Traveling: Northern California, Part 2 {San Francisco}

San Francisco is my absolute favorite place to visit.  Aside from heading for some time at the beach this is my favorite!  Jon and I have been sneaking away here since before we were married for some time just to feed our wandering, adventurous souls.  When we were planning our vacation, we knew there were some things we wanted to do with our boys in the city that were things we love, some things we hadn't done before, or some things that only one of us had done.  In the past, we had already done the Academy of Sciences, Exploratorium, Knob Hill, Fisherman's Wharf with the kids and we knew we wanted to tackle this trip differently.  Let me just preface this by saying, all of those are WORTH going to!  You should totally plan a trip to do ALL of those things.  We will eventually do those all again because some of them the kids were much smaller (like Weston probably doesn't remember most of them!).

We left our relaxing hotel in Asilomar, and headed in search of coffee (Starbucks in Morgan Hills did the trick!) and drove up to South San Francisco to our hotel, checked in and summoned our Uber.  (summoned may not be the right word, but it kind of is, right?).  We decided that in order to do as many things as possible, it was cheaper to stay outside the city and take Uber in.  We love the BART, but Uber is definitely cheaper when there are four of you.

We stayed at this Vagabond Hotel, which was nice and clean with an okay breakfast (we still kind of joke about it).   The exterior isn't all that great, but then again, you can't judge a book by its cover. We were really only there to sleep. . . this leg of the trip did not include hotel lounging.  If you've never tried booking hotels in the summer in SF, then note: it's really, really expensive.  This hotel backs up to the Bay and  it's gorgeous!  Completely worth NOT being in the center of a big city!

Enough about our hotel.  We took an Uber into San Francisco to the Embarcadero area since we were going to the afternoon Giants game.  AT&T park (although it may have changed names recently. . . i don't know) is probably one of the most beautiful stadiums I've ever been to.  Even if you aren't a baseball fan, I highly recommend a game because the view is like no other and the food is really good (read garlic fries!).   They also have these slides that kids can go through and Weston managed to do it before the closed it after the game. 

After the game, we decided to wander up the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building (Embarcadero and Market) and then up Market to the Union Square Area for some shopping (the kids were anxious to find the Lego Store, of course!).  Walking the city is my favorite.  It makes my heart so excited just writing this post! 

The Ferry Building is one of my favorite go-to spots.  Inside there are some super cool shops and eateries, which was great, because we love food and in order to keep our kids walking the way we do, you must feed them as often as possible.  I'm pretty sure we are raising our boys to be foodies!  And honestly, this is the spot to find all sorts of local, delicious food!  Plus the back side looks out onto the Bay.  We grabbed a snack of ice cream (Jon and Ethan) and macarons (Weston and I) and headed out to the back to enjoy the shade of the building the cool breeze of the ocean in front of us.

Once we were rejuvenated, we headed towards Union Square for some shopping and eventually a late dinner.  Across the street from the Ferry Building are these cool fountain/art structures with paths that go through the water falls.  It's safe to say that we spent some time playing here before starting our walk.

As we walked through the Financial District, we found the coolest coffee shop, called Cafe X.  You walk in, order a coffee on an ipad and then watch a robot make it.  The best part was we were able to get it with Oatly oatmilk and to date, it might be the best latte I've ever had.  Also, probably the cheapeset!  (This one cost less than $4. . . and we had it with Oatly!).  It's been 9 months and the kids still talk about the robot that made our coffee.  Also, it was 5:00 and we had done a lot, so coffee was perfect!

We also made sure we stopped by historical landmarks.  This one (I think) is where everyone met after the earthquake and fire in 1906.  We had gotten a What Was Book about the Earthquake and fire for Ethan to read on this trip, and for him he got to see History kind of come alive.  It's one thing to read about things, but to see them first hand. . . is so worth traveling.

We hit our favorite shops for a little bit of shopping and of course, found the Lego Store.  And finally some dinner at the Food Court at the Westfield Plaza. . . and they had Pressed, which was a great way for us to end the night before once again summoning an Uber driver and heading back to our hotel.

