Seeing San Francisco - Through the Eyes of a Child

I'm not exactly sure where to start- because if you spend 1 week in a one bedroom apartment in San Fran with three adults- sometimes four (Don, Marianne, Clint and me)- and two babies- grandbabies (and they are GRAND babies)- you can get a bit disorganized, a bit disorientated, a bit scattered. To say nothing of the 800 plus pictures to sort. You will be happy that I am not going to post all 800- maybe 799???

But we did have a GRAND time with these GRAND babies. Now I think we enjoyed their parents as well- but mostly we're just glad to have the parents of the babies around so we get to do the enjoying- and not much of the work.

So I'm going to very randomly talk about our week- in San Fran- with the babies.

Well- the logistics first- in contrast to Cincy- with it's very handy 7 bedrooms- there is one here- and a sleeper sofa in the living room- and a sun room- that soon housed a baby bed (Marianne brought with here) and often Hayes- who may or may not be sleeping.

And what about Reeder- well we got her a special bed- and inflatable bed- with a motor pump- and yes it would inflate in about 10 seconds. And her "bedroom" was the kitchen. And Reeder really seemed to enjoy having this special bed that was just for her. The fact that it was positioned in the corner next to the stove and the dish washer didn't bother her a bit. How many two year olds would you feel comfortable with leaving them in the kitchen with the door closed?? Right now I can count only one and that's because we did. If she had been any other 2 year old I have known, she would have been climbing on the cabinets, opening the drawers and getting into all the things that a 2 year old definitely should get into. But she didn't do any of those things, at least not that we could tell. She had her books to read when she woke up and that's what she did. Amazing.

So every evening at around 7pm and most afternoons around 1:00 the kitchen and sun room were OFF LIMITS! BABIES SLEEPING! But we could get into the kitchen the next morning at 7am to make the coffee. Actually the "Sun Room" was converted into the no-sun room since that was Hayes' sleeping quarters. Shades were drawn to keep out as much of the light as possible, and Hayes' sleeping schedule was whenever either he was tired or Marianne was tired, or both. Hayes' current life seems to be focused on three things: eating about every 2-3 hours (poor mom), being held for a while after eating, and then sleeping for a while before eating again. So the "Sun Room" was pretty much off limits at some time every 3 hours or longer.

The first day's adventure was over to Bay Area Discovery Museum- This was a new place for us to visit. It's on the bay just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was at one time an Army fort, Fort Baker. But it was converted into a place for kids from toddlers to 8 year olds. Any kid older might be getting too old for most of the stuff, but it was perfect for Reeder and she did just about all of it.

An array of music instruments to bang on

Painting on a glass wall
Trucks you can roll down an incline and watch them crash at the bottom

Shovels and loading toys at a small pea gravel pit

And we did bring the wee one along- and Grampa Don... I suppose you could say it was also perfect for Hayes. He was bundled up and carried all morning, nicely snuggled in his carrier.


He did like looking in the mirror.

But I do think the "little" adventures were the most fun- and the moments I will remember forever.

The nights in the bath-


Blowing bubbles out our third floor window... At least Marianne wasn't watching while the bubbles were going out the window. Reeder loved looking at them as the floated away, but watching them from a 3rd story window can be a little frightening for a Mom.

And watching the "umin" birds out the window.

And forever when I sit in the window and watch the hummingbirds come and go, I'll always hear that clear voice calling out- "Umin Bird come back. Umin Bird come back. Umin Bird come back".

And sticker books (and Lincoln Logs) and coloring and even more games with Grampa Don...

And flying a kite on the Marina Green -of course by Grama Max's Bay- do you think they might officially change the name...

And of course the trip to Muir Woods...

But the best memory is Don and the double stroller... (the red sign says "Strollers Not Advised") What does the National Park Service know about whether or not a stroller should be advised? I'm certain they weren't referring to me and the stroller I was pushing. Although the trail did have a few narrow places between two large tree trunks, and a few bumpy places where the tree roots caused some obstacle, and a few where the trail was about as wide as the wheels on this stroller. But we did manage to make it the whole way.

Way to go Don!

And then the trip to Golden Gate Park and the 1912 Herschel-Spillman Carousel (with 62 hand-carved animals)...

But for a minute there Reeder thought that her Mommy would not be next to her...

But not to worry!
And of course the sea lions...

And walking the streets...

Well maybe not walking...


And Grama Max has a very LITTLE car- and Marianne has a very BIG stroller...

And the cable car...

And feeding the ducks...

Rolling down a hill...

Finding a pud puddle...


And in case you're wondering- we were also watching our new baby boy...

We finished on Sunday with a Giants Game...

AND REEDER RAN THE BASES in AT&T PARK! I wouldn't have actually called it "running" the bases, but she did make it all the way around and did touch every base, in fact, even stood on some and contemplated it for a while.

And forever we will see the "Olan A" Bridge.. Which might offend some of the locals, but Olan A is about as good a name as Golden Gate.