Days 7, 8 & 9 Highlights

After a second night in Santa Rosa with Rich's family, we headed back to the city on the morning of Day 7. As soon as we got there, we picked up Ryan's godmother and my BFF Kathy (who had flown up to see us from SoCal). She actually took a bus from the city and walked across the Golden Gate bridge to meet us in Marin at the Discovery Bay Children's Museum!

So while she and Rich were shlepping their way down the mountain to the museum down at the bay, Ry and I were already inside having fun...so I'm not sure, but I think someone has a future hawking crabs down at the wharf!

Again, climbing was the name of the game on this trip. Ryan climbed up nearly every apparatus he could find. Loved his fearlessness!

And if the wharf gig doesn't work out, he can definitely a road work crew! He loooooved this area of the museum! They also had a giant blue waterbed shaped like a pond with lilypads on it that we regrettably didn't take any pictures of that he also loved.

This was a near life-size boat that even rocked to emulate the sea (not my favorite feature). Capt. Ryan to the rescue!

Trying to teach my young how to swim!

Learning how to "swim" in a giant aquarium with daddy and Aunty Kathy!

Our smiley little "ant" crawling around in a giant ant tunnel!

Later that evening we hit up yet another park with Uncle Joey before hitting up two favorite stops of ours down in the Mission...

... Ethiopean food and BiRite ice cream! (Daddy was worn out and back at home studying and resting. He was NOT pleased to missing one of favorite kinds of food!)

See what I mean? Still pissed off about it...even later that night! Ry on the other hand? Sweet as pie. And why not? He's being cuddled by his daddy with his favorite blankie and precious thumbkin in his mouth...life doesn't get any better for him!

The next day we let daddy study some more while we hit up Ryan's beloved carousel at Golden Gate Park's Koret Children's playground (I don't know who the Koret's are, but they've done some amazing gifting to the city because we also played on their playground in the SF Zoo as well!). After spying a giraffe on the zoo's carousel, all he could talk about was wanting to ride on one the next time, so he finally got his wish!

He also scored a bonus ride on a moving horse since rides were only $2 (unlike pricey Pier 39's $5 experience). :-)

And since there were no signs telling us to the contrary, I let Ryan feed the pigeons (a novel experience for us since we don't have them on the Big Island...something I'm not broken up about, believe me, but for Ry, they're awesome birds)! Later that night we walked to Union Square to meet Kathy at her hotel and have dinner at a vegan restaurant in the Westfield Mall (quite possibly the nicest, greenest food court I've been in)!

The next morning was my second long run (and once again, my scheduled 18-miler was aborted for a 16-17 miler) in the city. Even though I didn't feel as good as my run through the park the previous Saturday, I swear- this might have been, scratch that. This WAS the most scenic run of my entire life. I cannot think of a more picturesque run in the country than the one I just did.

It started with a pre-morning sunlight run down Market Street (Joey taught me to sing loudly to myself so all the crazies will leave you alone since clearly, you're crazier than anyone else) to the Embarcadero, along the marina/wharf, through Aquatic Park, beautiful Fort Mason, my favorite running spot on Earth- Crissy Field, then up and over the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge (admittedly a little freaky since the wind was blowing and I swear, I felt the bridge rocking) to Marin, then back along the same route to the Ferry Building to meet my boys, nibble on some fruit and say goodye to Kathy.

I cannot begin to describe how happy and alive the city makes me feel, most especially when I'm walking or running there. Everytime I'm there (perhaps my 25th trip?), I fervently plot my move there (not really gonna happen anytime soon). I don't think I need to live there for very long (it's not an ideal place to raise a little boy), but just enough to satiate myself and expose Ryan to all the wonders the city has to offer.

After bidding a fond adieu to Kathy, we continued back along the Embarcadero back to Pier 39 so we could hit up a teeny tiny park we always take Ryan to. This is him at his 'restaurant' serving us food (we do this at EVERY park we go to). ;-) What I love best about his restaurants is that they always serve EVERYTHING, and food always costs only $1, $3, or the latest amount of his he's been saying- "Two and a half ."

Ryan found a little ladybug and a little friend that day, and they spent about ten minutes excitedly huddled over it. I didn't have the heart to point out to Ryan that his little friend eventually massacred the little aphid-eater with a giant stick! :-( That kid soooo should not be allowed to live in the city of San Francisco.

Our final evening in the city we spent at the park of course (I desperately wanted a picture of us in front of the famous Painted Ladies behind us). It's funny, in all my trips to the city I'd never been there. And since Joey only lives about ten minutes away from them, we made sure to make it our last, memorable stop in the city.

That night we hung out with Joey and a few of his friends before they went all out to a party. Ryan entertained everyone by wearing Uncle Joey's Snooki wig (since no trip to San Fran is complete without cross dressing).

For the first time in a long time, we have no return trip back to San Fran on the books...so I'm not sure when we'll be returning. Rich says not for awhile, I say...let's save and keep our eyes on airfares and who knows? ;-)

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Special thanks go out to Rich for taking on this trip even though he's in the middle of school, to Uncle Joey and Aunty Randi for putting us up for free (I mean, I think it's free, I haven't received a bill yet), Murphy for not jumping on Ryan this trip, Aunty Kathy for flying up to visit us, Grammy Kay for driving up to see us, Shawn, Sandy, Macey & Riley for having us over, and of course- the big man upstairs for giving us such beautiful weather, and a fun, safe trip with people we know and love.