Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
Here are some fun photos of Lola from the past two months…enjoy!
She’s even got her own camp chair (just kidding!)
With Jessie at Dolores Park on her last day as nanny for the Dobson boys
Piggy back ride with dad
She’s like a big ol’ baby
She enjoys running with mom…even gets to wear her own running jacket! 😉
Yeah I know, they’d consider this pet torture in some countries
She gets in the weirdest positions!
Napping in the sunlightPosted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
Kevin asked work for Saturdays off (woo hoo!!) and we spent our first Saturday together (on 10/9) in our old stomping grounds: Golden Gate Park. This time we decided to check out the part closest to the ocean since we’re so used to hanging around the same ol’ parts (near the museums and Stow Lake).
Is that really necessary? I doubt anyone will be looking towards a sign in the event of a tsunami. Just run like hell away from the water, duh!
Lola is never happier then when she’s out with us at a parkOn one of my long runs the weekend before I ran past this random windmill in the park and we decided to check it out during our visit.
We made Lola jump into this hole in the side of the windmill. She’s such a good girl, she’ll do anything her mama and dad ask her to do! 🙂
Loving the sunshine and the time togetherThat night we took a drive down to Los Gatos to visit Jessie at her wine bar, Enoteca La Storia, for some dessert and wine. It’s in a little shopping center and it’s a ridiculously cute and comfortable space for getting together and enjoying some wine.
I had a burgundy wine and Kevin had a Malbec…yum!
We then shared some carrot cake bites (delicious) and sflogliatella (an amazing treat!–here’s a random video I found online about them if you’re interested in learning more).
Jessie seemed right at home back in a restaurant and serving–I’m so happy for her!
We had such a great time and loved visiting Jess at her new job, can’t wait to visit again!
Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
Carleigh, Scott and I spent the afternoon of 10/3 at Golden Gate Park with thousands of other people for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. It was the festival’s 10 year anniversary and the festival is absolutely free which is pretty uncommon nowadays.
Scott, Carleigh and me
Our neighbor dog, she was such a sweetie!
Yeah, it was that packed.
A very random head on a pole with a clown wig
It was friggin cold that day, so I bundled up on the blanket I intended to sit on…guess this other guy had the same idea 😉Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
We invited Carleigh, Scott and Bailey over for a bbq over our new firepit and had a superb time.
Appetizers…yum!
Carleigh and the ax
Lola keeping a safe distance (and hoping for her dad to drop some treats for her!)
Couple of beggars
The feast! Maui short ribs and teriyaki tofu (for me of course) with grilled asparagus and brown rice
And what campfire is complete with some songs! Scott is a talented guitar player and we had a great time singing any song that Scott decided to play for us. Don’t think we’ll be going on tour any time soon, but it was definitely a fun evening. We love those three knuckleheads!
Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
On Saturday 9/11 I started my morning off right–with a 7 mile run! The training for my half-marathon was starting to get intense with a weekly long run and this was my longest ever. I looked up another runner’s route on run.com and really enjoyed my run outside of my neighborhood (which can get boring after a while!) and outside of Kezar Stadium where I’d do some of my shorter runs. I had to take a little printout of the map with me to make sure I didn’t get lost. 😉 All I could think during the run was how amazingly beautiful the park was and how incredibly lucky I was to live in this city and to run in a place like this.
The run was extremely successful, so much so that I agreed to go for a couple mile walk with Carleigh and her dog Bailey along the beach in Pacifica! I mapped the route on run.com so check it out here if you’re interested. 🙂
Beautiful!
Carleigh and her adoring fansThe night we got some sandwiches at Phat Philly in the Mission (Cheez Whiz on a philly sandwich? Sure! Waffle-cut fries with a beer cheese sauce? Of course!) and then spent the rest of the evening at Serra Bowl bowling alley.
