Fisherman's Warf

Here are some pictures that we took at Pier 39 (The Fisherman's Warf). It was so cold outside, I could not believe how unprepared Dave and I were for the weather.



Alcatraz from the Pier.. Seals of the Pier




One of the hills from our taxi... Hills were the worst in San Fransisco

More on San Fransisco

I finally uploaded the rest of my pictures from San Fransisco so I thought I would share =) One night Dave and I got reservations for a restaurant called The Stinking Rose, we saw it on the Food Network and had to try it out. Everything in the restaurant is centered around garlic. It was pretty neat but I think you could smell our breath all the way back in Texas when we were done. Here are some pictures and what we ate while we were there. www.thestinkingrose.com

Here is a picture of the appetizer that we had the Bagna Calda.

Our Appetizer- The Bagna Calda
Garlic soaking in a hot tub
Garlic cloves, oven-roasted in extra virgin olive oil and butter with a hint of
anchovy. A wonderful treat for spreading on our house-baked focaccia bread.
Served at your table in an iron skillet.

Dave's meal:
Garlic Roasted Prime Rib
100% USDA certied prime, Midwestern beef
Served with Garlic Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and creamed Swiss chard

My meal:
Forty Clove Garlic Chicken roasted on the bone (actually served with 40 cloves of garlic)
Served with Garlic Yukon Gold mashed potatoes

For desert, you will never believe this one:
GARLIC ICE CREAM- I personally thought it was as nasty as it sounds, but Dave actually liked it.
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The next night we went to a really cool place that I learned about through one of our taxi cab drivers. I know it is going to sound a little weird but it was a Transexual Show. It was at a placed called AsiaSF, it was a little like the movie Bird Cage. The food was absolutely wonderful, and the show was pretty neat. It was so funny because we were sitting right next to the stage the "girls" kept picking on Dave, rubbing their fingers through his hair. Here is a shot that I got if him just before he started to ask me to switch seats with him. http://www.asiasf.com/index.php

The place was a blast, we had a lot of fun. It was definitely part of the whole San Fransisco experience.

The Girl is Smart

So tonight Dave and I were trying to show Isabelle how to hold up 2 fingers, for her age. She keeps holding up three of them (pointer, middle and thumb). We worked with her for a few minutes when she said, "I haven't figured it out yet Daddy". We showed her again, but she kept holding up the three fingers and told us, "this is fine Mommy". So it looks like I am going to have to settle for her holding up three fingers instead of the two.

Most of our dinners turn into a negotiation when it comes to Isabelle eating. I always have to tell her to eat two more bites and then I will give her some sort of surprise. So tonight at dinner she spouted off and said, "Mommy, I will make you a deal. You no cry, and I will play with you". Wow, thanks Isabelle!! Now I know that I am negotiating her way to much, when she starts trying to work out deals of her own.

Painting at Grandma's

Here are some pictures and a video of Isabelle painting at Grandma's house last week while Dave and I were in California.




This is the calm before the storm. Grandma setup a painting station for Isabelle before she woke up and began her path of destruction.



As Isabelle would say, "I get messy".


All cleaned up after a long day of creative arts! She leans back in her chair like she owns the place..

Alcatraz

While Dave was at his training class I decided to take a tour of Alcatraz. It was awesome, and I am sorry Dave did not get to go. If you are ever in San Fran be sure to make Alcatraz one of your priorities.

The island is beautiful, with the exception of the prison part. I made a slide show of some of the pictures but there were over 100 so I could not out them all on here.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Isabelle at Grandma's House

While we are gone Isabelle is having a blast, you call to talk to her and she tells you that she is to busy. How rude! She is staying with my mom, Grandma, Tuesday through Friday and then going to my Dad's, Pop, Friday through Sunday. She is having such a great time at Grandma's house, she has been taking daily trips to visit Great Grandma and Great Grandad. This has been wonderful because we never make it out to Benbrook to see everyone, at least not as much as we would like. According to Grandma she has been eating like a pig, but as grandparents do she is way off her schedule. This is fine but I fully expect her to sleep for two days straight when Dave and I get her back =)

Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Randy came over to visit as well and are helping with the spoiling frenzy! Last night they took Isabelle to the park, where Isabelle made Jeniffer play on the playground with her. Then they took her to Red Lobster and then out for ice cream. Grandma said she should have known better than to let Isabelle order ice cream in a cone, because she was covered in strawberry ice cream when they left. =) he, he, he!!

Tonight Jennifer is coming over to paint with Isabelle. Grandma said when she asked Isabelle if she wanted to paint she told her, "I get messy"!! Hey at least she is honest!

