Baseball Game

We took the BART across to Oakland and went to an A's game.

We had a good time. We left early to go back to San Francisco and grab a late dinner. Fun times!

Haight Ashbury

Jordan and Stephen's dad made a trek to the Haight-Ashbury district long ago. He was not impressed with what he saw there. Neither was I. I couldn't have been more happy to leave that area of town! But we got in, got a photo, and got out pretty quickly.

Golden Gate Park

One afternoon, we headed over to Golden Gate Park to look around and kill some time. Some of us were more enthused than others, but we still got some pictures!

 This reminded me of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego.  - Does anyone YOU know have a Spreckels Organ t-shirt?!!!

Then entrance to the Japanese Gardens, which we didn't enter. 

Lessons: Camping

During the past several weeks, I've tried to have some classes with Claire about camping. The first day we read some books about camping, and we built a tent under the kitchen table with blankets. Claire looked around with a flashlight.

She "took a nap."

And she loved eating her snack in the tent! 

Since then, we've read some more books, and we've built a tent while some friends were over playing. We also made binoculars with those friends. I used empty toilet paper rolls and had them put stickers of things we can see outside on them. I stapled two rolls together for each girl, and I put some yarn on them so they can hang around their necks. (Claire promptly tore hers apart, but she still carries them around).

And tonight I thought it would be fun to tie up all these loose ends with s'mores. Well, Claire didn't like it - not one bit! (So I ate two s'mores instead of just one. - Thanks, Claire!)

Maybe next week we can have our little class more regularly.... We'll see!

Iron Chef Baton Rouge - Apple

It's been a while, but we had another Iron Chef today! The ingredient was apple.

Jane, Helen, Amy

Sarah, Morgan (with sous-chef Quinn), Julia

The spread:
Chef Helen - Bacon-Apple-Cheese Pastries
Chef Amy - Spinach Arugula Salad with apple and walnuts and poppy seed dressing
Chef Sarah - Baked Apple Chips
Chef Jane - Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls
Chef Morgan - Apple Crunch Cheesecake
Chef Julia - Apple Pie

Once again, our chefs did not disappoint! I thought the food was excellent, and I don't think anyone left hungry! The prize was two separate gifts, but because we had such close scores, we opted to separate the gifts and have a 1st and 2nd place.

Chef Jane got 2nd place with her Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls! Yum!

And Iron Chef Helen won the competition with her Bacon-Apple-Cheese Pastries! Delicious! Helen is 2 for 2 now at Iron Chef, so watch out for next time!

Day Out with Mel

The next day, Jordan and Stephen were very busy with their conference, so Mel and I made the most of it and had some fun together. We hopped on the trolley and held on tightly, since we were riding on the outside of it! - Fun! And we talked to some Italians next to us who live pretty close to the Arena where Laura and I got rained on while watching Carmen. Awesome.

We stayed on the trolley a little too long, so we got some exercise by walking up Lombard Street - just to get to the part that's the most crooked. (Had we gotten off earlier, we could have walked over a few blocks to the top of the crooked part of the street. Then we could have walked down all 253 steps that we walked up. Oh well! At least we were wearing tennis shoes!)

Here's the bottom of the crooked part of Lombard Street. It was beautiful! 

 We posed for a few pictures on our way up; it broke up the walk for us.

This plaque says that Lombard Street is the crookedest street in America! There are 8 switchbacks, 12 flowerbeds, and over 2000 blue and purple hydrangeas. Wow! 

Nice view - very European, right Mel?

We made it to the top!!!

Alcatraz is behind me

We waited for the trolley and then went back to Ghirardelli Square. Before buying more chocolate, we walked along the sand and put our feet in the cold water. 

There's no mistaking Mel's foot for my foot; I'm super white, and she can actually get a tan!

 After the beach and after buying some chocolate for the road, we went to Boudin's for lunch. That was one delicious grilled cheese sandwich!

They had all sorts of bread for sale. 

This gator in the window reminded me of Louisiana. (I think they said he's baked in an 8-foot oven!)

And these houses reminded me of Full House. 

 After all that fun, we rode the trolley back and met up with the boys. What a great day!

Bay Cruise

After walking by the bay, we took a cruise on the bay. The fog had lifted by then, and we got to rest a bit from walking around. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Alcatraz

The Golden Gate Bridge!