San Francisco

We had a great trip to San Francisco! Fabulous weather and good friends makes a trip worthwhile, even if Delta is an absolute pain to fly with.

Don't 
Expect
Luggage 
To
Arrive 

So the story goes, they made me check my carry-on luggage in Memphis when I got to the gate because of "lack of overhead space". I asked if they were storing it beneath the plane and handing it back at the gate. Nope. Of course not. They were sending it on to my final destination...SFO. I explained to them that I had a 5 hour layover in Atlanta, to no avail. The poor guy after me had an 11 hour layover on his way to Germany. Nope, they didn't let him keep his either. Poor guy. I'm not sure who gave them more of an ear full. It's a toss-up between us. Luckily J was able to keep her carry-on so I could borrow something if need be. 
I did get my luggage when I got to SF. I was exceedingly surprised since the last 3 trips I've taken with D.E.L.T.A they've lost my luggage.

Golden Gate Bridge. So the GGB Story goes like this. Never Ever Ever try to bike from the Presidio all the way to Sausalito with the expectation that A) A beginner can do it, B) that you will be able to bike back, and C) that you will not be terrified while doing A and B. 

P and S took us to Sonoma Valley for the beautiful scenery and the wonderful wine. Mainly the wine.  

Sausalito. Cute little town. Wouldn't want to live here in an earthquake, but cute little town. Drive here, don't bike. Replace brake pads before going.

Magners: The Irish Cider of the Gods ;) J and I have started a tradition. Every time we go on a trip we have to make at least 1 stop at an Irish pub. It's never an inconvenience I can tell you that.

Cutest little house. P and S did a great job fixing it up. Apparently it was just a shell when they bought it.  

The view of Alcatraz and the Wharf from Coit Tower. 

O'Reilly's Irish Pub. Notice we're not the only ones at a pub at 2 in the afternoon.  

"Erin Go Bragh"

J and Me at O'Reilly's Irish Pub

Coit Tower. It is unfortunate that the only way to the top is by elevator. It was built in the early 1900s and it smells like it. 

The Presidio grounds. I fell bad for those men that got stationed in Biloxi, MS when they could have gone here. 

P and Little T at lunch. The best baby ever. I told G if I could be guaranteed to have one just like him I would have another.

Vegan Mexican. Yes Yes, I know what you're thinking about the black beans. It was actually delicious. 

St. Paul's: Where the movie "Sister Act" was filmed.
A bit of movie trivia: The church is actually in a very nice part of town. They made it look like it was in a bad part of town for the movie. 

Breakfast at "Toast" with J. This is the first joint I've been to that gets the whole "must drink coffee in huge cups" thing. 

Xander and T watching us leave the last day :( This is both precious and terribly sad. 

Giant Roses. Not sure what they put in their soil but the flowers and produce are huge. 

Garden in Sonoma. You learn something new everyday. Roses are planted around grape vines to act as a warning signal when bugs or disease strike. Both plights will affect the roses first and show signs which give the owner time to save the grape vine. 

Sonoma Valley 

Gorgeous 

View from Alcatraz. 

Old Washer

Me at Alcatraz

Alcatraz from our Ferry from Sausalito to Ferry Marketplace

Biking from Presidio to Sausalito. Our little baskets were lifesavers.

The Warden's House on Alcatraz, or what's left of it. There were only 3 or 4 wardens the whole time Alcatraz was open.  

"Stairs to Nowhere" Alcatraz. No one knew what it was for. I asked.

My momma's favorite color. The yellow roses were huge and gorgeous.

The Roundup

So Lily has gone back to school. After her school closed last semester and moved all the kids to this campus we were less than thrilled because it meant an additional 20 minute drive for us - both ways - in traffic. Lily, however, was more distraught because her class was being divided up and paired with the other 1st grade class to make 2 classes. She has one girlfriend in her class from last year, as well as 4 boys. She also has a little friend from church in her class. She seems to like it so far, though she is less than enthused about the actual schoolwork. It took her about an hour to do 10 minutes of "homework" yesterday because she complained and whined the whole time. I hate whining.

But before we started back to school we were lucky to get a visit for our cousin, (my mother's sister's daughter) Cheli. It's been a good while since we've seen her and the girls were ecstatic!

Here are some shots from the first day of school. 

Saturday was the first soccer practice for the girls. Our church has a young league that doesn't keep score and teaches them the basics.  Normally they wouldn't be on the same team since Mia is 4 and Lily is 6 but they didn't have enough kids sign up to justify a 1st and 2nd grade team, so of course Lily and one other little boy are the biggest kids on the team. That's fine. Muscle power. 

