Friday, August 31, 2012

San Francisco - The City Pass

I had two days of just my little girly and I walking around the city and then another day and a half exploring with both Benson and Abby.

I took my time, made no plans and just did what I could and it was SO much fun. I got to see so much of the city. San Francisco is definitely a city you need to visit more than once because there is just so much to see and do, but I was very happy with what I got accomplished and loved going at my own pace and watch Abby enjoy her first trip to a big city.

Abby and I rode the Bart subway line from downtown Berkeley into the city every morning and the first stop I got off on the first day put me right in front of the UN building which is a gorgeous building but a rather shady part of town. We caught a bus and took it down to the Exploratorium and Palace of Fine arts. The settings getting on the bus at the Civic Center and off in the Presidio couldn't have been more different. For all the shadiness of the Civic Center area, the Presidio is well kept and full of gorgeous homes. When I turned the corner and saw the fine arts palace I was amazed at the beautiful architecture.

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Abby loves ducks so we of course had to sit at a bench near the pond and watch them swim around. We even saw a seagull eating a jellyfish from the bay which is only a couple blocks away. After our little rest, we headed over to the Exploratorium where I bought a city pass and we looked around the museum. The Exploratorium is everything I'd ever want from a science center. The building it is in currently is essentially a large warehouse that is chock full of "experiments" you can participate in. Everything is hands on, and there is so much to explore. The workshops where the displays are developed is set up in the middle with windows all around so you can watch them developing future exhibits. Of course, it was just Abby and I so I didn't get to participate in all they had going on, but we had a lot of fun doing what we could and watching others do what we couldn't. 

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Next we headed down to Pier 39 to go on a Bay Cruise and see the Bay Aquarium since those were included in the city pass. Both were enjoyable, but personally, I would have been fine skipping either one and probably won't do either again on another trip. The aquarium is fairly small and I've been to others I liked better (Omaha Zoo and Birch Aquarium in SoCal as well as the Science Academy in SF) but Abby liked watching the fish swim around the tanks so it was definitely enjoyable. It was fun to ride around the bay on the bay cruise but I would have preferred getting a similar ride as well as a tour of Alcatraz - but the Alcatraz  tours were sold out the week I was there so the bay cruise was my alternate option.

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All of that excitement was enough for one day for Abby - and my body was tired of carrying around her and a backpack so we headed back to Berkeley to have dinner and relax at the hotel.

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The next morning we headed out again to finish up the sites from the city pass which were the Academy of Sciences and the Museum of Modern Art. The fact that I didn't take one picture this whole day is a testament to how tired I was carrying an extra 25lbs and walking around several miles two days in a row, but it was a really fun day. We rode the Bart into SF again getting off in the Mission District this time because it is an area I knew I wanted to see, then we caught a city bus that took us right down Haight Street so we could see Haight Ashbury and all the sites near there from the comfort of a bus. We got off at the bus at Golden Gate park which is where the California Academy of Sciences is located. This museum was awesome and included an aquarium, a 'swamp' complete with an alligator, and four story indoor rainforest and a "living roof". Golden Gate Park is a gorgeous place to walk around as well and there is a botanical garden, rose garden and Japanese Tea Garden all very near the Science Academy.

We then caught a bus over to SFMOMA which took us into the financial district. I really enjoyed this whole area, as it felt like a real big city (very much like the financial district in NY). The museum itself again wasn't my favorite, but I don't love art museums that much anyway unless there is a particular exhibit I am interested in. I did love seeing original works from Picasso and Matisse as well as the Cindy Sherman  collection of portraits.

Since I had finished all of the activities on my City Pass and would have another day and a half to explore the city with Benson, I headed back to Berkeley after the MOMA and concluded a fun two days in the city by the bay.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Berkeley

When Benson got the opportunity to attend a conference at UC Berkeley I decided to tag along and see San Francisco since I'd heard so much about it (his family loves San Fran) and hadn't ever been.

Since Benson's conference was at UC Berkeley, the hotel we stayed in was right next to the campus which had its ups and downs. For one, it was RIDICULOUSLY crowded which made eating and walking around sort of a pain, and being next to several frat houses meant nights were loud. Also, carrying a baby around a college town by myself earned me plenty of odd looks. Abby was the youngest one in the entire area by about 18 years. However, the crowded college town also meant we were very close to lots of yummy food and that I didn't feel uncomfortable walking around alone late at night from the bus or to the market since there we plenty of others around.

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The Hotel Durant where we stayed was pretty awesome. It was built in 1928 and has been restored so it had all the charm of an old hotel with all the comforts of a new one. Since it is less than a block from the Berkeley campus, the rooms are themed to feel like old school dorm rooms complete with vintage style desks and furniture... oh and the lamps looked like bongs...

