Soren Meets Cali, part 2

After shopping, playing and visiting with my cousins in Milbrae, Soren and I headed to the East Bay for a visit with Scott's parents. Scott and I lived with his parents a couple years ago, which was a great experience. I enjoy spending time with them and feel very fortunate that I can visit my in-laws without their son and feel comfortable and at-home.

However, since Scott hadn't been to his hometown for almost 3 years, we had to document all the changes and video a few friends. Above is Soren at the new park downtown. We also ate at Skipolini's for Scott. (who am I kidding? I ate there because I love their pizza!) There would be more pictures, but my camera broke. Thank goodness they had an excellent repair shop nearby, who shipped it back to Idaho when it was done. (NOTE: Never leave cameras on the beach, even if they are sitting in nice camera bags. Sand is a killer.)

I also had fun playing the tile game with Gram, Becky and Terry (Scott's mom). I was doing great until the last round - then Becky put me to shame, of course!

Soren visited his Grandpa Wheeler at his office and learned the basics of accounting. We spent our last day with friends, Jessica and her baby Penny, in San Francisco. We both were pushing strollers and managed to get around the city on all forms of public transportation. The hardest part for me was the elevators for BART. I hate elevators! When I worked in San Francisco a couple years ago, I had to work really hard to get over my fear. Everyday, I rode up to the fifth floor in an old elevator with an outdated inspection license. I just dealt with it. But since living in Savannah, where I might have taken one elevator in 2 years, I am rusty. Jessica did a good job putting up with me telling dumb stories so I could ignore how slowly we were riding up and down.

Last story from the trip - Jessica and I thought it would be fun to walk from the Embarcadero to Pier 39 and Ghiradelli square. The weather was perfect, the babies were sleeping - so why not? Walking out was nice, however walking back just wasn't going to happen. We decided to take a cable car to Market street, where we would meet our friend Devan for some necessary shopping at H&M.

Well, it was the end of the day. Our cable car was packed! And we had to fold up our strollers to jump on. Between a baby, shopping bags, diaper bags, and strollers neither one of us had enough hands. I asked a nice-looking lady behind me to hold Soren while we boarded. I know, not the best idea - but she definitely seemed the mom type. Plus, I'm sure I could have outrun her if she tried to take off with Soren.

Once we boarded, I found a seat in the back. You know commuters - nobody makes eycontact. Everyone has straight, hard faces on. They look around like they don't see who is sitting next to them, etc. A baby changes all that. At first, I was nervous they would hate me for daring to bring a child and stroller onboard. However, something about giggling, chubby cheeks brings out the best in most people.

I had the elderly man to my right making faces at Soren. The German couple behind me playing peekaboo and holding my stroller. Soren and I made a bunch of friends and had a great ride. Then I looked across to Jessica. She was standing, jammed against the door, with one leg wrapped around her stroller and her arm bent awkwardly to hold her baby carrier. The woman in front of Jessica turned to give her the stink eye every time the car lurched and the stroller nudged her leg. Poor Jessica! Lucky me!

I'm sure the ride couldn't have been short enough for Jessica. We finally got to Market St. and continued on our adventure. The next day, Soren and I said goodbye and headed back to Idaho.

I'm amazed we packed so much in to our trip, because Soren and I took turns being sick for the majority of our time with Scott's parents. That was pretty rough. While I would have rather been healthy on vacation, it was nice to be sick where another mom can help take care of us. Moms are the best!