San Fran--day 2

First thing of the day, Chinatown.

The girls had been talking about going to "China" forever.  They couldn't wait to take a fortune cookie from Panda Express so that the China people could read it to them.  haha  We walked up and down the streets and the kids had fun going through all the shops for souvenirs.  We came home with knives, swords, dresses, fans, a bag of fortune cookies, children's chopsticks, and my personal favorite, several dusters that I got for just .29 each.

We went to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie factory where we were able to watch the Chinese women fold the cookies and then bag them.  We snapped a picture for .50. Yes, it cost to take a picture.  :) There were free samples there and we left purchasing a bag that now looks like crumbs after traveling for so many days.

The kids thought it was great to have discovered their first alley in their lives.  They thought it was the coolest/slightly dangerous thing ever.  So funny.

A friend recommended that we go eat at House of Nanking on Kearny.  We were excited to find it and the kids were waaaaay apprehensive to eat Chinese Food other than their Panda favorite, Orange Chicken.  We told the kids that it was part of the experience and that we were going to eat there.  The place was tiny and somewhat chaotic but it was so yummy.  We didn't actually venture very far, just ordering a whole lot of the Sesame Chicken.  It had chicken, large slices of sweet potatoes, some kind of cucumber, drizzled in the yummy and sweet sauce.  The girls enjoyed eating it with their new chopsticks we had picked up for them.

 Streets of San Francisco  aka roller coasters

The little kids were on the back seat of the car and were hilarious on all the hills as we drove around.  Their arms would pop up as if they were going down a roller coaster each time.  It's one heck of a roller coaster there!  We drove by Lombard Street and D had me laughing so hard.  He just wasn't sure if our brakes could handle our big car on those steep hills.  Upon arriving at the the picture point on Lombard street, he barely stopped, took a left and was scared out of his mind as we went straight down the hill.  Seriously.  It's a riot see a hot rod get scared.

Secret Garden Tea House

The girls and I had been looking forward to our "real" tea party for weeks.  We arrived a few minutes earlier than our reservation, went back to the restroom where the girls changed into their new dresses straight from Chinatown and we were seated.  They had never seen sugar cubes so those were a hit.  They were in every cup of hot cocoa, eaten by themselves and decorated their plates.  The girls loved their real tea cups and their own personal tea pots full of hot cocoa.  I taught them how to pour from their tea pots and they showed me that they knew how to hold their cups with their pinkies up.  I was so proud.  We visited, and chatted and I sat there in a very surreal situation hardly believing that I was having this moment with my daughters.  I told them how years ago I would hear the boys playing games at the kitchen table with D and how it would get loud and I was lonely and I would say while walking up the stairs, "Why can't we ever have tea parties?"  I smiled and smiled that hour with my girls.  We had fun checking out each others' towers of tea sandwiches, scones, berries and treats and had fun sampling each others.  We had fun despite a woman running outside choking and her husband calling 911 for help.  She returned as we were leaving.  It was so. Much. FUN!!  It was one of those credit card commercials.  Priceless.

 Afterwards we waited for D and the boys to return from the park with a huge staircase they all run up.  I thought this business sign next door was interesting.

Cliff House & the Sutro Bath Ruins

I was so excited to go see the Cliff House I had seen in pictures on the internet.  It was a huge mansion off the cliff that reminded me of the Prince of Wales in Alberta.  We drove up and it was a modern, reconstructed museum with restaurants.  I guess I was looking at "old" pictures.  As in, it burned down in 1903.  (Seriously, look at this picture.  Someone had to have superimposed the old Cliff House with modern cars.)



Oh well, it turned out to be a great spot for me and the kids to hike down to the beach, go through the tunnel and climb around the Sutro Bath ruins.

I thought of the poem, 'Footprints in the Sand' when I saw this.

G and A had a blast swinging around the largest seaweed things.  little g wasn't a fan.  In fact, he ran around the beach screaming his head off and D could hear him up at the Cliff House.  Actually, the girls didn't like it too much either.  haha

K1 Speed Indoor Go Kart Racing

The girls and I had some girlie time while the boys went go karting near the hotel the night before.  I guess B caught this sweet picture with my camera.

J had studied and studied knowing that he wanted to go go karting for his activity.  He found a place that pleased him and it ended up being close to our hotel.  The boys LOVED it saying it was the BEST place for that ever.  They insisted that we go watch them for their final race that day.  It was fun seeing them racing around and so happy.  They can't wait to take C to the one in San Diego when he gets home.

While we were there, we saw that just a couple miles away at the San Francisco airport there had been an airplane crash just a few minutes prior.

We girls had to have a turn on the stands too.

Such a fun day seeing and doing so many things.  Although D at this point and probably way earlier, was ready to leave the city traffic.  I had to agree with him.  I'm not a city girl. Not a country girl.  I'm a suburb girl.  :)