Bodega Bay

Evie and I just got back from a fabulous little jaunt to northern California.  We went up to San Francisco and Bodega Bay.  It was a pretty short trip because Patrick couldn't come with us and because Evie has rehearsal for her big ballet/tap performance this weekend.  We went up to stay at a friend's place at Bodega Bay and traveled with other good friends from Tucson.  All in all there were four families and nine children, all under the age of 7.  Needless to say a goodly amount of chaos was involved but it was by in large excellent chaos.  Evie got to see her friend Maxine again and had a really great time with her in particular.  Yesterday on the plane flight home she told me that she already missed her and wanted to know when we could see her again... too sweet.

When we arrived on Sunday we went out to eat in San Francisco at the dim sum restaurant.  I had never eaten dim sum before and it was utterly delicious.  Unfortunately for me, at the almost 33 week point, I ate a bit too much and then paid for it in heartburn for the afternoon... even so it was sooo worth it.  We then decided because it was a beautiful day we would take highway 1 up the coast to our friend's place instead of the quicker route.  It should have been about an hour drive but ended up taking us close to 4 hours because of traffic and just a very windy narrow road.  It was beautiful though.

On Monday it was gorgeous out and we spent most of the day at the little beach near our friend's house.  The highlight for me were the afternoon tidal pools and all the cool stuff in them.  I think Evie's highlight was the "fairy kingdom" she discovered on the beach where a little waterfall came down the cliffs and onto the beach.  She and Maxine played there in the water for a good few hours.  On Tuesday we took another trek down highway 1 and then spent some time in Bodega Bay at the all important (and seemingly ubiquitous) shop that sells both kites and candy and then yesterday we headed into San Francisco to go to the Exploratorium and Chinatown.  The Exploratorium was great, it was waay crowded though because it just happened to be a free day, Evie had a blast with all the little exhibits.  Her favorites were the steam engine, bubbles and anything having to do with a pendulum.  (Afterward she asked me to define physics... I told her it was the study of how things move... I guess that was a satisfactory answer... certainly the best I could do...)  For lunch we went to Chinatown and then a quick wander to find pokemon cards for the boys and a jade Buddha necklace for me.  When I was about this pregnant with Evie we went to San Francisco and I bought a Buddha that I then wore until she was born and thought it would be cool to do the same again.  (I bought a lucky happy Buddah the first time and opted for a Guanyin one this time :)  Evie got very excited about it so I bought her a little jade Buddah to wear as well... she is very fond of it and it was the first thing she just had to show Patrick when he met us at the airport last night....