the red eye. {DAY 10}

DAY 10: FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7th

{max's birthday--except we told her it wasn't}

...

the red eye is what the Hawaiians do to the tourists as some kind of sick joke.

thank you for coming and spending all of your money here!

our gift to you is the red eye!

oh, and by the way,

remember how your same EXACT flight over here took 5 hours and 45 minutes?

and your children were awake

because it was during the day the entire time?

and your dvd battery died because it was such a long flight?

well,

as a special added bonus

to show our love and appreciation for your tourism the last 10 days,

the red eye will be shortened to 3 hours and 45 minutes on the way home!

this is going to be so exciting because it will leave at 9:30pm,

and then by the time your children finally fall asleep after take off,

they will get anywhere from 2 hours to half an hour of sleep,

leaving you with about 10 minutes of shut eye 

before the captain come over the speaker to tell you it's time to land!

just in time to arrive on the west coast before the sun even comes up.

wait, that's not it,

there's more!

because you were today's lucky winner we have an exclusive tourists package to offer you today!

you will be so excited BECAUSE...

instead of having an hour layover as shown on your ticket,

you will get to enjoy an extended 3 hour vacation in the world famous los angelos international airport!

don't worry about none of the vendors being open because it's so early.

once normal human hours begin {about 2 hours after your arrival to LAX} 

you will have the opportunity to buy 1 bottle of water for $5 AND one pack of $3 gum 

while you your and your children walk around like zombies 

and talk really short to each other about everything.

don't feel sorry for me?

yeah, me neither;)

our kids were even champs!

not a peep from one of them.

still, i hate the red eye.

ain't nobody that loves the red eye.

it took us three days before we didn't fall asleep standing up to recover.

we walked in the door from the airport,

put chase to bed,

and sean and i fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours.

we still don't know exactly what max and brennan did for those 3 hours.

however,

we do know for sure that two nights later max, 

still being on hawaii time,

was flooding the upstairs bathroom toilet instead of going to bed.

memories:) 

above: 

LAX before any shops opened.

above: 

the unknowing birthday girl.

above:

the ride home from the airport.

the epitome of exhaustion.

he couldn't even hold his arms to his body he was so tired.

don't you just want to squish and kiss his cheeks?!

 the

e

n

d

.

the oceanic effect {day 4}

 -DAY 4-

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH

the thing about san francisco, 

{and half moon bay for that matter} 

is that when it's really hot,

all of the hot hair 

goes out to the ocean 

and gets stuck behind the hill.

the hill that separates half moon bay from the rest of the peninsula.

in high school mr. naazar taught us that it was called "the oceanic effect."

so the hot air gets stuck out on the ocean and it makes fog.

fog so thick that it rolls in over the hill and through the bay 

like the biggest blanket of fluffy white you could ever imagine.

and on the day we woke up to drive home, 

i woke up, 

and i could feel it through the closed window drapes.

the fog:)

the coziest, 

most wonderful feeling of peace and quiet on the planet.

so as we drove out of the city,

we drove through the fog,

and i couldn't have imagined a better end to our trip to san francisco.

the city by the bay.

and then reality hit about 45 minutes later when all of the kids were screaming starvation.

so we ordered $31 of breakfast foods from Mickey D's,

and 3 chocolate milkshakes.

actually,

i think it was only 2.

we made max and chase share.

b/c at 9:56am,

after 4 days of vacation,

and a 12 hour drive ahead,

there are just some battles not worth fighting.

 THE END.

honk 3 times and wave {day 3}

-DAY 3: PART 1-

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH

by day 3 we had become 

expert tippers.

EXPERTS.

$5 when they brought you your car,

$5 when they parked it.

$5 when they hailed you a cab.

$10 when they brought in your bags.

i've never had so much fun passing out $5 and $10 dollar bills in my entire life.

fancy fancy business i tell you.

so on saturday morning, we were like veterans in the tipping.

and we tipped the grand master valet man at the front of the hotel to bring us our car.

so we could sneak away out of the city and drive to grandma and grandpa's house.

where grandpa joy fed our children milk and cookies,

and dark chocolate.

her favorite.

and mine too.

the men ended up out in the garage cooing over grandpa's mustang,

hood up,

top down,

talking about tools and corroborators and man stuff like that.

grandma and i talked about life and discussed all of our travels across utah, nevada, and california,

and the city of san francisco.

later grandpa showed off all of his guns to us,

and cranked up the one he's had since he was 9.

no amo, not to fret.

brennan started counting how many years until he was 9 

and could have a gun of his own.