We can't find soccer socks small enough for Mia so she may just have to wear shinguards and short socks. Poor thing. Even her uniform is huge and it was the smallest size they offer. She swims in it. 

They really can be sweet sisters when they want to. :)

Ahhh, Girls. 

This was Lily's "warm outfit" the day it dropped below 85 degrees.  I suggested she went a bit overboard but she assumed me that was not the case. 

Here are some horseback riding pictures from her time at camp. They're a bit scrappy because they were actual hard copies that Garry scanned into the computer. She had her first real lesson yesterday so hopefully I will remember to bring the camera next week. iPhones don't produce the best quality photos for blogs I'm discovering.

Lily and her pony Pumpkin

She loved riding. 

The smallest one, both on the horse and off.



I'm headed to San Fran on Friday and Garry's mom will be flying in tomorrow for a visit (and to help Garry while I'm gone because we all know men are helpless when it comes to childcare.

No news on BG. The are shut down in August I think (one of their many holidays)  so I don't expect to hear anything for a while. 

Back to School, Back to School...

So my dad won't think I am a fool.
I got my lunch packed-up and my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight.
Back to School, Back to School."

Sorry for the "Billy Madison" reference but I started typing the title and it just popped in my head.

So we have less than a week before school starts. Lily is loving horseback riding camp. She is already begging for a pony.

Apparently she has been training on a small shetland since she is a first time rider.
"His name is Pumpkin and he is gray with blonde hair. I did his hair today."
"Oh really?"
"Yea, I braided it."
"When did you do that?"
"While I was riding him."

So, I'm paying for her to braid a horse's hair. Hmmm.

Today was a rite of passage for Lily. Her dad finally agreed to let her cut her hair short. Well, shorter. She cut 7 inches off. And of course she looks so much older. I asked her what she thought and she said "Now I look like a 1st grader".
:( Makes mommy sad. Ok, I"m over it. Mia and I also got our hair trimmed. Here are some pictures to commemorate the occasion.

7 Inches GONE!

Mia the "Princess"

So I went shopping for school supplies for the first time. I've never seen such chaos.
I should say that I am not one to shop...ever. I enjoy shopping in bookstores and coffee houses (not the Amsterdam kind) and that's about it.

People are crazy when it comes to shopping. Especially back to school! I set a time limit to get in and out. 30 minutes. Didn't happen. It took 30 minutes just to get half of the stuff!

My question to all the teachers out there. Why do you require your students to have a certain color of notebook. You do realize that everyone is looking for the same color..which means...there are none left.
"A blue plastic folder with pockets and brads"
I had to ask someone what "brads" were. Just say prongs. They're prongs. Prongs is more fun to say anyway. So after 59 minutes I was able to check out.

Orientation is Monday and school starts Tuesday. We've been trying to get the girls in bed earlier to prepare for the early morning wake-up calls. I think we should have started earlier. The girls have built up a resilience to late nights. Lily usually wants to be asleep by 8. That will end next week hopefully. 6:30 is going to come very early for her.

Mia has a few weeks before MDO starts again so it will be just the two of us for a while. I'll have to keep her busy. She doesn't like it when Lily is gone.

Hopefully we will hear something from BG by the end of the year. We're going to make sure we start early on our home study update and stay on our HS agency to do their part and get it done in time to have the approval letter back and send it off before our HS expires this time.

If not by next summer then we will be updated our address, as well as our home photos. But luckily the plane tickets from Boston/DC are much cheaper than from Memphis.

No News...Ready for school to start!

So we have made it through almost an entire summer without killing one another. AMEN!
The girls and I were on our own for the whole month of July basically because Garry travelled most of the time for work. We figure out the other night that we've never been apart that long! In 7 years of marriage we've never been apart more than a week until this month. Needless to say, I'm so glad it's over.

Lily has kept busy with theatre camp and art camp and next weeks horseback riding camp and Mia did have a few days at her MDO program. They are both ready to go back to school and see their friends though. Even my velcro child. Mia said the other day..."Momma, I want to go see my fwiends"

A break is on the horizon for me to. My BGF and I are headed to San Fran at the end of the month for some girl time. I love San Fran...especially when I hear the words, "current weather, a cool 69 degrees"
It's been miserably hot here and I'm so tired of it. I feel like a bad mother because I won't let my kids go out, but when it's 100-115, it's just not wise.

Ready to leave the hot South. Can't wait until next summer. I told my husband I didn't care where we went, as long as it had seasons. It could be DC or Boston. Either is perfectly fine with me. Just getting the itch.

No word from BG. Of course. 16 months down.