Category Archive: Stow Lake

Our last visitors: B+B’s visit to Oakland

Posted by Lisa On January 15th, 2013

Before our big move back down to Long Beach we were able to host one final set of friends, Brian and Brianne. It was bittersweet but it was so nice to be able to share our second home, the Bay Area, with our closest friends one last time.

We spent the majority of their short visit across the bridge in our favorite city, San Francisco. We visited one of our most favorite spots in the city: Strawberry Hill and Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

And we made another day trip back across the bridge to do the most touristy thing ever but something none of us had ever done: Alcatraz!

Of course they had to get lunch at Boudin…having worked across from Pier 39 for 3.5 years it was definitely not on my bucket list before we left the Bay Area, haha.

Sirena and Auntie Bri

Nerd alert!

Family photo (minus Lola) with our favorite city in the background

It got freaking chilly after the sun went down on our side of the island and we had to wait for the darn ferry. Glad we came prepared!

Goodbye, San Francisco and the amazing Bay Area. We love you and we’re so grateful for all of our adventures!!

Dad & Mysty’s visit

Posted by Lisa On April 26th, 2011

The evening of the same day that we said bye to Thomas and Ashley, we welcomed my dad and his pup Mysty for a few days! They drove out from Las Vegas and got in around 8:30 pm on Wednesday April 20th. After catching up for a bit we hit the sack because we were all feeling pretty tired and Kevin and I had work the next morning.

Mysty was a little suspicious of us at first, haha!

While Kevin and I were at work on Thursday, my dad and Mysty made a trip down to San Jose to visit with my sister Jess and check out her apartment and her wine bar. That night the three of us went to dinner at our favorite Salvadoran restaurant Balompie. It was my dad’s second time having pupusas (but only the first time eating them at a restaurant) and I think we made a fan out of him! After stuffing ourselves silly we made our way up the street to El Rico Pan, a Salvadoran bakery, for some goodies and coffee. The pound cake was TO DIE FOR as well as the churro that Kevin swears by now so we’ll definitely have to make a trip (or two) back here.

All the yummy goodness within El Rico Pan bakery

Me and my dad with our pound cake!

On Friday while I was at work for a half day, Kevin and my dad took the pups to McLaren Park in our neighborhood to get the girls some exercise. They then made their way to Pier 39 and walked around a bit while I finished up things at the office. Once I was able to tear myself away, I jumped in the back of the car with the pups and we made our way to Golden Gate Park!

Me with barely enough room to sit with those two doggies in the backseat!

We made our way to (you guessed it!) Strawberry Hill and Stow Lake to take in the scenery and give ourselves and the dogs some exercise. Lots of nature to be seen…

Ducks, seagulls and a turtle

Two ducks and a whole group of tiny ducklings!

Lola was a thirsty dog by the end of the hike!

A super random little character tied up in the tree. Not sure what to make of it but felt the need to take a photo!

That night we took it easy, ordered in pizza from Pizzeria Sophia (it was our first time ordering from them…holy moly, such good pizza!) and watched some of the Laker game. It had been a couple of years since I saw my dad (and a few for Kevin) so it was great spending a few days with him. Hopefully a visit to Vegas is in the cards for Kevin and I in the near future! 🙂

Thomas & Ashley’s visit

Posted by Lisa On April 26th, 2011

Right on the heels of my trip to Napa with Jess, Kevin’s brother Thomas and his girlfriend Ashley came up for a 2-day visit! They were here early the morning of Monday 4/18 and left super early Wednesday morning (ahem, 4:30am wake up call!) but it was an adventurous two days to say the least. This was Ashley’s first time visiting SF so we pulled out all the stops for her visit. 🙂

We spent the afternoon enjoying the concrete Seward slides (see our first visit to the slides here) in the Castro. At first we only had a few scrap pieces of cardboard to slide down and they weren’t too useful when the slides were dewy so we were actually on our way back to the car when we spotted a brand-spankin’ new computer monitor box in all its glory just calling out our names. So after some slick maneuvering by Thomas (who, in essence, rummaged through this random person’s trash for our sliding enjoyment) we were on our way back to the slides to get some extreme sliding in.

Thomas and me

Kevin and Thomas (check out Kevin’s signature arm placement in this and the next photo, haha!)

Kevin and Ashley

The sliding was so extreme that on one ride down Thomas was propelled to his feet and then flat on his face! The craziest part was that none of us even noticed Thomas flying through the air and all we saw were his arms and legs flailing up while on his back as the end result. I’m still not quite sure how it happened.

There’s Thomas lying down in the slide! “Help me, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”

Me and Kevin

Awesome action shot of Thomas mid-slide

We then took a drive to our favorite part of Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake and Strawberry Hill. It was a bit drizzly and foggy but we made the most of it with a walk around the lake and a hike up the hill.

Thomas and Ashley sitting on the bridge over the lake (this was taken with a “miniature” mode on our camera, so cool!)

