my favorite visitors

There is NOTHING more I would rather do than hang out with my family. 

My family are my best friends and I am counting down the days until our summer get together.
Since summer and family are on my mind a lot lately I wanted to post some of our adventures last summer. 

There are two things you can always expect when were all together; lots of pictures and some sort of physical activity. (By the way this is only 2 out of 6 siblings here)

Bike the Golden Gate Bridge

My mom was such a champ doing this bike ride while needing to get knee surgery. 
*A little tip...there are always Groupon deals to rent bikes

Trolley rides to Lombard St. and Union Square. Waited forever in the line to get on! Next time I would buy my ticket then walk up the next block and hop on there.

^Biked over to Sausalito and took the Ferry back to San Francisco.

Make sure to get your Ferry ticket right when you get into town. Gets crowded fast.

It is such a pretty bike ride and not that tough.

Just a couple more months until EVERYONE is reunited!

Cannot wait!!

XO

SF Bay Area Bucket List

I am in love with the city, San Francisco

Having lived in the bay area for about a year now, I am

still super excited and a little overwhelmed by all of 

the activities, sites, restaurants and history to see and do.We plan on being here

for at least a couple more years so I have to make sure we take

full advantage of being here. I made a list of things I want to do, to 

help us keep track of what we have done and need to do.

SF Bay Area Bucket List

Go to a Giants game

Walk Lands End to Sutro Baths
Drive through the Chandelier Tree

 Muir Woods

Hike Mt. Tampalis 

Eat Bi-rite ice cream and hang out in Dolores Park

Fortune Cookie Factory

 Cable Car museum
Off the Grid Food truck

Bobs donuts

Brunch at Mama's

Hang out at Baker Beach

Hike Mount Diablo

Big Sur

Carmel

Alcatraz night tour

Bay to Breakers

Point Reyes Lighthouse

Film Night in Dolores Park
Giants Half Marathon
GoCar Tours

Ice Skate in Union Square during Christmas Time

Check out the Bison in Golden Gate Park

Walt Disney Museum

Try Every Sample at the Ferry Building
Farmers market at the Ferry Building
Beach Blanket Babylon

Elevator Ride to the top of Coit Tower

Go to a Movie at Top of the Mark

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival 
Safari West in Santa Rosa
Pick Apples at Gizdich Ranch
Hot Air Balloon In Napa
Visit Ocean Beach and the Cliff House

See a concert at Shoreline Amphitheater

Angel Island State Park

Whale Watching Tour

49ers Game

Monterey

Sharks game

Hike Half Dome

Big Basin State Park

Hot Harvest Nights in San Carlos
Sequoia National Park

Monterrey bay Aquarium

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Haight/Ashbury 

Zip-lining in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Drive Down the Pacific Coast Highway

Movie in the Square in Downtown Redwood City
kayak in McCovey Cove
Hike in the Marin Headlands

Napa Valley
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
Stay at the Madonna Inn
Jelly Belly Factory

Row Boats on Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park

Slide Down the Seaward Street slides

Pie shakes

Twin Peaks Summit 

Egg Tarts at the Golden Gate Bakery

Ride on a cable car

Ghiradelli Factory

Pier 45- Musee Mecanique
Shop in Union Square

Concert at The Filmore

Drive Down Lombard street

Find the Full house house
Eat an authentic Mission burrito

Pier 39

Boudin's

 Painted Ladies

Bike the Golden Gate Bridge over to Sausalito 

Take the Ferry to from Sausalito to San Francisco
Taco Bell on the Beach in Pacifica

De Young Museum

Japanese Tea Gardens

Winchester Mystery House

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Natural Bridges
Bay cruise

SF Zoo
Hippie Tree Swing

Women's Nike Half Marathon

Golden State Warriors Game

Eat It's It's Ice cream Sandwich

Downtown Redwood City

San Jose Drive in

Stanford Theatre

Palace of Fine Arts

Mission Peaks Hike

Fentons Ice Cream
Mosaic Street Steps
Cream

We are so blessed to live in the bay area where

we are able to do so much. I am excited

to cross off more things off the list.

