The beautiful weather this past weekend meant that the kids were outside almost all day...baseball was still the favorite activity for Gene, and he found a willing partner in our next-door neighbor boy (9 years old). They played together very well, but their 4 year old girl, Tess, was also eager to play with Gene. So we brought out the gardening tools, and the three of them had a great time digging in our not-yet-planted vegetable garden.

Gene has been a little more interested in the new baby we will have in September. Every once in a while he will want to see my stomach and talk about it. He wants the baby to be "a little sister, just like Lucy".

From top to bottom: baseball is Gene's favorite backyard activity, Gene says Mass at least once a day when we're inside, at 18 months Lucy has observed enough baseball already to pick up the basics...

From top to bottom: Lucy at Michigan baseball game, Easter morning hairstyling session with Brendan, all dolled up for Easter!

Finishing San Fransisco

We're wrapping up our trip now, and have seen all the major things we wanted to see. Yesterday we ate Dim Sum for lunch, a chinese way of lunching- we sat at our table and the waiters brought out fully cooked little appetizers, 4 to a dish, and asked if we would like them. If we said yes, they added $2 to our bill, and a minute later another dish would come out. We ended up having about 8 dishes total to share among the four of us, and most were delicious...fried shrimp, pork buns, duck, little egg custards...quite the experience since I've only had chicken fried rice whenever going out for Chinese. Afterwards we walked down Fisherman's wharf, went in the famous Boudin sourdough bread factory (but didn't have time for a tour), and then got in line to board the ferry boat to Alcatraz. We took a great tour, mostly via audio cassette, for 2.5 hours, and at the end of it had a good idea of what life was like on Alcatraz from a prisoner and warden's perspective. Definitely worthwhile. Splurged again and took a taxi back to the apartment for dinner (we didn't realize the tour would last so long, so they were waiting for us) and then I conked out at 9:30 on the couch while everyone else played Scattergories.

This morning we cooked breakfast, then went out for the day to a national park to go hiking. We drove to the top of a mountain, got out and walked down a trail for about a mile, and ate lunch at a picnic table overlooking the bay and the whole city. The view was great, and it was much less windy up there than in the city, go figure. San Francisco is supposedly the second windiest city in the US, after Chicago. After the hike, we drove to Muir Woods and walked among the redwoods. Very touristy, but fun to see the huge trees. We drove back to the apartment then, stopping to take pictures of the Golden Gate bridge. Tonight we're going to have an early dinner and then go in some shops. We're done being tourists now, and we can just relax and enjoy our last night here. We leave tomorrow around 1...

Hanging out with Papa

Gene and Lucy are staying with Brendan for the week, and seem to be having a grand old time. Highlights of the week so far have been...going swimming at the Rec Center (Lucy crawled up and down the ramp into the water and would have easily crawled over her head if Brendan had not caught her)...Lucy carrying her shoes and clothes to the steps while sucking on two pacifiers at once...Gene going to the Ash Wednesday service with Grandma Patti instead of going home to bed with Brendan...everyone going to dinner at Travis Pointe with Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks...eating paczki's at Benny's Bakery (Lucy found the hole in hers and played with the filling)...and so far no one has woken up crying in the middle of the night!! (I told Brendan he is on night duty from now on, cause it seems like someone is ALWAYS waking up when I am home). God is sure watching over them, and I miss them all like crazy. I notice every single little kid we pass on the streets of San Francisco, and wish that my family were all here with me.

Tired Legs

My legs are so sore! We have walked all over the city, but last night resorted to a taxi to save us the mile or so walk to get dinner. In the afternoon we visited Emily's cafe where she works, and the food was delicious- meat, pasta, salad, soup, desserts...and unique for me because we paid by the pound- at the register they actually weighed my plate and then charged for it. Then we took a self-guided tour of the Mission church and cathedral, the church being the oldest still standing building in the city, built in 1776 by some Catholic missionaries. Then on to Emily's apartment, which took 30 minutes to get to, despite taking the subway (the "BART") Long walk just from the BART to her house, stayed a few minutes, and then headed right back. We walked so fast trying to get back to Jane's apartment so we could change and go to the exercise class that Jane taught, but I was exhausted and ended up staying back and taking a much-needed nap. Woke in time to get ready for dinner in Little Italy. Took a taxi (cause it was almost cheaper than the bus and BART combined, our other option for getting there) and had a great dinner and then got gelato at the best gelatoria in town (supposedly). This morning Sean left to catch a flight to New York for an audition at the Met (God bless him, cause he is coming down with something) and we caught a bus to Golden Gate park. It's about 4 miles long, and full of lots of good "parky" things like a pond, gardens, etc but also has a museum, conservatory of flowers, and some sports areas. Regardless, we couldn't see much due to time constraints, but we hiked a bit and paid to enter the Japanese Tea Garden, which was a delicate little garden with ponds and bridges and a small pagoda. Worth seeing. Came back for lunch with Jane and now we're going to relax a bit till she gets done teaching . May catch a movie tonight.

Paczki Day

There are no paczkis to be found in all of San Francisco!! We called bakeries, looked online and finally contacted a Polish food store (the only one in the city). The lady who answered didn't speak much English but said they have some! Then she said they wouldn't be ready for 2 hours- the cook still had to make the dough. So...maybe we are the only ones in the whole city to eat paczkis today, and they have been specially ordered:)