Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

Can't say it enough. I love this city. It enchants me. I'm sorry to be so cliche, but Tony Bennett said it true...regardless of where I am on this globe, my heart is in San Francisco.

Look at my goofball husband. My bridge is out there on the horizon. Yes, it's mine. I claimed it and I own it.

Ana had the camera much of the day. For some reason she had put herself on kissing patrol and would get faux-cranky when Tod & I would smooch. Of course we had to egg her on...

They say the sign of a great city is that it offers many free activities. SF's got free covered. In the morning we walked over to the wharf from our hotel. We expected to get to Pier 39 within 30 minutes. Ended up taking us 'til late afternoon to get there because there was so much to do along the way.

We stopped at this ship yard. Tod was like a hog in fresh poop. He's gaga for anything that involves the ocean, whether above or below.

We had lunch at Ghirardelli Square. Yes, that means we had banana splits and brownie sundaes for lunch. I don't know if this makes me the best or worst mom in the world.

We stopped in at Musee Mechanique for a while. They house hundreds of antique arcade games that have been collected throughout the city over the past century or so. We got a kick out of the old games. Check these out. And they were especially fascinating in light of the fact that they paved the way for our current video games, which, of course, we were intrigued by since Tod's employed in the video game industry.

Race car game - had to crank the wheel to move your car. Note the next sign over..."See what the belly dancer does on her day off." I saw. It was not nearly as scandalous as it sounds.

For a quarter (probably a penny in it's day) you could buy Dan a drink. Okay....

Mario Kart has nothing on Road Racer.

 Finally, the Pier we were searching for. These sea lions are mesmerizing. I could have watched them for hours.

The cable cars were one of the girls favorite activities. So fun to ride up the insanely steep hills. Ana & Lily were excited that they got to stand up at the edge and hold on to the rails. We caught the line at Powell Street and got off at.... 

Chinatown!!

I loved Chinatown as a kid. I loved to look through the shops for the perfect Chinese fan and at all those creepy porcelain masks. My kids are equally enthused by cheesy Chinese loot. They would be happy browsing through the shops for days at a time.

Cutest Fu Man Chu EVER