Fun in California!

I REALLY need to get creative with my posts (you have heard that before) but for now, more recaps!

This past week brought lots of fun activities and some incredible weather.  You might recall I was begging for a few hot days in the city, well we got them!  When we arrived home from St. Louis the house was 87 degrees and opening the windows did nothing to alleviate the heat (no wind).  It was perfect for spending time outside but made for restless evenings in the house...which apparently cause Scott to do house cleaning.  Another benefit of hot weather! Kidding, Scott!  

Tuesday Chrissie and I decided to take the kids down to Chrissie Field for a little fun in the bay. Kayla wasn't too interested in the actual water (who would be?  the bay is FREEZING!) but really enjoyed her watering can!

Can you get any cuter?!

Friday as you know I spent a lot of time at the DMV.  After that lovely experience Lola and I headed to Dolores Park with Kristina for some wine and cheese.  That night Nick came up and they joined us for taco night and two exciting games of Scene It.  The score is tied and Scott and I are ready for the tie breaker!  Hopefully Kristina realizes that playing in the park is much more fun than work and continues to take days off!  

Saturday...Napa...surprise, surprise!  Tia and Tom were in for the weekend so Scott and I joined them for a little wine tasting, yummy lunch at the Rutherford Grill and of course lots of catching up!  It was great to see them and hopefully they continue to make regular trips to the city (and vicinity).

Oh yes, a mandatory stop on the way home...Gloria Ferrer.  This was our free tasting, not really sure we could have passed it up.  I will be back for more next weekend with Kristina (and hopefully Diane) for our pick up weekend!  YAY for bubbles!!

My weekend activities concluded with a trip down to Redwood City for dinner with Tommy and Cortney and some gymnastics in the yard with Hanna and Paisley!  As a result of my back bend my body is feeling a little sore today.  But hey, at least I didn't land on my head!  Thank you to the Hyland family for great food and company!

Scott enjoyed a little golf this morning with Todd and Cru (warm up for Palm Springs next weekend) while I slept in :).  It was much needed catch up sleep and now we are just enjoying a lazy Sunday, Scott napping as we speak.  

Another perfect week and weekend.  Looking forward to what this week brings...more fun activities, including my first Giants game!  

Californian!

I guess it's official. I am no longer a Missourian or Coloradan...I am now a Californian. After 3+ hours at the wackiest DMV I have new license plates and a temporary CA driver's license. It sure would be nice if they could just print up a real license there, but apparently they enjoy causing people slightly more pain in the form of carrying around a wad of paper for 4-6 weeks.  

Oh, well...it is finished and I am officially home in the state of California!  

*not my license plate above...I didn't think it would be a good idea to post my real plates on the internet!  

what I could be doing

I could be walking lola, running, looking for a job, shopping, pricing new brakes for my car, watching tv....you get the point! Just about anything!



What am I doing?



Sitting in the DMV! I have been here for 3 hours. Well, that's not entirely true. I took a trip to get a $90 smog check at hour 2! If I wasn't on my iPhone this rant would be MUCH longer about how silly this system is. Luckily, Kristina and I have a day date that involves wine at 1 or I might be crazy by tonight!!



Good news, I already passed my written exam and got a California driver's license. That test was hard but I only missed 3 of 36! Phew! I don't look entirely dumb in my picture either. Trying to find the silver lining of this experience!!



Hope you are all doing something more fun than me today!!

Yet another weekend recap

This past weekend was a very exciting one.  In fact, I think I am still catching up on sleep.

Friday, Scott and I headed off to St. Louis.  After three hours of me freaking out on the airplane, afraid it was going to fall out of the sky (poor Scott, it wasn't one of my prettier performances), we arrived safely.  Of course, in true Eilene fashion, the table was decorated and a wonderful dinner was cooked.  It was nice to have a relaxing evening with just the four of us as all of our previous visits have involved a lot of activities and socializing (little did my mom know, this one would too).  

The table

Saturday morning I finally got to meet Eli!!!  He is absolutely adorable and is already holding his head up (only a month old).  Allison looked great and it was so fun to get to see her little family.  Kind of crazy that we were playing Barbies at 1947 Pine Run and now she is bringing her baby over!  

Wish I got to be around more to see this cute little face!

maybe not this face (kidding) :), although Scott does claim he enjoys fiesty babies!

