The Rest of Memorial Day Weekend

So after all the running around on Friday and a cold front coming in over night, I wasn't feeling so good again on Saturday (I have an ongoing cold/flu thing that won't go away, just subsides and then relapses every couple of days). So we just decided to stay in and rest and work on cleaning up the apt before company next week. Sunday after church, I ran some errands and had some Mommy freetime while Jeremy and Claire decided to dye Easter Eggs. Yes, I know this is Memorial Day but we never got around to dying eggs at Easter and Claire has been begging to do it ever since. So dye eggs they did.

On Monday we decided to take Jeremy to the Zoo. We are members there since it's fairly easy activity to do with Claire and she loves it But Jeremy hadn't been before. On the way there, we got to see the crazy people out protesting in front of the Giants game....they were protesting the name of their opponent....The Atlanta Braves!!! LOL!! And I have to say, didn't that whole little spat get settled years ago?!?! Well here in SF, there's always something to protest. So in that vein, we did a little Myers family protest on Mon when we went to the Zoo. Memorial Day and our troops weren't being acknowledged at all out here so we all decided to wear our American Flag shirts as a protest to all the crazy Libs out here. A few people noticed.

Here's some pics....Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend Day 1

So since we are missing the great Heritage Farms Memorial Day Extravaganza this weekend, we decided to become tourists in our new town this weekend. Today we walked to Fisherman's Wharf and then rode a Cable Car home.

We started the day at Pier 39 by eating breakfast at a Crepe Restaurant. For those of you that followed along back in our UK days, you may remember that there was an Open Air Market on the town square outside our flat every Sat. One of the stands was a Pancake Stand. Really it serves crepes, but that was the closest thing to American pancakes we ever found in the UK (one of those lost in translation things). So every Sat AM, we'd have a treat and go get a savory crepe with ham and cheese and a sweet crepe with chocolate and whipped cream and split them. Add in some yummy coffee from the coffee shop on the other side of the square and it was HEAVEN. It's a real treat that we've missed ever since getting back to the states. So today, we got to do it again and Claire got to join in since she's got teeth now. LOL! Of course since it's not right outside our apt and it's a LOT more expensive, we won't be doing it every Sat again, but it was a nice treat to start our holiday weekend. (Oh and we earned it by walking there - 2 miles, total distance for our whole day was 3.5 miles.)

After breakfast we walked the rest of the pier, did the carousal, watched the Sea Lions before walking down to the Hyde Street Pier. There we looked at all the historic ships, let Claire play with some ropes and watched some INSANE people swimming in the bay. Look at how we were dressed....it was COLD today and the water is even worse. OMG!!!

After that we walked over to the cable car terminus and took the Powell-Hyde Cable Car back to Market Street and then rode the street car (Muni) home. That was our first cable car experience and a lot of fun. We'd do it more often except for the price and the normal lines (today we didn't have one thankfully).

On a side note, Claire loves all forms of public transportation especially the trolleys that go up and down Market Street and the Embarcadero. As a cheap form of entertainment, I took Claire for a ride on the trolley yesterday. For a $1.50, she got to ride all the way up and down Market St and scream out the window til her heart was content and Mommy got to sit and enjoy the ride. It wore her out and she took a nap w/o argument! I need trolleys back in ATL!!

Enjoy the pics from our day.....

News Flash: SF Has Heat Wave

Yes, last weekend it actual hit the 80's here in town. B/c of SF's location, the city rarely gets over 70 degees. So we've been cold ever since we moved here. Well last weekend there was a freak heat wave and boy was it nice!! Here's some pics:

Claire busted out a sundress for church. Yes, this is the same one from last summer, Miss Teeny Weenie can still wear it! And Nona, she remembered who bought it for her last summer w/o us telling her.....wow!

We grilled out and ate on our back porch for the first time.

And of course, hit the pool!! Our pools are heated, but due to the wind, we don't usually get in them...we stick to the "hop" tubs (hot tub for those that don't speak Claire-ise).

Diva Girl

So You Think You Can Dance?

Claire's imitation of the show last night....

Myers Take On The Mouse - Day 5

I'll get the Day 5 commentary up later, enjoy the pics for now...

