San Francisco

Last week we spent six days in the San Francisco area with Ahren's side of the family. We went out to attend Ahren's cousin Jere's wedding, and I am so glad that we went! We weren't sure how Lexi would do on a nearly six hour flight, and then staying in a hotel room and traveling all over, but (no surprise here) she was beyond fantastic the entire time.

Both flights were completely uneventful, and Lexi did amazingly well. I think I was more cranky than she was on the flight home, and unless you could actually see her, there is no way another passenger ever knew there was an almost three year old in her seat. She was not impressed with the selection of cartoons on JetBlue, but luckily she was content to read or color (or watch Mommy and Daddy color) and look out the window. I believe her exact quote about the cartoons was, "Mom, these cartoons are really boring."

Once in San Francisco we met up with Ahren's parents and Auntie Kae, cousin Jere, and Aunt Laurie and Uncle Bill (who I was actually meeting for the first time). Uncle Devan and Auntie Jen didn't arrive until later that evening, so we didn't see them until the morning. This began many wonderful days of Lexi being spoiled to death by her family, and Ahren and I having the time of our lives getting to enjoy part of the family that we just never get to spend enough time with. What was particularly nice about the visit was that we were in a far away town staying in a hotel, so no one was "hosting" which meant that everyone was just relaxed and having a great time.

On Friday, after a very long, rotating breakfast, the entire family spent the day site seeing in San Francisco. We had a blast - lots of laughs, lots of yummy food, and sooo much Ghirardelli Chocolate...YUM! Lexi finally got to see the Sea Lions that I've been telling her about since Christmas, and she was totally impressed. That evening we attended the rehearsal dinner which was a blast. It was a Texas Style BBQ where everyone was expected to dress accordingly. The Lippman clan tried...some of us were more successful than others...but it didn't matter because we had a blast anyway, and the food was out of this world!

On Saturday Jere coordinated group tickets to a Giants Game. This was quite an adventure for Lexi, which began and ended with a pretty fun ferry ride. She enjoyed the game quite a bit, even though it wasn't the Red Sox. We also enjoyed the game, as well as the food - who can resist ballpark food. Plus, San Francisco has this amazing "tradition?" of garlic fries which are crazy good, but you better pack your Trident because they are garlicky! Saturday night we all met over at the Brewery across the street from our hotel for dinner. It was Aunt Laurie's birthday so it was nice to get together for dinner, though we were all pretty pooped, so it was an early night.

Sunday was the day of the wedding, so after another marathon breakfast (which was my favorite part of the whole trip - sitting around the breakfast table with our family) we all just went our separate ways to relax and be on our own schedule. Ahren, Lexi and I went to Sausalito and found a fantastic lunch spot where we enjoyed a long and relaxing lunch before heading back to the hotel where Lexi (luckily) took a very short nap before we had to head up to San Rafael for the wedding. The wedding ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was a blast, which was no surprise. Once again it was just so much fun getting to hang out and chat with the family, and no one had to get up to start cleaning dishes, or rush off to get home. Lexi danced the night away, as expected. She told me that her favorite part of weddings is the dancing and the cake. I completely agree with her on that one. However there was no cake at this wedding. There were little cupcakes (which she was pleased with) and these little shooter glasses filled with some sort of butterscotch orgasm. Seriously, you would watch people take the first bite expecting pudding and then the expression on their face change when they realized that they'd just taken a tiny bit of heaven. I don't know exactly what this was, but it was better than cake...much better than cake.

The next morning the rest of the family left early, and we drove Uncle Devan and Auntie Jen to the airport. We still had one more night, so we took a trip to the San Francisco Zoo which was a pretty cool zoo. You really got to get very close to the animals, which was especially nice for Lexi. My only complaint was that it was about 55 degrees, and I actually had to buy a jacket and hot chocolate...in JULY! On our way home we drove to Muir Woods which is a redwood forest near where we were staying. It was lovely, but the drive to the woods was along a small, windy road with no guardrail and *literally* a cliff right off the side. I thought I was going to throw up driving down, and then back up that road...and of course Ahren is driving with one hand on the wheel pointing out the sites to Lexi. I was extremely happy to be off that road. That evening we had one more early dinner at our favorite brewery and went to bed early.

On Tuesday we woke up and after a quick, and quiet breakfast went right off to the airport. We had a great time in San Francisco, but we were also VERY happy to be going home. When I woke Lexi up that morning she said, "Mommy, I want to go home." and I said, "Good thing, because that's where we're going!" and she looked me right in the eye and said, "NO!! I mean our WHITE house!!" She was ready, and so were we.

It was a wonderful trip and we were so happy and lucky to have the opportunity to go.