I am so glad that Isabelle got to stay with Grandma for a couple of days. It gives her an opportunity to spent time with the Great Grandparents, second cousins, Grandma, and her Aunts and Uncle. Now they all get to see how truly sweet, amazing, and smart little angel is. I miss her =(

San Fransisco Here we Come

Dave and I were discussing and we have not been on a trip (just the two of us) in about 3 years. With us planning on having another baby (no luck yet), we decided that we needed to get away alone. Seeing as how we are now living on a single income we had to do something relatively cheap. Dave ended up getting an opportunity to take a training class in San Fransisco for work, and I decided this would be a perfect opportunity for me to tag along.

When we first arrived in San Fran on Tuesday I thought we were staying in the ghetto! Our taxi cab driver was taking us to our hotel and the town was very "colorful" to say it nicely. I was beginning to think I would be spending a lot of time in the hotel alone, because there was NO WAY that I was going out on these streets alone. Thank God as we got closer to our hotel the surroundings became a little nicer. Our first night we went to a restaurant called the Metropol it was wonderful food, but horrible service. I guess the food made up for the lack of attention by the one waitress that they had. I would definately recommend the place to anyone who visits just be sure to stick your head in first and make sure they have more than one waitress that night =)

On Wednesday Dave went to his training and I decided to try out Union Square, what a hear to be a shopping mecka! So that morning I look up Macy's on the internet, check it out on mapquest and I am pretty confident that I know how to get there. I stop by the concierge office and ask him if Macy's is within walking distance, he tells me that it is only 2 blocks a way and should not be an issue. I walk out the hotel and see the street that I have to go on is not a street, but a MOUNTAIN! Oh my gosh, I thought well the concierge said that I can walk this and I guess I will be ok. So start climbing the hill, then another hill until I feel like my heart is going to explode and I am going to pass out. S0 I stop by this nail salon and ask one of the techs were Macy's is. You will never believe what she told me... AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL!!! Ahh, so I have now walked up this hill, almost died, and damn near passed out for abolutely nothing. At this point I am seriously second guessing my map reading abilities becuase obviously I am an idiot! Not to mention I am really starting to hate San Fran and all of their dumb hills!! I finally find Macy's (eureka) and right in front of Macy's there is a beautiful heart with a picture of San Franisico in it. I decide to take a picture when all of a sudden this man jumps into the picture and sits right in front of the heart. I thought someone maybe taking his picture so I look around to see who he is posing for. When I discover that the only person pointing a camera at him is me, so I ask, "is someone taking your picture?". He then jumps out of the way and I finally take my picture. After the picture is taken the man walks up to me and says, " I have been following you for the last couple of blocks, and I have to say that I am a stereotypical black male and you look marvelous from behind". Great, now not only have I climbed an unneccessary mountain, almost died, but now someone has to point out the fact that I have a big butt! I finally loose the guy, but I cannot believe my first impression of San Fransisco!!

This first picture is half of the dumb mountain that I climbed (trust me it looks much bigger in real life, and at the bottom of this hill there was another one that I climbed as well) urgghh! The second picture is where the booty incident took place.

So Macy's was very cool, it was 8 stories high and takes up an entire city block. Most of the stuff was very high end, so needless to say I did not get anything (Stay at Home Mom= no $$). All of the stores in Union Square were all high end stores so I didn't really visit any of them (Saks, Nordstoms,etc.). I ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express Cafe for lunch, it was wonderful!



When Dave got back to the hotel we decided to go take a trip to China Town, it is only 2-3 blocks from our hotel. China Town was pretty cool, and filled with lots of neat stores. We ate at this wonderful place called the Empress of China that is a rood top restaurant in the middle of China Town. http://empressofchinasf.com/ The food was wonderful, expensive but I am thinking that is just how SF is. The scenery was wonderful and I took some picture from the top of the restaurant.


The entry to China Town and some images of the streets of China Town


This was from a Bank of America in China Town (if you click on the image you can see the stock prices written in Chinese). Dave posing on the way up to the Empress of China restaurant.


Great view from the top of the Empress of China

This was a beautiful Catholic church in China Town

On the way back from the hotel we stopped at a tea bar and learned a lot about tea, it's heath benefits, how not to put anything in your tea (sugar, cream, etc.), and how tea bags and tea balls are the devil. We ended up getting two different kids of teas and one is allegedly going to help Dave with his cholesterol and is suppose to also help with blood pressure and cleaning your system. I cannot believe we spent $65 on TEA, bright side is it should last you for 6 months!