Exploratorium," Awesome!!"***

***Direct quote from Miles.

Today we went to San Francisco with Dad to the Exploratorium. It is still super fun, just like it was when I went there on class field trips in elementary school. We went around the whole thing, it is like our own Science Center times a million, and still did not see everything!! My favorite exhibit was "Watching Ice Freeze" through polarized lenses, seriously! It was way cool. Miles, of course, loved everything to do with spinning, centrifugal force, optical illusions, etc. Caroline had a great time in the Alice-in-Wonderland-styled-weird-perspective house. We ate lunch in the little cafe, pressed on through the exhibits, and exited when we were all sensory-overloaded and over-stimmed. Miles was not ready to leave, but we talked him into it. Here are some pictures of our day:

Point Reyes, SiCKO

Mom and Dad went to their 2.5 hour workweek "job" at the Library Book Store this morning. I spent the morning it seemed on the phone, with the passport office, and then the doctor's office. Then I packed up a picnic, and when they got home, we headed out to Point Reyes. The plan was to hang out on the beach, and then walk out to the Lighthouse. We went to Drakes' Beach first, it is always nice there, and protected a bit by the cliffs. We had a great time, eating, playing frisbee and building sand castles. Please observe photodocumentation here:


From here we went up the road to the Lighthouse. We walked up the the road, arrived at the gate at 4:29:30pm (according to Miles's watch), only to find a sign that says that the stairs close at 4:30. Oh rats! So we stood around on the Pacific Coast's Windiest Point, and read the signage, marveled at the flowers growing there, and observed a seal in the water down below. It was super windy, and heavily fogging, we were wearing all the clothes we could fit on. Funny to think it was about 80 and sunny back at the house.

We got home and I gave Kelly a call. We had plans to do something this evening. We ended up getting together and going out for some Really Yummy Pizza, and to see the movie Sicko. It is a really good movie and if you haven't seen it yet, you should. And if you do go see it, remember to bring some Kleenex, because no one told me to, and you will cry and if you don't AT LEAST tear up, then you have ice for veins, in which case you might need a doctor, which you will for sure need health insurance for, in which case you should go see this movie. Say what you will about Michael Moore, at least he is out there saying this stuff!!

Miwok Park

On Tuesday, I did not post a blog entry because I think that we did not take any pictures!! How could it be possible? We did spend the morning at home relaxing, reading, and playing games. In the afternoon we went down to Ben Franklin Crafts, mom got a cross stitch to work on, I am so inspirational. (har har) Then we went to Miwok Park, and checked out the Native American Museum there. We got there 15 minutes before they closed, but it was no biggie, because it is about the size of my living room. They had a neat exhibit about petroglyphs and a very enthusiastic docent.

Then we played some frisbee and the kids played on the play structure. I sat out from under the trees so as not to get any tick bites. I am so paranoid now, it is so unlike me!

We left our Hearts...

Today we took the Larkspur Ferry into The City to do some sightseeing. We were able to sit outside on the ferry, not too cold, although very windy back in the stern here.
Here's a nice view of the city...
We got off the ferry and walked over to the fountain on the Embarcadero that I remember playing on when I was a kid...
There's Caroline peeking out... From there, we caught a Cable Car up California Street, to the top of the hill
At the top of the hill, we played in a little park, and then went over to Grace Cathedral and got in practice at looking at churches for when we are in France.
After this, we took the Cable Car back down the hill, and had lunch at the Hyatt. It was very delicious, and we rode the glass elevators up and down a few times when we were done.
From there we HIKED across town, to Telegraph Hill, and took the steps up to Coit Tower. There are a LOT of steps, and yes, we did see and hear the wild parrots.

Here we are on some of the many steps. Caroline was quite charmed by the houses along the stairs, and decided she would like to live there when she grows up. When dad said, well you would have to pick one near the street, otherwise how would you get your piano in there? She didn't miss a beat and said, I'll just get a keyboard!
After this, we hiked back to the ferry terminal, mom and the kids got a cold drink and relaxed, and dad and I walked around this very adorable market that is in the terminal, now. We picked up fabulous bread, artisan cheese, heirloom tomatoes, an assortment of olives, and a delicious prosciutto. (I'm working on adjectives, here.) At home we added some ripe melon, spicy arugula, and a very delightful pinot. Mmmm, picnic dinner, my favorite kind. For dessert we had some chocolates that Caroline convinced mom to buy earlier in the day. Perfect!

Weather still fantastic, we did not even need sweaters in the city today.

Joe Cool is in Santa Rosa *

Today we decided to spend the morning doing housework, and the afternoon going to Santa Rosa to see the Snoopy statues. Each year they choose a character, make some statues, have different artists decorate them, put them around town, then auction them off for some charity that we never figured out exactly what it was. Last year was Woodstock, and this year it is Snoopy in his alter ego as Joe Cool....We got some really cute photos, here are some of them...

* If you are not in the know, Charles Shultz lived in Santa Rosa, so the sculptures are to honor him each year.

Moritzburke Manor

Today Mom and Dad had choir rehearsal all day, so we were on our own activity-wise. We had to have a bit of a sleep-in due to last night's late night book buying. Then I let the children get some Saturday Morning cartoon watching done, so I could plow through a few chapters of Harry. I am less achy today, but still pretty slow. Then it was off to Corte Madera, to visit Kelly and Peter and Fisher and Molly, for dinner. The kids played, and we chatted and caught up, had an excellent dinner of grilled chicken and vegetables, and then time flew and all of the sudden it was 10:00! We came home, and Caroline fell asleep in the car. Here is a picture of the always adorable Moritzburkes. I wish we lived closer.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Urgent Care, and Harry Potter!!

Due to the fact that I could hardly move when I woke up this morning, I was forced to admit that I may be sick, and needed to see a doctor. So I figured out where I could go, and Mom dropped me off there, as they told me the wait was at least an hour, no appointments. She and the kids went down to the Marin Civic Center, played on the playground, walked around the lagoon and had a picnic.

I sat in Urgent Care at least an hour, probably more, which was fine since moving was too painful. I finished one book and and got about halfway through another, and caught up on 3 issues of People Magazine. Apparently Brad's mom told Jen that he still loves her, and Katie Holmes is super happy because she got a haircut. So after 3 vials of blood and a pee sample, I got the good news and the bad news. The good news is all my labs came back normal, yea! ( Everyone asked me 100 times if I had had a tick bite) The bad news is they do not know what is wrong with me, or why I was covered with hives and have sore joints. No news is good news? Hopefully this will never happen again...
We went home and loafed around, and then Dad and the kids and I went down to Corte Madera to Barnes and Noble to get in line for our Harry Potter wristband. We got there about 20 minutes early, and I was about the third person in line! Then we went and had super yummy Vietnamese food for dinner, took a turn around the mall to settle dinner, and then back to B and N. Here they are at the fountain out front.
We spent a good 3.5 hours at the bookstore, entering the contests, doing the very hard Scavenger Hunt, and reading. We didn't win anything, although we did find 48/50 questions.... At 11:30 we started queuing, and since I had an "A" wristband, I was in the first group, so I was about the 20th person in line. They have everything very streamlined, I got my book, we did a little jumping up and down and squealing, Miles had to carry it to the car, we stopped for this photo, and when we got in the car it was 12:05. Pretty slick!!