Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

One place that Ryan and I REALLY wanted to go to while in California was San Francisco. We kept putting it off because we "had more time". Well our time was cut short and we would be moving in no time. We looked at our weekends and there was only one we didn't have plans and that was our last weekend in California, the holiday weekend. We bought tickets, booked a hotel and off we went.We left at 8 AM on Friday (we basically missed our flight) and came back Monday at 1 PM.

We arrived at the airport at 7:45 AM due to morning traffic. The flight was delayed by 15 minutes and we got moved to the front of the line of security at LAX. It was literally a miracle that we made it.

We landed in San Francisco around 9:30 and got to our hotel around 10:30. We went and had lunch at a sushi restaurant near our hotel and walked to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. We also decided this day we would buy a bus pass so we could see as much of San Francisco in a very short time period. It was perfect and wonderful. We ended up getting back to our hotel around 7 and walked to a little diner and grabbed take out and took it to the room.

Saturday we got up, had breakfast at our hotel and then went to get on our bus tour. We went over the Golden Gate Bridge and saw Union Square. We went back to our hotel, got warmer clothes and walked to Chinatown for dinner. It doesn't seem like that much, but it was a long and cold day.

Sunday was pretty much the same, but we went to North Beach and had lunch at the Stinking Rose and gelato for dessert, to see the Painted Ladies and to a restaurant one of our tour guides recommended, The Delancey Street Restaurant. Here is an excerpt from their website, "Delancey Street Restaurant is a key training school of the Delancey Street Foundation, the country's largest self-help residential organization for people who have hit bottom to completely rebuild their lives. For 40 years, Delancey Street has provided a home and all services to thousands of residents at no cost to the client and no cost to the taxpayer. We earn our money through enterprises such as this restaurant which train our residents and also support our operation. All tips are considered donations, and all restaurant proceeds after food costs go directly to house, feed and clothe our residents and teach all skills, values and attitudes needed for a successful drug-free and crime-free life in the mainstream society." The food was seriously amazing! If you know anything about San Francisco, it's EXPENSIVE, we literally had one of our best meals all weekend and it was also our cheapest. If you're in the Bay Area I highly recommend going here. All tips go directly to the help support the organization. This day was more of a low key day for us. I hadn't been drinking enough water so I was really dehydrated and feeling it too. After dinner we went back to the hotel and just hung out. Every night we were in our room no later than 9 or 10 and it was wonderful. We were running on E and we still had quite awhile before we could really just take it easy.

Monday was our last day in the city. We woke up late, had breakfast, packed our bags and lounged around our room until it was time to head to the airport. I'm so thankful we got the opportunity to go to this amazing city and we had a lot of fun together.

We stayed at the Marines Memorial Hotel and would definitely recommend it. It's in a PERFECT location; in lower nob hill. I highly recommend it. We could easily walk to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach and much more if we had wanted to.

Catch Up

It has been a really long time since I've posted, but I guess let's play catch up. Last time I posted we were in Michigan.

+Ryan arrived in MI on the 24th and we had a great time spending our days with family, celebrating the New Year playing games with my parents and obviously Christmas with our little brown bear, family and friends.

+Ryan and I flew back to California on the 3rd of January and hit the road running. We landed in Las Vegas and walked around before driving back to CA. We got home around 5 AM.

+January 4th my friend took me to my first and only Lakers game at the Staples Center. We walked around Rodeo Drive, went to the most amazing Brazilian Steakhouse of my life and ate WAY too much. I had mentioned I had always wanted to go to a Lakers game at Staples, but just never made it. He bought tickets and we went and it was a great time.

+I had dinner plans pretty much every single night that first week back. All you can eat sushi, dinner and ice cream...lots of eating out.

+ We went to Disneyland on the 10th. One last time and our first sans baybay. It rained that day so the park was practically empty, but it was COLD.

+January 12th was the last night in our home.

+January 13th and 14th the movers were there.The 13th was my going away lunch at my work.

+January 15th we had our little framily over to our temporary lodging facility (TLF) for pizza. It was also my last official day at my office and Ryan had his shop lunch.

+January 16th Ryan and I flew to San Francisco for the weekend, we came home on the 19th.

January 20th we saw a few of our friends, did some last minute things, checked out of house, said a few more good byes and drove to Flagstaff, AZ.

+January 21st-23rd we drove the rest of the way to Dayton, Oh. stopping in Amarillo, TX, Springfield, MO and lastly in Dayton

+January 24th we moved into our new house, I thought I was getting a UTI (tmi?)

+January 25th I went to the hospital on base to get medicine, came home and realized how awful I was feeling and that it was the flu

+January 26th should have been Ryan's first day of work, but he actually ended up having a snow day (due to 3" of snow...the weirdest.

+January 27th our household goods were delivered.

+January 28th my parents delivered Dominick. :)

+January 29th my parents drove back to Michigan.

+Today is January 30th and here we are. I'm working from home and Dominick is also at home. He's currently on 3 waiting lists for child care, but until I can get him into one I'm basically a work at home when he's sleeping/stay at home momma. It's kind of the best of both worlds. I'm only working through February, but it's also kind of chaotic.

+We are ready to have our house in order, a schedule that works for us and some normalcy in our life. To say we've been nonstop going since the middle of December is an understatement. It seems like January was a complete whirlwind. I do have a few posts planned so make sure to check back!