Girls Day Out

We all drove to San Francisco after lunch yesterday.  The guys (plus Aviah) dropped Shannon, Maleia and me off at the War Memorial Opera House so we could see the San Francisco ballet company's performance of the Nutcracker!  It was an amazing performance with unbelievable special effects and beautiful ballerinas.

While the girls were having fun at the ballet, the rest of the family went to the California Academy of Sciences and checked out the penguins, caribu, albino alligator, the sting rays, the park and more.  Obviously, it was easier to take pictures at the museum than at the theater!

Fun in San Francisco

Our anniversary dinner at Morton's was awesome.  Nothing like personalized menus and happy anniversary confetti on your table to make things feel special.  They also took our picture, printed it and brought it to us in an anniversary card.  Unbelievably, our waiter was from El Salvador; he has been her for 13 years, but his parents still live there.  

Today we road the street car down to Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf.  We had a quick lunch at Bubba Gump's, saw the sea lions and walked all the way to Ghirardelli Square before catching a ride back downtown on the vintage cable cars.

40 Years Together

5/25/74--young and in love

5/25/14--not so young, but still in love

Anniversary Trip in the Works

Our 40th anniversary is coming up at the end of May.  We have been talking for the last year about what to do to celebrate. 

I started suggesting a cruise before we celebrated 30 years, 35 years and again this year. Unfortunately, while a cruise is on my bucket list, it's definitely not on Stephen's list.

We've spent the last several months looking at options--all over the world.  What about going to Europe?  What about staying in Central America?  What about Colorado?  What about Hawaii?  What about _____________?  

We made so many trial itineraries with flight info, hotels and cost estimates; however, none of them felt quite right to us.  About three weeks ago, we finally made up our mind.  

Drum roll--we're going to the San Francisco area.  Our decision was based on the fact that we don't get to see our children/grandchildren enough, so if we're going to fly somewhere, we want to be close enough to see and spend time with them.  Stephen and I will spend the first three days downtown San Francisco

 after which our kids/grandkids will join us at a vacation home on Stinson Beach. 

We'll end our trip with a few days at Daniel/Shannon's home in Sunnyvale.  Sounds perfect to us!