Back to the Bay Area!

We try to head back to the Bay Area to see our many dear friends there.  And we're so glad we made it back this year!  We had such a great time catching up with friends that we have definitely missed over the years since we moved away.  The other big highlight of getting to San Francisco was that Jake met us there!  After being apart for almost four weeks, we were so happy to have our family back together again.  All of us missed him but especially Meredith who said she could handle the heat of the Abu Dhabi summer so that she could see Daddy again.

Our first stop was the East Bay where we stayed with Jason and Kim (and their dog Bandon!).  The last time we came to San Francisco was for their wedding two years ago.  Since I had only met Kim at the wedding, it was so wonderful to stay with them and get a chance to know Kim and see just how well Jason did in finding a life partner.  Regan and Jane immediately loved Bandon (their *big* golden retriever).  Meredith and Anna were terrified of him.  They warmed up a *little* while we were there but they still mostly kept their distance from them.  Jason and Kim live in the warm East Bay (unlike cold and foggy San Francisco) and have a pool.  The girls met their goal of getting to swim every day we were there.  I can't believe we didn't take pictures of them swimming!!!

Bandon loved Jane's giant stuffed dog (Sydney).  They kind of looked alike and Bandon seemed thrilled to have a little buddy so any chance he could get, he would snatch Bandon and run out the doggie door.  Luckily Jane thought it was funny even if Sydney did get a bit of doggie drool on her!  It was a wonderfully relaxing few days at Jason and Kim - long walks with Bandon, an easy walk to a playground, daily swims, a lovely downtown where we could walk and have a nice outdoor lunch under a big shady tree.  Jason and Kim also had a BBQ and invited some mutual friends over - again, such a lovely time to catch up with old friends!

We were able to visit our old church - what a treat.  It almost feels like we never left when we visit (except those Creasman kids keep growing up and we can't believe Kate is about to graduate from college and Hannah is the size of Kate when we moved away!).  The church had a pizza lunch afterwards so that we could have more time to visit with everyone.  The Creasmans also had us over for dinner a later night for some real catch up time.  What a wonderful and amazing family!  We feel so blessed to know them!

It was time to pack up and leave the sunny East Bay and head into the city and onto Marin County for a few days.  Our first stop was the Inn at the Presidio.  It's a new hotel (only open since May of this year) right on the Presidio of San Francisco.  They have wonderful small suites where we could squeeze in our large family.  A hiking trail left right behind the properties and we could hike in the shady forest of the Presidio.  We also found yummy blackberry bushes!  Our old nanny, Sha-Sha, came to visit us, too.  We've missed her so much!

Next stop was Cavallo Point which is another park land hotel property - this time on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We had a beautiful view across the bay of the San Francisco skyline.  Both the city and the near side of Marin County are a bit cold and foggy so we were glad we had our sweaters from our London trip!  Also during this time, we were able to visit Courtney and Marco in their newly remodeled home in Mill Valley (and dear friend Susie was able to come, too!).  Their boys graciously welcomed our gaggle of girls and patiently waited for the Olympics to start as our girls were too scared to watch any movies they had!  We stayed up way too late but we just couldn't let the evening end as we were enjoying our time with them just way too much.

We did a quick hike out near the lighthouse and then a picnic in a bit warmer Larkspur where there are beautiful big redwood trees, a fun playground and a creek where kids can always have lots of fun.  The hotel packed us a wonderful picnic lunch (it filled two baskets) so we were well fed during that lunch.  A fun highlight of our Cavallo Point stop was running into some good friends from Abu Dhabi there!  We ran into them at breakfast and were just so thrilled to see some familiar Abu Dhabi faces.  How fun!

My birthday occurred during our stay here and we had just the best day!  We headed out of the fog up into the wine country.  We rented bicycles (Regan and Jane had their own, I pulled Anna in a trailer and Meredith was hooked up to Jake on a "tag-along" bike).  We looked like quite the armada cycling through Sonoma.  Luckily the bike shop knew of a quiet route where we could avoid busy roads.  We had another beautiful picnic lunch overlooking the Sonoma hills and wine country.  What a wonderful way to spend my birthday!

We dashed back in order to make a birthday dinner with dear friends Mike and Sandra.  Another read birthday gift to spend a nice evening with just the two of them.

Another fun stop was at our friends, The Shields.  They had a bunch of people for a big playdate at their house.  They have a wonderful backyard with a trampoline, playground and a new, fun, fast, high zipline.  The kids loved the zipline but it was fast enough that we needed a grown-up to slow them down at the end.  I was proud of Jane for being brave enough to try it at the end.  Our girls had so much fun with the Shields' girls and all the other friends who were able to come.

Our last night we had a big dinner in the city thanking all my friends from SF who helped me celebrate my 40th last year in Jackson Hole.  We had such a great evening at The Heirloom Cafe where the food was amazing, the wine was scrumptious and the staff treated our big group really, really well.  What a great way to end our stay in the Bay Area!

Jason bravely taking our four girls and Bandon on a walk.  Jane was
so thrilled that I don't think Jason had to touch the leash the
whole time.

Picnicking at the BBQ after a long swim.

Visiting our old church and finding a new baby girl to coo over.

Blackberries!  At our old pickin' spot at Fort Mason

Finding a new friend on our walk

At Fort Mason with a beautiful view of the water
and of the Golden Gate Bridge

Running up the hill at Fort Mason

Kids' dinner time at the della Cavas

Anna found a tent at Sports Basement with
a sleeping bag *just* her size!

At the Academy of Sciences - not even too sad
that she dropped her binkie into the shark tank
during the shark and manta ray presentation!

Fun at the kids' space at the aquarium

On the roof of the aquarium

Blackberry picking behind our hotel with Sha-Sha

Willing to go deep into the forest for the juicy ones!

Bundled up at Cavallo Point

View from our room across the Bay to the SF skyline

Our suite was the left 1/2 of the top floor of the
building behind the girls.  An historic building
but completely updated and remodeled inside.

On our hike (see the lighthouse in the left background?)

We could see tons of sea lions from here.  And a nice view of
the Golden Gate Bridge

Picnicking in the redwoods

Monkey bars!

Cold water at the creek

Anna - comfortable in her new little spot for the bike ride

Getting ready to picnic

Tree climbing

Our bicycling armada (minus Jake who had to take the picture)

Anna taking a little snooze at the end of our ride

The amazing new playground
at Dolores Park in San Francisco

The traditional fishing game the Creasmans (and Kathleen!)
do to give fun prizes to little visitors to their house

At a fun playdate at the Shield's. Meredith and Regan jumped
right on this high, fast and fun zipline.  Jane watched for a while - not
so sure about it all but then she also was brave enough to try as well!

Fun times with lots of old friends and all our many kids!

Jane having fun with the guinea pig

Robbie, Louisa and me.  So nice to see friends!