The green, green lake and its surroundings

Well hello Mr. Squirrel! He was anxious for some treats, too bad I tricked him and only wanted to take his photo.

Ashley & Thomas

Me & Kevin

Kooky brothers

Geronimo!

Thomas and the waterfall

Bluebird amongst the fire red leaves

We then made our way through the Presidio and ended up exploring some of the abandoned bunkers on the coast.

Great view of the Golden Gate Bridge in all its foggy glory

So apparently our camera also has a fish-eye lens mode–didn’t realize Kevin took this photo in that mode until later, hilarious!

Ashley, Thomas and the GGB

See how drizzly it was? Water was covering Kevin’s glasses.

We had a lovely evening introducing Ashley to the world of Indian Pizza at Zante Pizza. YUM!!!

The following day while I was at work the three amigos went to explore the Marin Headlands. They were trying to find the entrance to an underground bunker that apparently hasn’t been sealed shut and only a handful of people have been successful finding but, unfortunately (or fortunately?) they didn’t find it. Kevin is determined to find the thing.

Green, green everywhere in Marin!

One of the bunkers they explored

They met up with me at work and we went to dinner on Pier 39 at Wipeout Bar & Grill (just “okay” food, nothing to write home about…luckily I get a discount there because I work so close to the pier). We then had a nice long walk along the piers and made our way to Ghirardelli Square so that Ashley and I could share a super delicious chocolate fudge/peanut butter sundae. Mmm, mmm!

Thomas had to get an obligatory sourdough bowl and clam chowder; Kevin in front of the Chowder Hut

The “Penny Mist” boat docked near Fisherman’s Wharf

Two old(ish) men playing checkers on the corner of Beach & Hyde

We had to drop those two knuckleheads off at the airport at 4:30 in the morning the following day (yikes!) but we wish they could’ve spent at least another day or two exploring the city with us! Until next time (hint, hint!) 🙂

Christmas: The SF Edition

Posted by Lisa On January 8th, 2011

We were back in town for Christmas Eve–Kevin had to work but I was lucky to be able to spend part of the afternoon with the Julian family who were in town for the holidays visiting their son Brandon (he lives in San Bruno). The Julians are really close friends of my family’s who we spent Thanksgiving with in 2009 (see post at this link). Me and Lola met up with the gang in Golden Gate Park at Stow Lake, one of my favorite parts of the park. We walked all around the lake and up Strawberry Hill for a good hour or so–it was such a nice, crisp day, perfect for a walk in the park!

Diane, Dave and Lola

Just as I was taking a photo of this squirrel, Lola decides to…

Jump in mud. Gross.

Playing fetch with Brandon

Me and my second mom Diane

After saying farewell (we were going to spend Christmas Day with them) we ran back home to pick up Kevin and made our way to Carleigh & Scott’s place for Christmas Eve dinner.

The fixins

Failed photo attempt #1–Totally cut out Scott, oops!

Not-so-failed photo attempt, but not a great photo overall. Oh well! We were hungry and didn’t have any more patience to try it a third time. 😉

Bailey got Lola a squeaky duck for Christmas! Surprisingly, she’s still got the duck but it looks nothing like it did on day one (photos soon).

Pecan pie, straight from Carleigh’s kitchen…mmm!

Carleigh & Scott bought us a new game for Christmas as well called Bezzerwizzer (a trivia game) and we had a good time playing although trying to remember the name of the damn game was difficult because you were supposed to call it out occasionally and none of us could ever remember what the name of the game was, haha.

Pretty much sums up the whole evening!

Christmas day we were able to sleep in and enjoyed a yummy pancake breakfast, just the two of us. Jessie joined us mid-morning and we video-chatted with the Edmonds family to do our annual sibling gift exchange (thanks Rob for the AWESOME vase and New Orleans messenger bag!!) Jessie and I went in on a gray pea coat for Kevin which he absolutely loves and I got myself a little surprise (that I’m sure most of you already know about) that I’ll write a whole post about soon. Chatting with the family was fun–having just been in Long Beach with family it wasn’t as difficult spending Christmas day away from everyone.
That afternoon we met up with the Julians again at an apartment in the Castro where Brandon was house sitting for dinner, drinks and games (Catch Phrase). Lots of food and lots of wine was consumed (no photographic proof but you’ll just have to take my word for it).

Diane, Brandon and Jessie (the three blondies)

Jessie…being Jessie 😉

Photo bomb!

“Act natural”–Dave, I guess, was the only one who follows directions 😉

We ended the evening being treated to a movie by Dave and Diane–True Grit! Most of us LOVED it (Jess wasn’t too much of a fan) and it was a great way to end the Christmas season! 🙂

Mom’s visit

Posted by Lisa On April 11th, 2010

My mom and her boyfriend Steve came up to visit Thursday 4/1 – Monday 4/5 and we had a really great time. It was the first time my mom had come up to see our new place in SF and it was a great chance to get to know Steve better as well. They drove up on Thursday and that afternoon after hanging out with Kevin and me for a little bit, Kevin had to go to school so the three of us went out exploring the city.