i told him fat chance,

but that we could surely come back to see grandpa's guns again. 

before we left, grandma filled my purse with an entire brick of her favorite dark chocolate.

sean and i secretly ate it somewhere in nevada so we wouldn't have to share with the kids.

sharing is caring,

but not when it comes to melty chocolate on tan cloth seats.

as we drove away dad instructed sean in the ways of leaving the grandparent's house.

honk 3 times a wave.

way better than going to see the golden gate bridge.

like A MILLION times better:)

my city by the bay {day 2}

-DAY 2-

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH

"The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay

The glory that was Rome is of another day

I've been terribly alone 

and forgotten in Manhattan

I'm going home to my city by the bay..."

"I left my heart in San Francisco..."

"High up on a hill, it calls to me

To be where little cable cars 

climb halfway to the stars..."

{chase was not a fan. freaked him out. scared his little sweet heart. poor chap.}

"The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care

My love waits there in San Francisco

Above the blue and windy sea

When I come home to you, San Francisco

Your golden sun will shine for me."

-"I Left My Heart In San Francsico" by Tony Bennett-

...

and shine it certainly did.

i spent my childhood 

taking trips to pier 39.

other than going to FAO Schwartz at Christmas time 

and watching the puppies in the Macy's Christmas windows,

Pier 39 was my favorite trip into the city.

eating churros and sourdough bread bowls full of piping hot clam chowder.

i remember it was always foggy,

but i don't remember it being cold.

my dad and sandie assured me it was not always foggy,

but when it was,

it was cold.

i was made for the fog.

my BONES were made for the fog:)

my dad rode a bunny on the carousel with max.

she was over the moon elated over the entire thing.

dad was too.

it was SO SO cute.

sean got roped into the twisty pot with brennan.

they came off of that carousel wobbly and tinted green.

so glad no one puked:)

sandie and i were so glad we got to stay with chase on the side.

chase made "arf arf" sounds,

and brennan and max discussed which sea lions were fighting,

who was falling off of their platforms,

and why were there no sea lions on the platforms up front?

i told them i wouldn't want to be that close to people staring at me either.

it was most exciting when they would swim right down in front of us.

thank goodness we practiced our sea lion sounds in the car ride to california.

always be prepared!

scout's motto.

we were prepared.

that's for sure.

then brennan worked up ideas about how someone could escape Alcatraz.

it involved flagging down fishing boats to hitchhike a ride.

and then waving at people on the pier as the boat brought him back to shore.

clever boy.

{see the bat he's holding? we bought him a giant's mini baseball bat. 

he slept with it for two nights straight.}

max ran away screaming from the street performers.

and i hid the candy they gave my kids.

it magically got lost in the depths of my purse.

while we distracted them with the best hot fudge sundae on the entire planet.

i may or may not have thrown the candy away in the hotel garbage canisters out front. 

MAY have.

i have rules about street candy.

none that i planned to make ahead of time,

just one that i made right then a there to myself.

and it involved MAYbe throwing the candy away.

that's all i'm saying.

i paid a dollar in tips for it.

i can't do what i want with it.

there now, glad we got that all cleared up.

you remember that it's good,

and you think you know how good it was the last time you had it,

but then you have it,

and it's like you've never had chocolate in your entire life until this very minute right now.

here.

at ghiradelli square.

yep, that's exactly what it's like.

brennan tried to sword me off with his spoon.

i would not be deterred.

sharing is caring!

that's what i told him.

at night we were catered to by the Sens Restaurant staff,

with the port of san francisco behind us,

and the cheering of the giant's baseball game from the stadium somewhere close to us.

i ate the most delicious crab cakes of my life,

which is saying something b/c i can't say i've ever like a crab cake until that night.

i let my kids have as much soda as they wanted,

which meant i was taking people to the potty the entire night.

in my heels.

and i don't ever wear heels.

i lost count after my 5th trip.

let's just say it was a good thing i brought an extra pair 

of my little pony underwear for max in my purse.

winning:)

i also learned that high heels were not made for an entire night in the city.

they are made for exits out of the hotel,

and the cocktail party before dinner,

but definitely not for the entire night.

i had to learn this the hard way.

the really hard way.

like we couldn't catch a cab home to save our lives,

and it was 10:36pm,

and all of the cabs in the entire city were at the giant's game that had just let out,

and my dad finally guilted a cabby to take all 7 of us home.

in

one

cab.

and i swore i would never leave the hotel in heels without my flats in my purse ever again.

lesson learned.

lesson.

learned.