I went to San Fran as you all know. I started this last Sunday, but I am barely posting it now. Sorry.
In San Francisco, my little Mammers and I had a great time exploring the city together. I think it’s amazing how similar we are. I mean, that kid and I have the same personality. We have the same quirks, same dislikes, same bad attitude. It’s awesome!
Maybe we should begin with the airport pick-up. First of all, I had to fly into Oakland. For some unknown reason, Southwest does not have a direct flight from Seattle to San Francisco. It’s not too bad, though. Oakland is pretty damn close. I called and texted Dawn quite a few times Tuesday, but I never heard back from her. I had offered to take a cab to the hotel, but she said they were fine with picking me up. Since I couldn’t get a hold of her, I left her a message with my flight info and hoped for the best. Once the plane landed, I got a text from her “We are at arrivals”. FANtastic. I hadn’t checked any luggage, so it should have been smooth sailing.Not so much. I called. I called. I was standing on the curb like a hooker, looking into every car like they might be interested in my wares. Dawn is not answering. I have no clue what they are driving. I finally leave a message that if I don’t hear from them soon, I’m taking a cab.
Doug finally calls back, talks to me for a second, telling me they are lost in downtown Oakland. Great. I guess I am soon to assume custody of the children now that their parents are likely to die. A little while later, they call back and say they are back on track. Apparently, they only entered “Oakland” into the GPS, so the GPS took them to downtown Oakland. FYI, I know the GPS was a little bitchy, but you have to give her the right info to begin with. After a accident on the freeway, they FINALLY pulled up in the huge van.The next day, Matthew had his evaluation, so it was Aunti Jeni and Mam day. We dropped the family off at the Dr.’s office and we took off to the toy store. We were in search of the Indian Jones Lego Castle. On top of the incessant honking everywhere you go, San Francisco has the worst toy stores in the world. Not only did the 3 we went to not have the Castle, but they really didn’t have anything. We were pretty disgusted.
Afterward, we headed to Golden Gate Park. We wanted to go on the carousel, but despite what the internet told me, it was closed. There was a fun park nearby, so the Mam ran around for a bit and even went down a cool slide that you needed a cardboard box for.
We went further into the park and found a lake. You could rent a pedal boat and we were all about it. It was all fun and smiles until Aunti Jeni was the only one pedaling around that damn lake. Regardless, we saw some baby ducks and a lot of cool turtles. We really enjoyed our time in the sun, so it was all worth it.
Once we were on dry land (and I could barely walk), it was time to find lunch. Mam decided it was Burger King or nothing. I asked GPS where the nearest Burger King was and she took me there. Only there was no Burger King on my right. I asked her to take me to a different Burger King. Sure enough, there was no Burger King on my left. After I was finally able to convince Mam to go elsewhere, lo and behold we see a Burger King on our left. Damn GPS.We park, but I only have enough change for 26 minutes. I look around for other parking options, but there are none. I (mistakenly) tell the Mam we need to eat fast so we don’t get a ticket. Once we sat down, Mam kept asking if the car was OK. Finally, when we were half way done, he suggests we finish our lunch in the car “so the police don’t come get us”. Sorry Mam. Didn’t mean to scar you for life.
We headed back to the park to check out the Butterfly exhibit. Mam was the butterfly whisperer and had butterflies perched on his hand and jacket. Once we left, we were pretty tired, so we decided to roll down the grass hill a few times and then relax at the bottom. Not too long after, we got a call to pick up the others.
When we got back to the hotel, Doug took the boys swimming and Dawn and I did laundry. Dawn doesn’t want me to tell you this, but I feel I must confess: I called the front desk and they let me know that it cost $2 for a wash (!) and $2 for the dryer. I inquired about detergent and they let me know it was included. Score! We headed up to the laundry room and started the wash. We saw the soap above the washer and a sign on the door said “Detergent is provided complimentary for our guests”. We looked at the time and decided to go watch the boys swim. When our 30 minutes was up, we went back to put the clothes in the dryer. I saw Dawn eying the detergent above the washer so mine traveled over there as well. There, in teeny tiny print, it said “push button to release detergent into the wash”. We both burst out laughing. Things like this only happen to us.The rest of the trip was great: dinner, arcades, dessert, Golden Gate Bridge and a TON of quality time with my family. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Red River, here I come! (I don’t want to be cursed)
Quote of the day:
“Do many people order lunch and dinner at the same time?”
You had to BLAB about the washing machine. So much for me being cool and casual and HOPING you would not notice that freakin’ sign. And that poor mam, I think he suffered indigestion for the rest of the day. I’ll see you in Red River!