We drove through Bernal Heights (a really cute neighborhood near our apartment) then drove through Diamond Heights and stopped to get a gorgeous view of downtown.

Kevin’s usually the tour guide for our visitors, so it was interesting being put in the driver’s seat and when I asked them “So what do you want to see?” they replied “Whatever you want to show us!” I know one of my favorite places in the city is Golden Gate Park, so that’s where we went!

We took a stroll around Stow Lake (one of my favorite spots in GG Park)…

The local sun-bathin’ turtles

Me and mom near the waterfall on Strawberry Hill

Mom and Steve in the Golden Gate Pavillion, a Chinese pagoda on Stow Lake

After our romp through the park, we decided to indulge in some delicious Peruvian food in the Mission at Mi Lindo Peru. My mom and I had actually been to this same restaurant years before when we came up to visit Jessie (long before Kevin and I had even considered moving to SF!)

This is a fantastic restaurant with extremely good food. My good friend Claudia (who visited me last summer) inspired in me a great love for Peruvian food. Our visit to this restaurant reminded me that I need to ask her for some of her recipes to make some at home! 🙂

My mom got Inca Kola (kind of like cream soda)

I got Aji de Gallina (chili chicken in a cream sauce)…I really need to learn to make this at home so I can have it whenever I please! 🙂

Friday through Sunday Steve was out visiting his niece’s family in San Ramon, so my mom stayed with me and Kevin those nights. On Friday I was able to get out of work early to spend some time with mom and Jess that evening. We hung out and talked for a couple of hours then vegged out and watched about 5 episodes of “Modern Family” (have you seen that show?? It’s HILARIOUS!) It was just like old times, the three of us cracking up so hard we could barely breathe kind of moments. That night when Kevin got home from class we went out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, CaliPhoNia (Vietnamese)…sooooo good!!

On Saturday afternoon, the four of us ventured out of the city and drove down to Santa Cruz. Jessie’s the only one who had been there before, and it was such a cute little beach town (definitely reminded us of Long Beach and Seal Beach).

Jess and mom doing the tango in our backyard

We had a little photo shoot on one of the cliffs overlooking the beach…

America’s Next Top Model, Jessie

We then drove down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk…

My mom treated us to a ride on the Giant Dipper (the 6th oldest roller coaster in the US, by the way!)…

We had an AWESOME time on the roller coaster (can’t you tell by the photo? haha).

After braving the roller coaster we treated ourselves to some typical carnival food–Jessie got garlic fries, Kevin got cotton candy, mom got funnel cake and I got a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone…YUM!!

Those are some satisfied carnies! haha

My childhood favorite: chocolate-dipped ice cream cone

Kevin ate so much cotton candy his tongue turned into sugar!

The cone says it all…

On Easter Sunday we drove out to San Ramon to meet Steve and his niece Michelle’s family (her husband Steve and their kids Morgan and Melissa).

Spring is here!

Morgan (6 yrs. old) showing off his magic tricks (he was good too!)

Melissa came out in her princess gown and quickly got tangled up in some balloons and her tiara, in true princess fashion 😉

And then she proceeded to tattoo herself up with Easter stickers

To celebrate in true Easter-style we ended our evening at The Mint, a karaoke bar in SF, and the sushi bar next door, Sushi Delight. The Delmar girls all love karaoke, so Kevin and Steve just cheered us on. 😉

A few of the songs that were sung that evening…

Apparently, I really get into it. Me singing John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Hurt So Good” (my signature karaoke song, haha)

Mom singing “Can’t Take my Eyes off of You”

Jess singing “Angel Baby”

Jess and Mom dancing along to Dean Martin’s “Luna Mezzo Mare”

My mom will be back in town for my sister’s graduation from SF State so we’re looking forward to some more adventures next month!

Sunny days in SF!

Posted by Lisa On March 28th, 2010

We have been thoroughly enjoying the past two weeks of sunshine in the city. Some mornings when I get up and the sky is blue and clear of any clouds and the wind is nice and warm, I honestly feel as though I’m back in Long Beach! It’s been so great to be able to spend so many sunny days outdoors (and I’ve regained some of my tan back, woohoo! 🙂 ) Here are some of the fun things we’ve been doing with our beautiful days…

Nothing says “warm weather” quite like a BBQ!

Lola and I spent one afternoon with Jessie and the boys she nannies for (McKinley Square Park)

Brandt showing off his static-y hair

Jess and Colby

Lola is a huge fan of the warm weather and she’s been spending a lot of time outdoors. She’s had her way with her basketball and it’s not much of a ball anymore!

We’ve been frequenting Golden Gate Park lately and have been taking our time exploring Stow Lake and Strawberry Hill and the surrounding areas with all of the great trails.

Kevin, Lola and Stow Lake

A waterfall in the middle of Golden Gate Park

Adventures with Lisa & Kevin