San Francisco with Sally

It was the last free Saturday we'd have in awhile before fall sports started up.

It was Labor Day weekend.

Justin had schoolwork.

Owen and Drew just wanted to be with their friends.

And I needed an adventure.

So Sally happily joined me for a day in San Francisco.

The number one thing she wanted to do was to play at the Fan Lot at the Giants' stadium.

It's open to the public when the stadium isn't in use.

The Giants were playing in Colorado so I thought it'd be all clear.

But Billy Joel had to go and have a concert there that night,

which meant there would be no Coke sliding for Sal.

So we got Subway.

And I wondered why I drove all the way to SF for Subway.

And we maneuvered our way through the local street dwellers to use the closest restaurant at McD's.

Where Sally requested a picture with the "M" made out of flowers.

Then we proceeded to my number one pick for the day: The San Francisco Public Library.

It is best library I've ever seen.

And it can probably hold 15 Pacific Grove libraries inside.

It has 6 stories. As in levels (Sally wanted to climb all the stairs to the top).

And it has infinity stories, as in the ones you find in books.

Just for fun I looked up the book, "The Day the Crayons Came Home."

There were 116 copies.

And they were all checked out.

The main reason I wanted to go the library was to see Clare Cassidy's photography exhibit.

Love her pictures.

Next stop was paddle boating Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

 This was our favorite part of the day.

We went one time around the lake, but Sally wasn't ready to go back.

So we reversed and went all the way around again.

She would've kept going if our pre-paid time wasn't up.

Our last destination was China Town.

Another Sally request because she wanted to find a fan.

On the elevator up from the parking lot she got pinned in the corner opposite me.

It felt like 15 people were between us, but according to this picture there was only 1.

Either way, it was funny.

And then we entered another world.

The park in China Town feels like going back in time.

Clusters of (mostly) elderly Chinese people playing cards and no electronics in sight.

We proceeded to search through tourist shop after tourist shop for the perfect fan.

After way too long, Sally finally found what she was looking for:

a white, lacy, pigeon-painted fan.

We ended our day at Hunan Home's for Chinese Food.

The decor was tacky and the service was s l o w (the long wait had exhausted Sally in tears).

But the food was delicious.

Day by Day

8/21

The grand prize of completing the summer reading program from the library: frozen yogurt.

She was the only one of our bunch to finish the whole thing.

8/21

Sarah was wiped out after her last chemo treatment.

We visited her in the hospital and she gave us a tour of her home for the last week.

There is awesome local art all over the hospital.

8/22

Took Auggie to the park in Oakland while Justin was in the temple.

All the rest of the kids stayed home with friends.

So nice to just have one for the day.

8/23

Sunday walk at Coastguard Pier and copy cats.

8/24

The 3-story slide at Fort Ord.

8/25

He thought they were hard boiled.

8/26

Went on Sally's first class field trip of the year, which was a walking tour of Pacific Grove.

Ms. D, Sally's teacher, knows EVERYONE.

Seriously felt like Mr. Rogers' neighborhood as store owners popped out to say hi,

friends ran up with tea.

 and we visited with the mayor. 

We stopped by the library, a book store, a park, the chamber of commerce, and city hall.

8/28

Drive in movie night at church.

8/29

Went to the museum for Science Saturday.

Everyone here is excited for "Big Blue Live" on PBS this week.

8/30

 Slingshot success.

9/1

He wouldn't go near this pirate in Moss Landing.

Went up for a few hours to try and find sand dollars.

And command the ocean.

Found 3 sand dollars.

He broke 2.

And a wave took him down.

Cars for Days

Monterey Auto Week

The Little Car Show

8/12

Justin, Auggie, and I went while kids were in school.

I wanted to put all those cute little cars in my pocket and take them home.

Exotics on Cannery Row

8/14

My favorite event of the week.

Cannery Row was blocked off and the street was lined with super fancy cars.

Justin was posing Auggie next to that black sports car for a picture,

when the owner lifted the door and gestured for Auggie to sit in.

An immediate crowd formed.

We had no idea at the time that was a 1.4 million dollar vehicle (Pagani Huayra). Yikes.

Concourse d'Lemons

8/15

Free sunglasses went over well.

Concorso Italiano

8/15

By this time we were both pretty carred out,

but had to take advantage of the free tickets Sarah offered us.

This picture doesn't do the event justice.

There were rows of Ferraris, Alfa Romeos (my favorite), Lamborghinis, and more.

It was a cool sight at first, but those tickets were probably wasted on us.

Justin would've been more happy at a Jeep show.

And I would've been happy to get a guided tour in a golf cart.

Up in Here

8/7

Amanda and Gleidy's birthday dinner.

8/8

Mosaic wall in Pacific Grove. Part creepy and part awesome.

He looks how I felt.

8/8

Saturdays lately.

 Elder Cook came to our Stake Conference and it was pretty special.

He was great. Every single speaker was.

A peaceful moment between all 3:

8/9

8/10

The "First Annual Knoop Troop Talent Show"

My family showed off their talents of telling jokes.

And lip syncing.

8/11 

Going a speedy 1 mile per hour.

8/13

Owen signed up for cross country at school.

I like what middle school is doing to him.

And this girlfriend was very happy to be the Royal Otter for the day at school.

8/19