We have loved our time in SF thus far....we have allowed ourselves to sleep in and be lazy for a bit, then we are go, go, go ALL day and then we crash, order dinner in, and rest up for the next day. It's really perfect.
Today began with a cable car ride....
and this is what MK had to say about the wait. To her credit, the wait was a bit long but what made it almost unbearable was listening to a man on a microphone saying very untrue statements and then hearing the same man argue with people who tried to correct him....it was a bit much and MK wished she had her earphones many times! Meanwhile, I tried my best to distract the little girls and eventually Ryan ushered them into a store to escape.
Alas, we were all smiles and the cable car ride through the city was a huge hit!
We boarded at one of the turnaround points and during our wait, I befriended a young girl who was visiting the city by herself....she is a graduate student at USC and came north to explore for the weekend. She was really sweet and I thought she was interesting because she has taken it upon herself to do a little exploring and living outside of her comfort zone during this stage of her life.
Our car arrived the children jumped on....I love Maddox's face in this pic!
Next up, Lombard Street or "the crooked street"...
We chose to walk down the side....I told Ryan we have done it all now, we didn't even know it existed during our very first trip to SF, then we took pics at the bottom during our second visit, we drove it during our third trip and now we walked the side down to the bottom.
We all agreed that the real estate on Lombard Street has to be amazing and way out of our price range! The homes are stunning.
After walking down the crooked part of Lombard, we then began our walk to the very, very bottom of Lombard. Maddox danced her way down, MK ran ahead and then waited on us, I walked with C on my back - my leg muscles will never be the same!
Next up, Coit Tower
360 degree views of the city.....amazing.
The first floor of the tower is painted with beautiful murals. I wanted to take pics but wasn't sure if it was allowed :/ But, we all commented on how detailed each mural was....the each told a story and it was fun to read a bit about each one as we waited for the elevator to the top.
Once up, we hopped from window to window taking peeks of each view....
from the Bay Bridge to Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge....
stunning!
And then we looked down, spotted a man in orange chasing around two little girls with large white bows in their hair and we waved to our peeps! The littles stayed down with Ryan while I took the bigs up!
Top of the tower pic....
bottom of the tower pic...I found it interesting to read that many believe the tower was designed to look like the nozzle of a fire hose....though this is not true, the tower does resemble this idea.
I love seeing the American flag flying high in front of the tower....and I love the four faces standing in front too!
The Stinking Rose
Ryan and I visited SF many moons ago with our friends and we dined at TSR. As we walked from Coit Tower to Chinatown, we happened upon it again and decided to take a moment to refuel and grab some good italian eats.
We entered the restaurant and the girls each got a bag of Wikki Sticks...
these were genius! They kept our girls busy creating hair pieces, bracelets, glasses, bowls, puppies....all.the.things and they were so happy!
A short little walk took us into Chinatown for our final destination for the day!
MK has taken to making these faces when I take pics....this is her "I am in LOVE with these cookies" face!
We ventured into the tiny little fortune cookie factory and watched a lady had make fortune cookies!
We watched the formula settle into the formations and then the lady carefully would take them out and fold them with a fortune in the center!
We were taking pics and looking all around when I heard a voice say, "Do not go any further"....I looked up and a man was standing there, he smiled and then handed us a hand full of cookie samples and turned us around to go the other way, lol. The samples were fabulous....they had a strawberry flavor to them!
Then the same man offered to take our pic with the lady who was folding the cookies....only, I am not sure that she is a picture person seeing as she just kept right on working while we smiled for the pic!
A girl and her love for pandas!
This girl thoroughly enjoyed her time in Chinatown and she especially loved seeing all of the panda goods in each of the many stores!
And because this one loves her big sister so much, she also loves pandas!
We spotted a little Asian street band and the girls were offered an opportunity to join in! To my surprise, MK was the one who hopped right in and began to play!
She was so fun to watch! Totally at ease and loving her moment of fame in Chinatown!
And because big sister got a chance to play, little sister needed her moment too!
We also found a few terra cotta warrior statues....
and Maryn found her fan! She said, "Mama, my wish came true! I dreamed I would get a fan to day from the China place!"
It was a great stroll for all of us....
so many sights to see that reminded us of the real China.....
and as we neared the end, we found a hidden gem....
a cute little park and Chapman could not have been happier to be outside and running free....
and the big girls were thrilled too!
There was something for everyone....
but this little contraption was the item that drew them all in for laugh after laugh....
their squeals were ringing through the entire city...it was beautiful!
And then the famous gate....we posed for one pic and headed to....
Target! Only, it wasn't much like our Target at home....more like a window shop vs a real Target BUT we went in, grabbed a few necessities and then headed back to our ho-n-tel for a little rest for our feet!
