Marcus had been assigned a project there and the company paid for the whole thing.
We got a rental car, a two bedroom apartment, (with garage parking, a pool, two different courtyards with trees and lawn) in the upper Fillmore and food money. The very best part is that there was maid service once a week. The company forked over a pretty penny for this place...$4000 a month! And this was 12 years ago. I would have stayed forever had they not court ordered me out.
But alas the project was completed and we moved back home to Auburn, to our little $700 a month apartment without maid service. And I cried every night.
That stint in SF has forever endeared the City by the Bay to us. We love it. I would live there right now if someone else were footing the bill for a place with maid service, and there wasn't that court order.
Both my children want to live there and have careers, find partners and then move back home to Auburn to raise their families on my dad's property, which he has so generously been preparing for them to inherit.
Okay...that is just Sophia's plan. she also wants to have a garden wedding in the currently under construction organic garden, plus she has all the names of her children picked out. Evidently her future husband has no say in the matter.
Kai said that he would rather live like George Clooney in the movie Up in the Air. Single, traveling to different cities and countries all time, no commitments, nothing keeping him in one spot, San Francisco serving as home base. I could see it.
Anyway...long story short...my family loves SF.
We got to visit our beloved city this summer with Marcus' brother Peter, his wife Sarah and Lucky Little Lily, our niece.
Marcus, Peter and my kids wanted to go to a SF Giants game because they are all gaga for baseball.
Sarah and I wanted something less boring...I mean kid friendly and less expensive. (Marcus bought the kids lunch...three hot dogs, two fries and two drinks...$50. For that price there better be a foot massage included and some cuddling afterwards!)
So we went to the beach, Stow Lake, and then Chinatown.
As you might have foreseen, there was an issue about who gets to take the camera to which side of the city.
Clearly it should have been me, since I am the one who take pictures and shares them with people. But in some sick asymmetrical twist of fate, Marcus won out and took the camera to the game with him.
He took about a billion of the most boring baseball pictures ever bestowed upon man kind. I know he is gaga for baseball, but really?
But then he took these ones too. I am considering forgiving him for taking the camera and taking all those boring pictures...I'll let you know what I decide.
It was Kai's birthday shortly before we went to CA, and that's all he wanted for his birthday, was to go to a Giants game. Oh...and a new Giants hat. He got both. And because uncles are awesome, Kai got a Giant's jersey for his birthday too. Thanks Tio Pedro! Kai was in Giant's heaven! See...look how excited he looks?!
They were so glad the sun finally came out. They had dressed improperly...just as I had warned! See...I am always right.
After the game, Sarah and I were still in Chinatown grubbing yummy chinese food and buying cheep things, so they had to wait for us to come pick them up. They took the time to walk a little. And Marcus got all creative with the camera that I should have had in Chinatown.
The kids were so excited by this sign that it was one of the first things they told me about. It says...FAMILY KIDNAPPED BY NINJAS NEED MONEY FOR KARATE LESSONS. Kids are so easily amused.
The Giant's have a rivalry with the LA Dodgers. It just wouldn't be a game without the sidewalk non-official Giant's BEAT LA vendors.
"I hate all these people."
Marcus switched over to black and white...he often does that. We have issues about it.
Wind in her hair, outrageously expensive fries in her teeth...what more could a girl want?
Tio Pedro. He is really a secret agent for the Union Pacific Railroad...that's why we can't show you his eyes...they would give him away for sure.
Marcus took this last one as we were on our way out of town...people honking at us and giving us dirty looks. Then we sat in traffic for an hour and a half just to reach the bridge so we could go home.
I love the City!
Oh I wish I had been more on the ball (not the baseball mind you) and could have walked the streets with you ladies....hopefully soon we can make that happen!
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