Let me know if I am missing out on any other 

bay area bucket list items!

Banana Crumb Muffins

This happened to hit the spot perfectly tonight!

Had some ripe bananas hanging around so I used my 

favorite banana bread recipe from Six Sister's Stuff.

Easy to make and comes out so moist with 

a delicious crumb topping. Not to add how

amazing your house smells when they are done!

These will not last long in our apartment.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Crumb topping:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place 15 muffin liners in muffin cups.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Recipe Source: SixSistersStuff

Golden Gate Park

I love having visitors because that gives me

more excuses to go into San Francisco. 

My sister Vicky came out to visit from at the

time Hawaii.

These are some fun activities in

Golden Gate park that I have done 

over time. Definitely cannot see everything in

one day! There are still lots more I would love

to see and do in park.

Visiting the Japanese Tea Gardens

 was one of those "have to do once" kind of

thing for me. So beautiful and peaceful. 

If you are going to go down the cement slides you 

must do it on a cardboard box for speed!

This is located in the Children's Playground still

in Golden Gate park. Not as fast as the Seward 

Cement Slides but still so fun!

My FAVORITE activity in the park, row boats in

Stow Lake. The boat was so tough to row!!

We could not even make it around the lake before our time

was up. So sad. Next time we will do the paddle boats.

^De Young Museum

To save money, on certain

days of the week there are no 

entrance fee on the museums.

One of SF's hidden gems, the Mosaic Street Steps.

This is not in Golden Gate Park but nearby. 

What have you done in Golden Gate Park?

Anything suggestions to see and do in the park?

Life Lately

I cannot believe that I am half way through my pregnancy! 
It is really hard to believe since I am still waiting for my glorious 
baby bump to show through my "pudge."

^18 weeks

The coolest thing happened the other day! For awhile I have been trying to figure out if  what I was feeling was the baby moving or just my stomach digesting or something. Patrick put his hand on my stomach to feel the belly as he normally does and I felt so distinctively  an air bubble like feeling or a caterpillar squirming around? (so hard to describe!!). We immediately looked at each other with our mouths opened wide in such shock that we both felt her move at the same time! 

Thirty seconds later we felt her move again and had the same reaction...immediately look at each other with our jaws dropped. I thought this was so awesome to have both felt her for the first time together. I know sometimes it takes the husband awhile to be able to feel the babe move. Now all I want to do is stare at my belly and wait for her to randomly move around to see my stomach twitch.

^19 weeks 

Since I have been pregnant, driving in the car has been a struggle! Anything longer than a hour makes me feel extremely nauseous. Earlier this week we got stuck in stop and go traffic for an hour and I would have thrown up if we were in the car a minute longer. I need to find out if there is anything I can take for our 12-14 hour road trip to Idaho! Any suggestions!?

Whenever I feel a sneeze come on I have learned that no matter what I am doing or where I am at, I make sure to stop and squeeze my legs together. I have been practicing those exercises if you get what I am saying but a little pee always manages to come out! Nothing as bad as the time I didn't squeeze the legs and I wet the couch! 

^20 weeks
(You might think wow, huge jump from a mango to cantaloupe. Well, the books say I am a SMALL cantaloupe but the grocery store only has one size so this is probably a large cantaloupe.)

Weight gain? 7 lbs

Size? A small Cantaloupe 

Maternity Clothes? Not yet...still using the rubber band trick and the belly band
Sleep? Great! Until I have to get up to pee in the middle of the night
Movement? Pretty sure my posts explains this one
Food Cravings? Where to start?! Pretzel with nacho cheese from the mall, anything sweet, ice cream, fresh fruit, cucumbers, or steak. 
Anything making you sick or queasy? Pizza and mint gum
Starting to show? Only if you know that I am preggo 
Other thoughts? Thanks to my sister Alyssa who is also preggo and just 4 weeks behind me , is crazy with working out.... she has really pushed me to get my butt off the couch. So easy to just want to do nothing and I have the best excuse ever to not go but it really does help motivate me to eat healthier and stay in shape. I say this and I have only been to the gym a few times.