Author: Robin Chartier

At a park over the weekend we found a see-saw. Josh thought he could improve the ride for us . . .

It may not look like much, but it felt like I was going to go flying off. Caleb was catching air every time it changed directions and I think Calvin ended up with a bruised tailbone. Tons of fun.

 

 

Fun in Chinatown. Fortune cookies, steamed and baked pork buns, bubble tea, fireworks, and weed. Yes, lots of weed all over SF. Since it’s “legal” in CA (with a medical marijuana card) every other yahoo on the street was smoking it. My favorite cover was the dude who had a cigarette in one hand, a joint hidden in the other and then he’d take a puff from joint and exhale while waving the cigarette around in case anyone was watching. But the nose knows . . .

my “see no evil” was being a monkey himself . . .

It’s not April 15th, but it was my tax day today. I usually have them done by January 15th (really!), but with being in Egypt and then being evacuated, it hadn’t happened yet. I finally got tired of thinking about it and dreading it and decided to get it over with.

A relatively painless few hours later, I have a refund on the way. Money that will be put aside to help pay for any traveling we might do once we’re in Oman. Although, with all the traveling we’ve been doing since December, I think once we finally get to Oman, I’m going to want to stay put.

So that’s why no blog post today. I have some fun SF pictures to share, but they will have to wait until tomorrow.

For now I’ll just leave you with pictures of my most valuable deductions:

 

 

 

 

Once Nana and Poppa arrived, then the fun began. The first day we walked, and walked, and walked, all over the Union Square area of the city. Thankfully there was no shortage of Starbucks to meet all of our hydration needs. (There really is one on every block!)
    

They were having a 49er foundation fundraiser in Union Square. Lots of food, music, and even a mascot.

 

Hiking up and over Nob Hill – Caleb is whimpering about having to climb another hill.

      

Up and up and up . . . .

We made it to the top! Then it was just a short trek downhill to the Cable Car museum. All these years I thought the cable cars ran on tracks kind of like a train – I didn’t realize that there is actually an underground cable that the car grabs onto that pulls it around the town. (Yes, I realize that is why it is called a cable car . . .)

So these big old wheels that you see in the picture with Calvin go around and around and pull the cable along and that makes the cable cars move . . . I think. I still don’t really get how it works. But it looks cool.

          

 

Friday afternoon we arrived at the Marine Memorial hotel and decided to go walk around the neighborhood while we waited for Josh’s parents to arrive. I told everyone to put on their warmest clothes because it was 40 degrees outside and getting colder. And then Calvin realized that he forgot to pack a sweatshirt. Before he “realized” it we had a whole back and forth that went like this:

C: I packed it! Me: No, you didn’t. If you did, it would be in your bag! C: I packed it. I really did! Me: You can say, “I thought I packed it” or “I meant to pack it,” but you can not say that you packed it because if you did, it would be here. *repeat multiple times until a phone call to Santa Cruz confirmed that in fact, the sweatshirt had been left at home. (Then we had another conversation about how someone must have taken it out of his bag. *sigh*)

So our exploring expedition turned into a shopping expedition because as much as I am for natural consequences, I wasn’t going to let him freeze all weekend with only a long sleeved shirt to wear. Besides, I wasn’t too upset about having to go to the beautiful Westfield mall (with the circular escalators, huge Nordstrom, etc.) Walking around the city was fun, even though Calvin was insisting in a very martyr-like way that he wasn’t cold at all and didn’t need a jacket. Once we made it to the mall we scored by finding clearance wool beanies ($5) for me and Calvin (we went back the next day and picked them up for the other 2 boys too). Still on a jacket/sweatshirt hunt, we exhausted our possibilities in the mall (it had to be warm and cheap) and then I saw Old Navy, my favorite place for finding great things on clearance. This Old Navy was the biggest one I’ve ever seen – 3 huge floors, every department possible, tons of clearance items. In the men’s clearance section we found these great jackets for $12.99. So not only did we buy one for Calvin, but I got one too. For that price, I wasn’t passing up the opportunity to be extra warm! With some matching gloves from the women’s department ($2), we were all set for any of the cold weather SF had to offer us.    We didn’t end up getting any snow, but it was cold!