Proof that I kicked Kevin’s butt! 🙂 Unfortunately we were kicked off the game but you can clearly see that I was in the lead. 🙂
Carleigh wasn’t too impressed with our bowling skills 😉Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
Kevin got Sunday 9/5 off of work (just two days before his birthday) so we decided to have a family day to celebrate. We had lunch at Gordo Taqueria in the Outer Richmond (pretty yummy but we’ve had better burritos before). We went to Sutro Baths (I had already been twice but Kevin hadn’t been yet and had heard so much about it) and Lola thoroughly enjoyed her time in the water.
For Kevin’s birthday I bought him an outdoor firepit that we lit up the first night we got it and enjoyed a glass of wine with it. It was pretty windy so it took a true Eagle Scout to get the first started. 🙂 It felt like we were camping and it was a wonderful way to celebrate Kevin’s birthday.
Kevin gettin’ all toasty by the firePosted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
Jessie decided to shake things up a bit and move from San Jose Avenue in San Francisco to the city of San Jose and Kevin and I helped during her big day. On 9/4 we packed up a Budget rental truck (Kevin was a pro at fitting all her antique furniture, the only thing left over was her kitty Mars and a vacuum cleaner, pretty damn good!) and made our way about 40 minutes down the freeway to her new place.
Jessie’s now-ex-roommate Jessie in her old room saying goodbye to Mars
After the big move Jessie treated us to lunch at Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant–soooo good!
Jessie landed a job at Enoteca La Storia, a wine bar in Los Gatos, and needed to make the physical move down to San Jose to be close to her new gig. Kevin and I visited her at work and I’ll post pictures of that visit soon. I am so so so happy for Jess and so proud of her for taking chances and making such a big change in her life.
Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
This was our first time exploring Berkeley since we moved up here and we had a great time with Thomas. We first drove through some beautiful neighborhoods with homes that I wish were ours!! Then we ended up at the Berkeley Rose Garden which was such a nice little paradise in the middle of the city.
Gotta remember to stop and smell the roses!
Across the street is Cordonices Park which is an amazing little spot to hike in and explore. We took funny posed photos in trees and climbed up ivy covered hills–needless the say this park is a great spot! We’d love to come back to have a big picnic sometime.
One of our funny posed photos…Kevin had to hightail it to climb the tree and pose in time!
Looks like they’re on the set of “LOST”
This was taken just seconds before Kevin fell in 😉
Had a great time with Thomas! We miss him a lot and it was great to spend some time with him.
Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
The second week of August brought us the entire Edmonds family for a visit. Unfortunately the circumstances weren’t the happiest as we were gathering for Kevin’s Grandma Margie’s funeral in Half Moon Bay (see earlier post about her life here).
Dorothy and Thomas flew up Friday morning 8/13 and we spent some time driving through the Presidio. We also spent a bit of time in the lobby and gift shop of the Walt Disney Family Museum. We were going to go into the museum but for $20 a person (!) we decided to just explore the huge lobby and gift store instead.
That night George flew in and we had an amazingly delicious dinner at Zante Pizza. The Edmonds family were pleasantly surprised by how delicious Indian pizza can be and I think we made fans out of them (or was that the huge Taj Mahal beers talking?? 😉 ).
On Saturday morning 8/14 we joined the rest of the Edmonds family (Judith, Sarah, Joshua and Katelyn, Uncle Dave and Aunt Ellen, and Uncle Bob) in Half Moon Bay for Margie’s funeral. It was a foggy day but it seemed fitting for the occasion. It was so peaceful and quiet at the grounds and the only sounds we could hear were the few birds chirping in the area in between those who said words at the grave site.
Margie’s beautiful urn and American flag
The peaceful grave site
Kevin reading a poem
The program that Kevin madeAfter the funeral we all caravaned back up to Daly City for brunch at the Boulevard Cafe (at the recommendation of Carleigh). We had a really great time spending time together and reminiscing about the amazing life that Grandma Margie lived.
