San Francisco: Tuesday

I can't tell you much about Tuesday.  Tim, Maya, and Cora all went to the Exploratorium, a new museum that has just opened up along the waterfront and was within walking distance from the hotel.  It sounded like a combo science center children's museum geared for slightly older kids (middle schoolers).  Bonus: they gave Maya a late birthday gift of free admission.  I hear it was fun.  Tim had trouble taking many photos while wrangling two kiddos, but here are a few.

We then met John and Stephanie for dinner one last time before crashing at the hotel.

On Wednesday we headed home (but not before taking a very pleasant and temperate walk along the waterfront).  At home, we were confronted by 90 degrees at 9pm.

San Francisco: Monday

On Monday, we got up early and had breakfast in the ferry building: Blue Bottle Coffee and biscuits from this cute cart called the Biscuit Bender (so yummy!).  Then we grabbed the Muni all the way to Ocean Beach, where the girls frolicked on the sand and dipped their toes in the water.

After the beach, we went back to Golden Gate Park to the California Academy of Sciences (on recommendation from a couple of different sets of friends).  This was a great way to spend the afternoon with the girls: lots of fish, butterflies, earthquakes, and other exhibits.  Maya and Tim watched a film in the Planetarium, but since kids under four were not allowed, Christine and Cora found the preschool area.  Cora discovered a rocking snail that she adored.

After playing at the museum, we headed back into the city.  We met up with some former UT graduate students for a very delicious and interesting dinner at a Chinese restaurant before calling it a night.

San Francisco: Sunday (and Saturday)

After arriving midday on Saturday (via the Bart), we grabbed some lunch at a cute place along the Embarcadero, then Tim met our friend Justin at the Bay to Breakers race expo, while the girls took a rest (and played a bit).

Christine went for a short run, and then we met Our friends John and Stephanie for dinner at a delicious burger place in the Ferry building before tucking the girls in early-ish for bed.

Sunday dawned early, with Tim up at 4am to eat something before the race. Then back to bed until 6 (also when Cora woke up) then out the door for him to the race. Maya got up around 6:30, then the girls watched the start of the race from the 8th floor of the hotel. We saw lots of crazy costumes, more than half of which involved some kind of tutu. No non-costumes, though. After the racers departed, we got some breakfast, then headed out to conquer the Muni (success!) and met up with Tim and Justin at about the time they arrived back at Justin's apartment.

Race report: it was a success. Tim finished 88th overall, 84th among the men, and 21st in his age group. He ran just over 44 minutes (7.5 miles).

We went with Justin, his fiancée Yvonne, John, and Stephanie to a really cute brunch place. (As an aside at this point, both Stephanie and Yvonne, who we are basically meeting for the first time, are absolutely lovely. Or maybe I'm just biased by the fact that they took real time to engage Maya.)

After brunch, we strolled through a farmers market and then through the botanical gardens before striking out on our own for the playground in Golden Gate park. Maya made wet sand pies, while Cora belly-laughed on the swing. Both enjoyed a turn around the carousel before we headed back to clean up for dinner.

We walked up (seriously, straight UP) Sacramento to the Nob Hill Cafe, where we met John and Stephanie. After seeing the inside of the restaurant, Tim and I are pretty sure we had dinner here some (eight?) years ago. It was good. After a quick stop at a playground, we headed back to the hotel.

Random Photos from Maya

I was downloading photos from Maya's camera to update about our trip.  And I found these photos she'd taken of Cora.  I thought they were awesome, so I thought I'd share them.