Whirlwind

We just returned from a great 6 day trip to the Bay Area visiting family & friends, cheering on Anna-sara & Molly in the SF Women's Marathon and celebrating our friends, Bill & Norman's, wedding. We had gorgeous weather - 80 degree temps, which makes it that much harder to return to the cold WA weather. At least the sun has been out here even if the temps aren't anywhere near the balmy CA Indian summer. Oh, and the leaves are all changing so it's really beautiful here. I still go through a mourning period however, everytime I come back from Marin. As strong as we try to be on our own up here, it's soooo nice to go home and fall back into the comfort zone. We packed a lot into our visit, here are some of the highlights...

On Wednesday evening, Anna-sara, Peanut & I flew into OAK. Thursday morning, my mom and I gave A-s a walking tour of the hood and had brunch at Half Day Cafe. We spent the afternoon lounging in my parents' pool. That evening we met up with some of my aunts and cousin for a nice dinner on the deck of Sam's.

Friday morning, A-s and I took off to SFO to pick up Molly and the three of us had a fun day of shopping and dining in SF. I was able to meet up with some friends from high school for dinner before picking up Beej & A-Train at OAK. Saturday we took the boys to my old high school for a football game. It was really weird being there as a mom. I couldn't help but realizing that I'm closer to being a parent of a high schooler than being a student myself. When did I get so old??? After the game, my mom and I went shopping for the food for Bill & Norman's wedding. We spent the evening laughing, drinking wine and making 9 lasagnas. Oh yeah, and a very special grooms' cake courtesy of my sister's penis cake pan. No shortage of laughs with that one!

Saturday morning I woke up early, picked up Nicole and the two of us set off to catch A-s & Molly running the 1/2 marathon. We were stressed that we would miss them in the 20,000 + sea of runners but we happened to catch them as they started into Golden Gate Park. We were able to make it to the finish line and watch them run in. Such a treat! It was so motivating to watch them that I might even consider signing up for a 1/2 marathon myself. Mind you, I haven't run AT ALL since I was forced to run the mile in high school. We'll see if this really happens or if I just stick to walking and pickleball.

After seeing their victory, I raced home and took the kids to a bday party for the daughter of one of my friends from childhood. There were several friends there that I hadn't seen since high school and it was another nostalgic experience being at the Town Park where we all grew up with the next generation. Couldn't stay long at the party because I was coordinating Bill & Norman's wedding on Mt. Tam. We headed up the mountain and had a gorgeous ceremony overlooking the bay. All was happy and gay! Pun intended on that one:) We spent the night at the West Point Inn and woke up to this view: Beej and I sent the kids down with my mom and we hiked together to Corte Madera. It was increadible to have the opportunity to hike together sans kids - we even ran some of the trail together! When we got back, my grandparents were at the house and more aunts & cousins came for dinner. We rounded out our trip by heading to the Peso that night, a dive bar in Larkspur, to meet up with some more friends from high school. Phew, what a whirlwind! We got home on Tuesday and I haven't stopped dreaming about what life would be like if we were back in CA. I miss everyone and everything so much.