Proof (Eli was melting down at this moment)

The proud parents!

There are SO many great stories and pictures from the weekend I could probably compose 15 posts, but I will try and keep it top line.  Just know it was a perfect weekend!

Saturday the fun continued with a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom.  She was definitely surprised although she had a few clues that something was up (phone calls, dresses, etc...).

me, mom, dad

Me and Gabrielle.

Grandma and me

I think you have met us a time or two :)

The Smith clan...grandma and her four kids

After plenty of gag gifts, real gifts, a margarita fountain, two kegs, speeches, a slideshow, and mingling, we headed home.  

My mom in 5th grade

Me in 5th grade...see any similarities?

Sunday we headed over to the Reppy household for some more Eli time!  While I think Scott and I were pretty lame guests (Saturday took its toll) we enjoyed seeing the remodeled kitchen, Eli's room, and of course, spending time with my new little friend. 

Don't you want me to babysit your kids?!  This would be a hair of the dog moment...

After a 4:30am wake-up and trip home on Monday we arrived safely back in San Francisco.  We missed our little Lola and she was definitely happy to see us.  Thanks to Michelle and Kristina for taking such good care of our munchkin!  

Looking forward to our next St. Louis visit...Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Easter

Scott and I had originally planned on a low key Easter of just us.  Saturday night we got a surprise that family was coming...YAY!  When we moved into this house we were excited about the possibility of hosting friends and family so it was nice that we got to have them all over. Plus, it always makes holidays better when you can share them with family (not that it wouldn't have been special and wonderful with just the two of us).

Scott, Kristina, Marcus, and Beth

Mimosas with Beth

Nick enjoying...

the Masters!!  For the record...Scott was VERY disappointed Kenny Perry didn't pull off the win (hope you are feeling better about this today! ;)  )

Our Easter table (jelly beans, peeps, peanut M&Ms, and whopper eggs).  We also made an egg casserole (that turned out pretty good despite making up a recipe), biscuits, french toast, and bacon!  YUM!

After a rousing game of Scene It (Beth, Nick and I won), we bid farewell to the family and enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing.  Our wonderful weekend ended with a little pizza and movie watching (the Queen-I hadn't seen it).  

As you can see, we took advantage of the great weather and time to spend with each other and family.  

Next weekend...off to St. Louis to see little Eli!!!

Saturday Activities

Saturday morning began with coffee and a leisurely trip to the dog park.  It is a really unique park tucked into the side of a hill and is actually an old baseball diamond (you can see the old backstop in the far middle of this picture).  As you can see Lola had a great time playing ball on a gorgeous Saturday morning.

run lola run!

Since it was such a nice day we began brainstorming fun places to go and explore in and around the city.  While we wanted to sit outside, we ended up settling on the Cliff House on the coast.

The walk up this hill was very windy...felt a little silly in my dress at that point (since everyone else at the beach had on fleeces and scarves)!

While we didn't get to sit outside and enjoy the sun, the view from our table wasn't too bad!  Plus, it was nice and warm inside :)

After lunch (which ended up being around 3ish) we came home for an afternoon with the Masters.  Nothing like golf to nap to!  

Saturday night we stayed in and watched Milk.  Rent it...immediately!  Not only was it a great movie but it was neat to see all the places in the city it was filmed.  Specifically, the Castro since it is so close to us here in Noe.

On to Sunday...

Friday Date Day

Ok, first a bonus picture from Thursday...

Kayla decided to help sort her toys from inside the toy bin!  She really enjoyed getting in and out repeatedly.

Now onto our Friday night.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Scott and I tend to have Friday dates on a regular basis.  This week it kind of snuck up on us in the form of Warriors tickets!! After sitting in traffic for an hour and a half (A's opening day and a Warriors game at the same time, next to each other) we made it!!   

Enjoying some pre game beers in the club.

Game time!  This was my first NBA game!  It was very exciting and it was CRAZY to see how tall these guys are!!  I was a bit (ok, very) disappointed that Yao Ming didn't bother to show up (we were playing the Rockets).  Would have been neat to see him.

It was another great date Friday that was followed by an incredible weekend...

**Sorry about the dark writing above...the formatting with Macs and blogspot tends to be a little temperamental sometimes.