Enjoying the 4th of July

Sunday shaped up to be a beautiful day here in San Francisco. Lucky for us, all the action was at our door step so we packed up the camera and headed out the door. The first stop was a quick walk to Anna's new school. It's right on Telegraph hill and it resides on a ridiculously steep incline. With views of Coit Tower right above, and North Beach and downtown below - it's quite the place to go to elementary school : )

We then headed up to Coit Tower and then enjoyed a beautiful walk down the steps towards the Embarcadero. There are various 'street steps' here in SF and it was a great walk. Flowers are blooming everywhere and we loved seeing all the hidden homes and garden oasis in the city.

While we meant to meander the city, we were generally headed towards Pier 39.

Fourth of July Waterfront Celebration

Sunday, July 4, 2010

3:00 PM to 9:30 PM

PIER 39 celebrates Independence Day with a star-spangled day line-up of entertainment for the whole family. Beginning at 3 pm, enjoy free live band performances in the PIER 39 Entrance Plaza. From 3 – 5 pm, listen to the soft rock explosion of Mustache Harbor. Then get ready to rock out to your favorite 80's hits with Tainted Love from 6 – 9:30 pm. Be sure to check out our street performers on the Crystal Geyser ALPINE SPRING WATER Stage throughout the day. After the concert at approximately 9:30 pm, look up to the sky over the Bay for The City of San Francisco's annual fireworks display. PIER 39's Fourth of July activities are proudly sponsored by Coca-Cola, Crystal Geyser ALPINE SPRING WATER, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, the San Francisco Examiner, Taiwan Tourism, Telemundo 48 and Verizon.

After saying hello to the sea lions, we headed back towards North Beach. Z & I enjoyed a few gin and tonics before dinner and eventually, we watched the fireworks -- with the best views -- on the roof of our apartment building. We could see 2 fireworks shows : )

See below for the picture highlights:

The steep hill up to Anna's school...

We made it! What beautiful flowers : )

View looking down on North Beach and Russian & Nob Hill.

Up a few more steps to Coit Tower.

Looking out onto the North Bay from Coit Tower. Anna points at the flag - it is after all, the 4th of the July : )

More flowers along our hike.

Our stairway path from Coit down towards the Embarcadero.

Near the bottom of the steps. The east bay sits in the background.

With the masses down near Pier 39. We were one with the tourists...lol

Marin Headlands Hike

Yesterday, we enjoyed a day trip to the Marin Headlands. We had a bit of a rocky start getting out the door because Anna was hoping to stay in the neighborhood and kick the soccer ball around in Washington Square.

On the face of it, the request was completely logical but I pulled rank and made an executive decision to cross the bridge and head to Marin. Most of the time, it's tough for me to switch gears from work to weekend and I've found that a coastal trail or day trip usually does the trick. I also knew she would enjoy the fact that my planned hike included  a visit to the Marine Mammal Center.

Ironically, when we visited the center, I couldn't help but notice the advanced water filtration system they had in place in the patient pens (the center in essence rehabilitates sick marine mammals like sea lions along the California coast). They were also powered by solar panels. Anna learned about how animals are being impacted by various pollutants in the water and are stranding themselves at rates that I'm curious to learn more about. One elephant sea lion was recovering from a shark bite that was very infected when he was found after stranding himself!

Anyway, it's on my plate to speak to someone from the center to write a public piece about their work and how it relates to the water issues that I typically write about...

Below are the picture highlights. Today, we plan on enjoying the local 4th of July festivities - will keep you all posted on that soon.

Excited to visit the patients!

View from the MMC looking out onto Rodeo Beach.

The patient pens. Most of them were sleeping in under the sun. Notice the solar panels and the filtration systems in the background. All the water on premises is recycled!

Anna leads the way on the coastal trail.

Beautiful wildflowers along the hike.

Headed to Rodeo Beach on our loop.

Catching up

I am dreadfully behind on keeping you all up to date! It feels like ages ago that I was in London.  Since, we've enjoyed weekends up camping in Mendocino, Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe. Ninong Ekow and my Dad came for visits in May and now here we are in July...WHAT?!

The good news is that with the exception of Ninong Ekow's visit and Dexter's quickie visit during the North Beach festival, we caught a snapshot of our weekend fun - see below for the hightlights.

This deep into the summer, I've found myself coming up for air from work. The World Cup has been a great distraction for me and Zane and I are getting excited about playing some rec soccer this fall. Meanwhile, I seriously have to get my a** back into shape. It's starting to get ridiculous.

Yay for the long weekend - time to get in some play time!

Memorial weekend camping - Sasa enjoyed some lake swims : )

Papa and Tito Mel show us how to properly car camp. Nice cot, eh?

Anna enjoys our new REI tent.

The following weekend, Tito Mel & Tita Lilay are kind enough to host us for a visit to Reno, NV. Here Anna is the lucky 'winner' of TWO stuffed animals at Circus Circus. Thanks, Dad!

Anna and her dear 'Tita' Lilay (but it's LOLO Mel :) )

We also hung at Lake Tahoe!

Z & Anna snuggle over a cup of coffee.

Tito Mel and Zane in a shot that gets me excited for winter at Lake Tahoe!

Emerald Bay. Beautiful!

North Beach Festival. Party in our back yard ; ) We missed a shot when Dex came down!

The following weekend, we enjoyed a hike along the Coastal Trail near Baker Beach. It was fantastic. And I'm looking disgustingly out of shape and WHITE in this picture. I'm not used to be on the other side of the lens!

My beautiful girl.

...my boys.

We did an out and back trail -- Baker Beach was midway and we stopped for a quick game of frisbee. Anna is an expert frisbee player. Seriously - the kid can throw a frisbee. AND play soccer. Need to get some pictures of her playing soccer at Washington Square. What can I say, the kid has skillz!

Last weekend we enjoyed a LOVELY trek along Lands End trails. Our first time! I'm definitely headed back for some runs : )