San Francisco.

I hope you're comfortable, because this is gonna be a long one :)

My family went back to the bay area this weekend to visit my sister who
recently had a baby. While we were there, we visited San Francisco.
Not much has changed since we left, but it was still interesting to see the
extreme difference in culture, the diversity, and its own unique form of "beauty".

...for my hubby!

there were lots of homeless people and many just looking for hand-outs,
this one is my favorite. (its my dad. he was acting like a bum the entire time.
and when i say "bum" i don't mean he was impersonating anyone.
i am referring to his attitude.)

on our way to the Aquarium on Pier 39..


the kids loved this tank full of fish from "Finding Nemo".


my favorite of the day...


my favorite HARMLESS creature of the bunch.. the starfish.


i love the schools of fish. they would zoom by so quickly it was difficult to get a
good picture of them, but i think they look really neat!


super cool jelly fish.

i had a hard time going thru the tunnel, but taking pictures really helped distract me
from my fear of the glass breaking and getting eaten by sharks!

sting rays.. not as scary, but still scary nonetheless!

view of the city from the pier.

my son LOVES jazz music. he does the head-bob as soon as he hears it.
this guy was really good. a one-man-band. pretty cool!



Y-U-M-!-!-! props to Renee for finding this place last time..
the turkey avocado with pesto is delicious!

this was my favorite sea-lion! he was the most territorial of them all.
he had this entire corner to himself while the others were left to pile on top of each other...

this was his "pride stance" after he defeated a sea lion from the never ending battle
of trying to making it up onto the dock...


mi familia..


poor kid was ready to go! smelly sea-lion watching just wasn't his thing.

my boys being silly... he seriously kills me!

It was so cold, this looked like a great way to stay warm :)


Alcatraz.

tourists. so cute. "o.k."


ah yes! the golden gate. i am so sad i didn't get a better shot,
but this was as close as we got to it this time around.

ok... this one just makes me laugh. it was the ONLY one in all the
billions of apartments we saw. EVERYONE had Obama signs, posters, etc.

Needless to say, our jaws dropped when we saw this lone McCain sign.
I wonder how many times this window gets egged?!?!?



long day.


my sister, Rochelle.

and her kids...



Branden was NOT happy about having to wear this pink "Dora the Explorer"
sheet on his head!
Sorry, bud!

another sister of mine.. picking up sand dollars.


there were THOUSANDS of beautiful rocks and sand dollars.
we picked up way too many, but how can you resist a perfect sand dollar?!?


i love the beach!


this huge crab got washed up on shore and the seagulls were going crazy
trying to get it. they were so mad at us for chasing them away from their
potential feast! hope he survived being thrown back out to sea...



throwing him back..

getting picked up...

throwing him back again... poor crab! he was not having a good day...


This was an Ebaneezer Lutheran church (i know i just butchered the spelling there).
Basically, a church for women only. They believe God is a woman, etc.
I would love to attend one of their meetings. Wow!


these were everywhere as well...

especially in Castro City. I didn't get a good picture of it since my dad was speeding
thru faster than ever in his charger to avoid the people. I can sum up this city by
saying the streets were lined with these rainbow flags! I got a kick out of it :)

Good ol' SF!



Its always hard to leave, but in the end...

I'm happy to be home.