the city.  All the boys and I drove up to Japantown for noodles and bento collecting.  There was udon, ramen and soba at the table.  Van opted for a rice bowl, but Wesley loved his udon!  The shops in the central mall were packed with brightly colored, plastic wrapped, neatly shelved items.  So much stuff!  If I lived close I would spend a lot more time in these stores - so much fun and so cheap!  From here we drove around to the Embarcadero where the ships preparing for the America's Cup were to be holding time trials.  Unfortunately the wind was too high so the time trials were canceled.  No matter!  We took the opportunity to do a little touristy stop that none of us had done before:  Coit Tower.  We figured we'd at least get to see a big boat or two from the top!  We totally lucked out on parking and only had to climb a few stairs to get to the tower base.  After a good wait for the elevator to go up, we got to see a breathtaking view of the whole bay and city from the top.  So gorgeous.  We did see a number of small sail boats (relative to the racing boats) and the big Red Bull boat at the pier.  The city was clear and so beautiful from way up high.  It is such an amazing town and I'm glad we got to spend a little time there this week.

Sights & sounds around The City

The finishing touch to our glorious week was Vassu making dinner Friday night.  Mmmmm!!  Dosas with two homemade chutneys - one mint, one peanut.  Oh good grief it was delicious.  She and Seth had made a ton of really, really wonderful dishes for us throughout the week, but this meal, eaten with the hands, was just bliss.

Saturday we said some teary good-byes (hit the In-n-Out for lunch) and headed home.  Each of us had an amazing experience staying with Seth, Vassu & Ahir.  The boys just love, love, love their family and miss them tons already, as do Josh and I of course.  There was much discussion over the week about if we could really move back to that wonderful area of the world.  While there are lots of pros, we came up with a lot of cons that couldn't be ignored.  In lieu of living there we'll settle for visiting more often though!

Once more, thank you to Seth, Vassu & Ahir for a truly, truly amazing week.  You showed us such hospitality and generosity all week.  We all love each of you very, very much and hope we can repay the favor next year!  Thanks again!!