Myers Take On The Mouse - Day 4 (Mother's Day)

Well I'm finally feeling up to posting a bit more. Whatever I brought home with me from vacation has had me knocked out pretty bad but I think I'm finally recovering. So on to my Day 4 commentary....

Since it was Mother's Day and we were all pretty wiped, we decided to take the day pretty easy. We had breakfast, weent back to the room and played on the computer for a bit, then everyone took a morning nap. After that, we finally took Claire to the pool for as long as she wanted as promised. I stayed in the shade and took pics since I had the sunburn going on. After a while I went and prepared lunch and we ate by the pool. For some reason, this was a big deal for Claire. She'd been asking to do it for several days and she was estatic when she found out she was finally going to get to do it. Small things, I guess. After lunch, I went shopping at a Disney outlet I found out about from www.mousesavers.com while Claire and Jeremy kept swimming.

After that we all got cleaned up and headed in to the park for the evening parade. We got the same seats again but this time, Claire stayed awake!! She really enjoyed the parade once she figured out that parades are not fireworks. She really got freaked out by the fireworks a couple of night before and somehow thought that parades were the same thing. After the parade, we headed back over to DCA to ride Soarin' Over California (tidbit of trivia: this is the only ride so far that has been imported to WDW from CA, usually it's the other way around).

After that we headed through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel to eat at Steakhouse 55. It was a really fancy shmancy place but we all know Mommy LOVES steak so that's what she got for Mother's Day dinner. Next door was the more informal character dining establishment of Goofy's Kitchen, so while Mommy was enjoying her wine and French Onion soup, Daddy and Claire snuck over there to get the picture with Pluto (Plu-dog for those that know Claire-ism). Claire did really well during dinner especially since our reservations were for 8:10pm and we weren't seating until about 8:15 or so. She was very big into prissy around. Always wanted her napkin in her lap and wanted to know if she was doing everything "like a big girl". Claire also surprised us by ordering salmon off of the kids menu, despite M&D both trying to convince her not to and she loved it and devoured most of it!!! Go figure!!

After dinner we walked back over to Downtown Disney and caught the Monorail into the park (DL). Claire had been begging to ride that "train" and we hadn't gotten a chance yet. Not long after getting into the park though, she fell asleep in the stroller so we took the opportunity with her out and the lines short to finally ride the Matterhorn. That was the last big ride we hadn't gotten to ride and it was a big deal to me that we ride it before going home. 1) The Matterhorn is exclusive to DL, none of the other parks have it. 2) When I went to Disney (WDW) for the first time as a kid, on the way home we all did they "What was your fave ride?" thing. Mine was Space Mtn, Dad's was Thunder Mtn and I remember my mom telling us that her fave was still the Matterhorn in DL. I guess ever since then, I wanted to get to DL so I could ride the Matterhorn!! Well Mom, I have to agree, it was pretty cool!!! Space Mtn is better at DL than WDW too so it was a tough call....I think I'll say they are tied.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy, my wonderful MIL, and all you other wonderful Mothers out there!!

We're Home

We are home as of 2am last night. We had a busy day at the park yesterday. We stayed until 7pm (park closed at 8pm) b/c Claire was having fun and not asking for a nap. Finally when everyone seemed done, we left, went back to the hotel and got the car arranged for the trip and headed out of LA around 8pm. Claire watched Dumbo once while we crossed LA (aren't portable DVD players the best inventions in the world!!). Then we stopped for dinner just before we hit the Mtns. We got it to go so we could keep hauling. We bought Claire a tray table for her carseat to help with eating and entertainment (when it's daylight and too bright for the DVD player). She started working on her hamburger and fries and chocolate milk while watching Dumbo for the 2nd time in a row but fell asleep at her fave part (the crows at the end). She just couldn't hold out any longer. What was funny was she fell asleep with the hamburger virtually untouched in front of her and when she woke up while we were unloading the car in SF, she started screaming about it, "My hamburger, my hamburger!", since it was gone. I had to reasure her that it was "ok" she hadn't eaten it and that Mommy had moved it and she didn't spill it. Too cute.

I'll try to post the rest of the pics soon but I'm wiped and I apparently brought another bug home with me or am relapsing from the flu I had before we left. I'm planning a very low key day of unpacking and vegging.