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and there were streakers running through the bathroom...

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The best part of the hotel was that, besides being free, Abby charmed the ladies checking us in at the front desk and they gave us the biggest room they had open. It pays to have a cute baby now and then.

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Best food we had in Berkeley: Gypsy's Trattoria Italiano, Smart Alec's, King Pin Doughnuts and Cream (all on Durant Ave)

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Merry-Go-Round

Everyone's favorite part about Greer has to be the completely un-safe fun things they have to play on. For years and years they had a zip-line that began in a rickety old tree-house where you boarded a small porch swing chained to a cable by walking on a 1ft. ledge between you and a 20ft. drop into blackberry bushes. When released, you'd zip across a road and an open meadow to a platform with a ladder down to the ground - only the platform was 7+ feet below the seat so you had to jump making sure you had good aim while ducking your head out of the way of the seat that recoiled from loss of weight. This year the treehouse was dis-assembled and the cable had been cut and we were all sad to see the end of our favorite ride.

However, we still had the Merry-Go-Round and the tree swing.

The Merry-Go-Round is a truck axle mounted in concrete on a hill connected to some 2x4's with wooden seats on either end and painted red just for fun. There are no handles or seatbelts, you just grab whatever you can and hold on for dear life. All you need is a little push to get enough momentum to go around several times - but the better the push the faster, and scarier, the ride gets. This was quite possibly Abby's favorite part of the whole trip.

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The tree swing is not even a swing at all. It was at one time of course, but now it's just a rope with a loop on the end to fit around your arm. The tree it hangs from is, again, on the side of a hill which allows you to start at the highest point, run toward the lower point and jump as the ground slopes downward which sends you soaring into the air. Dislocationg your shoulder is probably a serious possibility - but that doesn't stop any of us.

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Ironically enough the only injury sustained the entire 24+ years we have been going to Greer were at the hands of a run of the mill teeter-todder.




Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Abby & the Creek

She came...
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She saw...
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She conquered.
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Greer 2012

I seriously love this place. We figured it's been at least 24 years that our family has been going to these very cabins. Our time there is filled with delicious food (Pumpkin Waffles, Chicken Fried Steak & Crepes are always a must), fishing, swinging, hiking, playing cards, watching the rain and humming birds, berry picking, and late night games of mafia. Basically it's heaven wrapped into a long weekend.

This was Abby's first year and it was so fun to see her experience it all for the first time. I am already looking forward to next year!

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Monday, August 6, 2012

8

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Oh this girl. She gets prettier and sillier and crazier by the day. She is such a curious little one and always into everything. She cannot be given a toy to play with, she has to discover it on her own (unless it's something you're using - then she wants it regardless of what it is). I have learned that if I want her to play with a certain toy I just place it somewhere near her with no outward indication I want her to have it and she is all over it - once she figures that trick out I'll be totally lost.

She is social as always and loves making new friends. She likes to grab noses (and hair) and pat cheeks to tell everyone hello - and she waves at anything and everything, people, animals, pictures, cars, books, walls... She finally has her first little snaggle tooth and likes to bite with it. She also babbles all.the.time. I know that as soon as she can speak she'll be talking non-stop so I definitely won't get lonely.

Her favorite games are either "wrestling" with her dad or peek-a-boo and she has learned how to get us to play both games. As soon as her dad comes home she'll follow him around yelling at him (and hitting him if she can reach him) until he tickles and wiggles and rolls all the energy out of her. Anytime a blanket is near she inevitably pulls it up over her head and waits patiently until someone asks "Where's Abby?".

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She wants to walk SO badly - pulling herself up on anything sturdy enough and walking as far as she can around it, then getting frustrated when she reaches an end because she wants to go further. Most of the time she is standing she is on her tippy toes and we're sure she'll be a ballerina or a gymnast some day. She is completely fearless and loves being daring and adventurous. 

She has a new love and adoration for books and will sit in my lap and let me read her several at a time and she will even turn the pages when it is time. She especially loves books about animals and she will pat along the rhythm (or her version of it) to any books we sing along with. She also loves water. She is a little fish in the swimming pool and will sit on the side, and wait for me to give her the signal that she can get in, and then jump in on her own into my arms (it's more of a fall since she can't actually jump - but she does what she can). She can also hold her breath underwater and swim a few feet underwater to me. She also loves baths and any other water we come across including cups, sinks, water bottles  and, of course, drinking fountains. Also, if you have food or a drink with a straw - don't even THINK about not sharing it with her. She will insist.

We love our pretty, smart, loving, fearless, curious little girl. 

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