SF Food Tour

spent 10 days in the bay...arrived the first Friday at 7:30am, had a half hour to get ready for the first part of the trip...our annual SF girls food tour!

first stop was Brenda's French Soul Food for cheesy shrimp & grits, beignets, and gumbo...my favorite, eating the beignets with the cheesiness
2nd stop was a to go order for Kim Chi Burritos...I thought okay, a little spicy, I'm sure better right away...I didn't eat it til the next morning
3rd, the old Paulette's, now Chantal Guillon for yummy macarons, my new obsession :)
4th home-made ice cream at Smitten...cool to see, got coconut of course but liked the salted caramel better...I feel like salted caramel is a new trend :)
5th, Anthony's cookies...like their unique cookies & cream cookie
I couldn't have been in the city on a better day...weather was beautiful...so nice to sit outside at our 6th stop Zazie's for mimosas
did a pankcake flight which was good, but my favorite was the dungeness crab eggs benedict

took a break and played dress-up at Christina's...litterally played dress up in her amazing closet...we even left with a few things :)
couldn't play too long, we had to get back out into the city!
first happy hour at Amelie for some wine flights
then met up with more of the gang for dinner at House of Prime Rib
Michelle taught us that steak, yorkshire pudding, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and some horse radish all in one bite IS the perfect bite
8 stops total, couldn't do it without SF native driver, Christina who always gets good parking wherever we go...thanks for planning and driving!cheers to good times, food and friends!

family time

our time off was scheduled around my grandma's 90th birthday! they put together a really nice party at the Hilton Hotel in Newark

only great-grandparent the kids got to know

grandma and her 3 kids, dad being the oldest...was so sweet, they all gave a speech about how wonderful grandma was, is to them
diva grandma had a wardrobe change into a 2nd dress...heard there was a 3rd but she didn't end up changing again

cake time

getting down on the dance floor
was nice to hang out with dad, couldn't believe our mom wasn't there...she was off galavanting in the Philippines :) after the party we stayed up late hearing stories from dad about his childhood, how he met my mom, was so fun and funny!

dad left for home the next day but before that we went to Boiling Crab...one of my favorite places on earth :)

I was serious when I posted my trip was complete...hee! must do's were, food tour with friends, grandma's party, crown & crumpet, spend time with family & friends and Boiling Crab :)

poor little guy!

4th of July started out rough since I sprained my ankle in the morning when Jay and I were trying to be good and went for a run...but the rest of the day was nice and laid back...hung out with the family at Melissa's for BBQ
and Boiling Crab part 2

Alex brought something else I have been wanting to try...Sprinkles cupcakes...jumped at the chocolate marshmallow but wasn't a fan, the banana and vanilla were my fav

the rest of the week was nice to just hang out and not have to rush back home...spent time between cousin Tyler's house and cousin Marc, Michael and Maddie's house (my sis and Jay's sis)

got introduced into this crazy rolling ball

Uncle Neil took the kids to chuck e cheese for some hair extensions :)

watched cars 2 and played with sprinklers
kids had so much fun with their cousins

Auntie Melissa introduced us to shaved ice which I had been wondering about since I had been seeing people post about it on fb and was like how good could shaved ice be? now I see, it's turned almost into a froyo craze with all the toppings :) was good, felt like powdery snow
strawberry for me, coffee for Jay, both good...this was at a Korean shopping center on El Camino

another day in SF

went back to the city with Jay and the kids this time...first we went to check out the zappos office, nice location on 2nd and mission

small office, but still had some culture over there

then found a cute little spot closeby just in time for HH, Umbria...caught another really nice day in the city!

then headed up to Ghiradelli Square, I was on a mission to check out another facebook recommendation...Crown and Crumpet

It's only the cutest little tea place...girls had berry tea

with heart shaped sugars :)
and a marvelous little spread of treats...the girls actually don't care for tea, but I made them drink it, told them that they will like it and when we get home we will go to the library so they can read and learn all about it :) it's too cute not to like it!
even daddy had his pinkies up for tea!

Uncle Dave was so nice to meet us and drive us around the rest of the day...he took me and the girls to see Monte Carlo while Jay and Jayson went to the baseball game with Uncle Will and family

oh my 2nd mission was to taste Kara's cupcakes...Jay got smores, I got salted caramel, not a huge fan of the salted caramel, liked the smores though

Friend Time

if we weren't with the fam we were running around town with friends

met Auntie Aubrey for dessert at Santana Row
Auntie Rosalyn for froyo, a playdate and dinner
Auntie Kim for breakfast
Auntie Gail for a GNO, dinner & a movie...Bridesmaids

had lunch and a tour of google with Mark...love their fun bikes
google is like a college campus...Mark told us to save room because he was taking us to 3 of the 18 restaurants they have there
1st lunch which was mix of all kinds of food...tuna roll, taco, indian...all delish
2nd was pizza, pasta and ceviche!
3rd was the pho and sushi place which was also very very delish...Thanks Mark, google is the next best thing after Zappos :)
Auntie Loan invited the girls for a tea date at Santana Row, Lisa's Tea Treasures
super cute inside, a little more traditional...was perfect, we got the fun, more girly tea party at Crown & Crumpet and the older, fancier more traditional version at Lisa's Tea Treasures
kids spread
adult spread

and as if that wasn't enough treats, Kara's cupcakes to take home...Thanks Auntie Loan!

Our last day before heading home we went to Christian and Uncle Will's birthday party...we were trying to stall going home as long as possible, planned on heading out at 2pm, we pushed it to 4:30pm...was nice to see more aunties, uncles and friends!