San Francisco - Day 1

David and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 24th.  I can't believe we have been married for 5 years already.  It has flown by!  It's even crazier to think we have been together for over 9 years!

We always try and go somewhere on our anniversary.  I believe it is very important for us to have some time to ourselves, it kind of recharges our relationship.  It's so hard to have any quiet time at home, so this was a lovely get away. 

I have always wanted to go to San Francisco, so since we are so close now, it was the perfect location.  We decided to spend 2 nights in San Francisco and spend 2 in Napa.

We arrived in SF Thursday night.  It was late, so we just walked around town a bit.  Here's a pic of us in our room.

The next morning we headed out to enjoy the city.  Our first stop was to head to the cable cars!  It was really fun to ride on them.  I'm amazed at how they work, and even more amazed at how many people they try and shove on there.

Next we headed to Fishermans Wharf.  It was a really neat place.  Not necessarily my favorite (too much seafood), but I'm glad we spent some time here.

After walking around for a while, we had to head back towards the hotel so we could get ready for lunch.  We stopped along the way to check out Lombard street.  We walked down the steps next to it.  It really is beautiful, and I can't believe people live on that street...I'm sure they are VERY expensive.

We had lunch at Boulevard, which was wonderful!  We both had filets, and yummy dessert!  

After lunch we decided to head back to Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39.  There are lots of things to do on the pier, so we decided to spend the rest of our afternoon there.  We went to the Aquarium, walked around the shops, and got to see sea lions, Alcatraz, and a the Golden Gate Bridge.  Here are the rest of the pictures from that day.

cute little turtle bread

David at the Aquarium

sea lions

Alcatraz

Next we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our anniversary dinner!  We went to a Greek restaurant, Kokkari.  It was delicious!  Neither of us eat a ton of Greek food, so it was fun to go out and be somewhat adventurous.  And, I got the name of a great new wine!  Great way to end the day :)

Happy Dada's Day!

We had a pretty relaxed Father's Day.  We started the day by going to church, then we bought some groceries for lunch.  I made us fajitas for lunch, which turned out pretty good.  We spent the rest of the day together, hanging out at the house.  It was wonderful.  I wanted to go out and do some other things, but David just wanted to relax and watch golf.  (who can argue with that!)

Here are a couple of pictures of daddy and his girl.

Helping dada open his gift.

I can't wait until Lily realizes how lucky of a girl she is!  She has one of the best daddy's out there!

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

How to make chocolate chip cookies:

Step 1:  cream the butter

Step 2: add the brown sugar

and the white sugar

cream with the butter

I just love her eyes in this one!

Step 3: add the pudding

and blend

Step 4: add the eggs

and vanilla

Step 5: slowly add in the flour

and the last little bit

oops!  that's not supposed to happen!

Step 6: Pour in the bag of chocolate chips

stir together

Happy Dada's Day!  (This is my favorite)

of course, she is silly in my picture

better...sorry i don't have any make up on :)

Step 7: Scoop dough on to cookie sheet

About to go in the oven

Step 7: wait..........................10-12 minutes...............

Final Product!

Blowing on the cookies...they're hot!

cheers!

If you give a Lily a cookie, she's going to want a glass of milk to go with it.

one more cheers!

First milk mustache!

We had so much fun baking together.  It was great making these for Father's day or as Lily calls it "Dada's day".  I'm looking forward spending many more days cooking and baking with Lily.  This is something I love doing, and I hope I pass this love on to my daughter.

Wonderful Saturday

I've decided we need to be more active around the house.  Lily plays so well independently, sometimes David and I don't play with her as much as I think we should.  So I'm challenging us to do activities we don't normally do or things we should be doing.  I'm trying to make a list of all the interesting and fun things Lily can do now (sometimes I forget how much she really can do - it's amazing).  If any one has unique or fun ideas, please let me know.  I'm very open to new ideas.

Since I'm feeling almost back to normal, today was the day we are making the change.  Even though it's only 3:00pm, we have already had a fun filled day.  We started out the morning by making breakfast.  Lily helped me make pancakes.  She would put the ingredients in the bowl, and she helped stir then together.

Next, we headed outside to do some finger painting.  I have had these paints for so long, but I think I was afraid of the mess she would make.  I really love our covered patio...it makes all the difference.  We can now do these activities outside, without being right in the sun.  Clad only in a diaper, she had so much fun playing in the paint.

patiently waiting

finally digging in



checking out her messy hands





concentrating very hard




love this one!



it was more fun to paint herself

It only made sense that our next activity consisted of water.  It is now quite warm here (though not near as warm as TX), so we brought out Lily's inflatable pool.  She had so much fun playing in it, and Gracie even got in and cooled off.  I'm thinking this will be an activity we do a bunch this summer.  Here are a couple pictures of the pool.

G having a great time!

Next up....making chocolate chip cookies!