Me and my adorable nephew and niece
Dorothy showing Joshua some family photos from the scrapbook I made
Dorothy saying a few words
Katelyn, Dorothy, Judith, Sarah, Joshua and ThomasAfter spending the afternoon at our apartment catching up and soaking up the sun that decided to come out we went out to dinner at Balompie (our favorite Salvadorean pupuseria) and once again the food was a hit!
Some of the creepiest statues ever! These are in front of a house just a block up from Balompie. Creepy!!
So of course Joshua took this as a photo opp 😉
Like father, like son!
Noogie time!
The girlsWe then decided to ditch our cars and take the F train from the Castro to Fisherman’s Wharf. We took a quick stop at the Ferry Building and then made our way to Ghirardelli Square for some late night sundaes.
Katelyn, Judith and Josh on the F
The Ferry Building in all its glory 😉
A girl’s bathroom photo opp of course! 🙂 That’s me, Dorothy, Judith and Katelyn in the reflection of the hand dryer.
(Almost the) whole family on the F! It was kind of funny riding this with them as I ride this every day to and from work.
George and Dorothy’s choice: banana split!
Kevin, the anti ice cream guy, chose to enjoy a nice big coke. Sarah and I split a dark chocolate mint sundae. AMAZING!!
The next morning we said our goodbyes to Judith, Sarah, Joshua and Katelyn as they made the drive back down to Long Beach. George, Dorothy, Thomas and us then made our way across the bay to eat some Casper’s Hot Dogs in Albany.
Now THAT’S what I call a hot dog.
I had only had them out of the fridge before and I was excited to experience them straight from the restaurant since I’ve had to hear the family rave about them for years! Although the turkey dog I got was tasty, I still am not a huge fan of the crunchy exterior of the hot dog but all the fixins were great nonetheless! Shortly after that we said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad as they caught a plane back to LB and we spent the rest of the day with Thomas (I’ll update in another post shortly).
All in all, even though the circumstances weren’t happy, we had a wonderful family reunion nonetheless and we really enjoyed hosting the family up in our neck of the woods.
Posted by Lisa On October 22nd, 2010
The first weekend of August we were visited by our favorite couple ever, Brianne & Brian! They stayed with us Thursday through Sunday so it was a great chunk of time to spend with those kiddos. 🙂
The first day I had to work so Kevin and B & B went to the Exploratorium to act like kids for a day. That night after work we met up with Carleigh in Union Square and had drinks and dinner at an Irish pub (can’t remember the name of it). We then treated ourselves to some Mitchell’s Ice Cream since they hadn’t tried it yet. We’ve got ourselves a couple new fans! 🙂
On Friday while Kevin and I were at work, B & B did some exploring in the East Bay on their own. We then met up that afternoon to do some exploring in North Beach/Chinatown.
Yes it is August and yes we’re bundled up like we’re going to the North Pole 🙂
Our first stop in Chinatown: House of Nanking! We had heard rave reviews about it and were not disappointed. Soooo tasty! Just don’t be fooled by the name of their scallop dish “Tower of Scallops”…it was only three freakin’ scallops! Other than that, we were super impressed (just not with the service, but what can you expect?)
We then walked a mile or two to North Beach and hung out at our regular spot Mara’s Italian Pastries.
YUM!!!!!!
Our lovely posed photo (check out the tripod our camera is on, haha!)
Here’s our goofy shot…guess Kevin and Brian didn’t get the memo!
Being goofs in front of some window display in Union Square
They look like they could be locals! 🙂On Saturday we went to visit Kevin on his lunch break since he had to work 🙁 We went to eat at La Boulange Bakery.
Delicious tuna melt!!Then B & B and I were off to explore the Sutro Baths.
Brian rock climbing
Then we did some exploring (by car mostly) through Golden Gate Park.
And where do you think we went to dinner? Goood Frikin Chicken of course! It’s where we take all of our lucky visitors.
After dinner we made the trip out to Concord for Terri and Scott’s poker night. The newbies (B & B) got beginner’s luck and walked away with the pot!!
We had such a fantastic time with those two and we miss ’em already! Can’t wait for their next visit 🙂