Myers Take On The Mouse - Day 3 continued

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Disney California Adventure (DCA). I think Claire's favorite part was the entrance with all the "ABCs" as she refers to them and the mock up of "Daddy's bridge" that you walk under to enter. It's a cute little park that pays hommage to the state of California but somewhat similar in parts to Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando and an old-fashioned seaside amusement park.

Here's a little fun we had with Claire. Slide show coming....

Give me a....

Give me a.....

Give me a.....

Give me a.....

Give me a.....

Give me a.....

What's that spell?!?!?!

CLAIRE!!!!!

Myers Take On The Mouse - Day 3

Sorry to disappoint our readers but we are exhausted and a little sunburnt so we are heading to bed w/o posting a slide show tonight. I will do my best to do it in the AM since our 2 yr keeps insisting on waking up BEFORE the crack of dawn. Or I'll try to do it during "pool time". We've promised Claire some pool time tomorrow and since I'm burnt (Mommy was fooled by cool cloudy weather this AM that disappeared around noon, grrr!), I won't want to be out there much. Stay tuned for the update as today was a humdinger! Claire got to meet TWO of her fave characters and she went up for a pic w/o Mommy or Daddy (which was good since both times the 'rent with the kid was flying solo so had to do camera operation and not bravery-coaching). Here's a hint on who they were....both wear dresses, one blue the other red. Do you know who they were?

Here's the show......finally.....

Myers Take On The Mouse - Day 2

We are pooped out so heading to bed.....

Enjoy!

Myers Take On The Mouse - Day 1

Well here's a little slide show of our pics from today. The music video that is playing along with the slide show is actually the view from the back seat of the Casey Jr train ride that is exclusive to Disneyland....one of Walt's special projects. Claire's current fave movie is Dumbo so Casey Jr and Dumbo were her faves today. When I was looking for some music to put on the slide show, I thought this was too perfect since that's the actual seat we sat in on Casey Jr. LOL! Sorry if it makes it hard to read the captions on the pics....but I think you can figure it out.

(I got annoyed with the music after hearing it for the millionth time and deleted it....)

Myers Take On The Mouse - Departure Day

So to update the blog, after all the hoopla last week, we changed our vacation from a couple of days at Disneyland and a cruise to a week at Disneyland only. Claire is thrilled of course! So yesterday, Wednesday was departure day. We packed all day while Jeremy worked and then after work drove to pick him up and head south to LA. We arrived about 2am, unpacked as much as possible and crashed hard. We are staying at a Marriott Residence Inn that is about 1/2 mile from the Maingate. It's great b/c we can walk to the parks and not have to fight over seats in the trams, we don't have to pay for parking, our room comes with a full complimentary breakfast every AM, it's a one bedroom suite so we don't have to be "quiet" while Claire naps since she's in another room and we have a full kitchen so with the exception of one dinner this weekend, we'll be eating our lunches and dinners in our room to save money (since all our vacation money is tied up in the cruise we didn't get to take, ugh!). We got a steal on the Disney tix and the hotel room was paid with points plus a "stay 4 nights, get the 5th night free" deal. So quite economical. I'm very proud of my scrambling and econimizing skills since I managed to do all of it while I was sick myself with the flu last week. No, I'm sure it's not Swine Flu, just regular flu! So that's the update.

But before i go, cute story from Claire yesterday... So my plan was that while she was napping, I was going to finish packing, rearrange the carseat and load the car such that when she woke up, we would be ready to leave. Well, plans change I guess, since she woke up after only 1.5-2hrs (she normally naps 3 hours). At first I was very frustrated since I knew having her underfoot would really slow me down, but then she opened her mouth and I just had to stop and realize 1) this is a VACATION and 2) it's about her "dreams coming true". So I hear the noise at the door of her trying to get the door open while she's wearing her sleepsack and holding all her babbies and I go over so see what's up. Before I had put her down, in an effort to get her to go down early I had said, "The sooner you go to sleep the sooner we get to leave to go to Mickey's house. We'll leave when you wake up." (Famous last words...right?!) So she gets the door open and the second she sees me she says, "Let's go! Mickey's house now?!". I just died laughing. Then as soon as I unzipped her out of her sleepsack, she ran across the room grabbed "pack-pack" and immediately started stuffing all her babbies into it while saying, "Take babbies, let's go!!". Yup, she's excited!!