The past week and half has been a whirlwind. After spending five days in San Francisco for a meeting (more on this in a moment) I returned late Tuesday night, unpacked my backs and packed Nate's school bag to go to his first day of daycare. I mean "early school" :)
Shane and I were both a little shakey dropping him off. It was the first time someone other than family had watched him, and even though his school is excellent it was still a bit tough. But Nate was a hit as soon as he walked, or rather was carried, into his classroom. He is the youngest student in the class (he was right at the cutoff between two classes), and he was immediately fascinated by his fellow students walking all over the place. They were very eager to share their toys. I'm sure the little boy with the soccer ball got an earful about British Premier League Soccer from our future player.
The center is great in encouraging parents to spend as much time as they want, and we stayed during his first few minutes to watch him take it all in. He didn't cry or get upset at all, which was a great relief to us. Though it was difficult for us to step out of the room, he didn't mind (yay, my parents are gone). And so we experience the universal parental feeling of tat first tug of letting baby bird stick his wing out of the nest. Here he is playing with one of his new friends.
But the rest of the day went great. I only called twice to learn that he was having a great old time. He ate snacks he would never eat for us, explored the room and mostly took it all in like the young scientist he is. When all the kids went down for a nap, he stood up in the crib and looked at all them, like "what are all these fellow small people doing here." He got a surprise when Grandma came to pick up him early, a good ending to a good day. For more photos, see "Nate goes to school" album at right.
San Francisco was a rice-a-roni treat. I went for an annual meeting of fundraisers and PR people who do what I do and learned a lot. Plus I also got to stay at the historic 100-year old Fairmont hotel, which is chocked full of history (the treaty creating the U.N. was signed there and tons of famous entertainers have performed there, including Tony Bennett, who sang "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" for the first time in the lounge) Link to the Fairmont - Pretty pictures! . The newly restored lobby was among the most impressive I've ever been in, with huge marble columns.
But the best part was undoubtedly the Fairmont's famous Tiki bar, The Tonga Room. What great fortune to stay in a hotel with a fabulous historic tiki bar. The bar is situatated around a "lagoon" with a boat where a band plays (so great). Every 30 minutes it rains and thunders in the lagoon. Oh my gosh I loved that. And they have the best mai tais in San Francisco, served in heavy coconut tiki mugs. Here I am enjoying one with a tiki god. (It was very cool that we also had lunch there during the conference. Most of my colleagues were baffled by the tiki land but I was, as always, enchanted.) A Critiki review of the tiki paradise
This was my fourth visit to the city that my Dad first introduced me to during our famous 1989 trip a week after the earthquake (shout out to the John Steinbeck Library!) I saw some old favorites -- Chinatown (where I visited a highly overrated fortune cookie "factory" (see photo at left) that was really one person pulling newly folded cookies off a press with a sign overhead, "$1 if you take a photo"), Union Square, Alcatraz and the steep hills (my legs are now *killing* me). But I also visited some new favorites, including the Castro (lots of rainbow flags -- left), where I got some great books -- one on Morrissey (only in the Castro will you find such a large selection of
Morrissey books). Also saw Harvey Milk Plaza, commemorating San Francisco's first openly gay politician, who, along with Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed by a fellow member of the Board of Supervisors About Harvey Milk . Though I took a cab to the Castro, I rode back in one of the city's restored electric trains from the 50s.
Ate way too much good food, starting with Le Colonial, the French-Vietnamese restaurant Dad recommended. The Chilean Sea Bas wrapped in banana leaves did not disappoint. Then there were the Marin Bay Oysters at the Hyde Park Seafood Restaurant, dim sum on the UCSF campus and an exciting trip the country's first floating sushi boat restaurant (see photo below).
I made a special trip to Japantown, which is relatively far from most of the centralized neighborhoods, for sushi. I was not disappointed. This is the place where the chef places various sushi onto little wooden boats that float around a canal, leaving diners their choice as to what they want to eat. I was a little clumsy in grabbing the tiny trays as the boats moved past -- shoot, maybe people realized I wasn't Japanese?The sushi was fresh and delicious, and followed by a walk through Japantown's main plaza, which is filled with shops carrying Hello Kitty and obscure Japanese cartoon character products, shops with delicate Japanese paper, deluxe electronic toilets like the ones they sell all over Tokyo, and my favorite, the Japanese dollar store, where I loaded up on chopsticks (including Nate's first pair!), pottery and lucky cat figurines.
Also did some serious shopping, including a mega trip to H&M, where I got my fix on low-priced hipster clothes to hold me over until my next visit to an H&M, whenever that will be. Resisted buying from the Madonna line of clothes, though I really wanted to.
For more San Francisco Treat photos, visit my "San Fran 2007" album to the right.
It was a great visit, but by the end of it I was ready to come home and see my boys. Megan's wedding is just 12 days away so we are all in full nuptual mode ... the countdown is on!
Every year on our anniversary we take a photo in the place where we were married, the overlook underneath Vulcan that looks out over Birmingham. Here we are on Sunday (just a few days after the actual anniversary date). Photos by Dad!
In addition to getting his first shoes this weekend, Nate also had his first swim. Here he is with his friend Olivia at her house. She was nice enough to invite us over and share her pool with her friend Baby Nate. We thought he might be unsure of the water but he took to it like a guppie. He must know that his Mom and Dad were water babies. He played in the pool for at least a half an hour, then had fun with his Elmo towel. For more photos, see "Memorial Day Weekend 07" album to the right.