The next morning, we woke up and ate breakfast, and then found another Uber driver and headed back into the city.  This time, we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge.  Jon and I had never done this together and Jon had never walked across the bridge.  I walked across it in the pouring rain back in high school, so it was nice to do this as a family.  We only made it half way (it's a long walk) and Weston was really uncomfortable being so high above the water.  One minute he was fascinated and the next minute he was scared and holding our hands for dear life.  We walked about half way and then headed back to explore the area. 

The Golden Gate Park area has docents walking around showing the history and telling how often it's painted and with the exact color or paint they use.  Plus, they have these models of the bridge that show how it is built and how it moves with the earth, like during an earthquake.  Weston, was very fascinated by this!

Then, we headed down the pathway to the Fort area.  There's some beach, a little aquarium, and a some really old fort buildings.  We explored for a bit and then once again summoned an Uber to get to the Mission District for two very important things.  Food, coffee, and the San Francisco Mission. 

Our first stop was the famous bakery, Tartine.  I am just drooling thinking about all those beautiful laminated dough treats we devoured for lunch (it's vacation. . . all food rules get thrown out the window!).  These were definitely things you dream of!

We found a delicious coffee place nearby called Stanza Coffee and our latte was delish!  Not as good as our robot coffee, but definitely worth the visit.  Plus, the iced coffees were served in mason jars!  So cute!

Then we headed to check out the Mission.  This was the third mission of our trip and this one was kind of pricey, so we skipped checking out the inside and just marked it off as we've been there. It's super cute and fun to see how each is so different and how they have been restored.  But, they all have the signature 3 bells. . . which is probably one of my favorite things to look at!

This marked the end of our time in the Mission District.  We pretty much came for food and the mission.  We decided to head to Fisherman's Wharf for some fresh crab and some wandering, so we summoned yet, another Uber to take us to the other side of town. 

 Crab at Fisherman's Wharf is my favorite.  There is NOTHING better than fresh crab from the waters you are right next too!  Also, its sort of a mecca for street entertainers and this one was fun!  He used Ethan and well to throw bowling pins and it was incredibly entertaining.  

Then Jon got a fabulous idea to take a boat ride by a random docked boat.  I mean, it wasn't that random, but it was cheaper and when these boats aren't being used for fishing, they like to offer inexpensive cruises.  So we jumped on one and bundled up for our super spontaneous adventure that was so cool!  The boat took us out and around the Golden Gate Bridge and told us all sorts of random factoids about Alcatraz, the houses on the Bay, and even the bridge. . . and even threw in some crazy puns.

By the time we got back from our boat ride, we were all starving because our delicious bread, coffee, granola bars, apple sauces pouches were wearing off and we needed some dinner.  We headed to Pier 39 and tried out Wipeout Bar and Grill.  The food and service were great!  We wandered around, looked at Alcatraz through those quarter machine things and looked for sea lions (they love to hang out between Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.

We were starting to get tired, but headed up to Ghiradelli Square for some chocolatey treats.  The past few times we had gone, they had been remodeling it and it was nice to see it done with some new life.  We even ran into people we knew from home.  While Jon and Ethan headed to the cafe for an ice cream Sunday, Weston and I had fun exploring the shops. My favorite shop is called Lola and they have the cutest gifts and really fun things!  It's been there for years, leasing different areas of the square.  The night we were there, there were activities all around for kids to do and live music.  We could have stayed for hours (and we were super tempted by the new mini golf place located on the street level of the square).  We summoned our Uber and headed back to the hotel.

Here's are the quick links to our hotels, restaurants and other important info you might be interested in:

 HOTEL:
 Vagabond Inn Executive Suites

FOOD:
Wipeout Bar and Grill
 Tartine
Stanza Coffee
Cafe X
Humphry Slocombe

Other:
Bay Cruises


You can catch the first leg of our trip here. 

Cheerful Quilt

I have a problem with starting projects and never finishing them.  This quilt is just that.  I bought the fabric for this quilt when Ethan was 4.  (He's now 10).  It was this cute charm pack by Moda with elephants and alligators, crossword puzzles, and handwriting pages with bright, vibrant colors.  One charm pack was not going to be enough for the quilt I had in mind, so I grabbed some fabric from my stash and added more rectangles. 

For several years, stacks of rectangles sat in a bag just waiting to be finished and every now and then I would sew a row or two.  Yet, it just kept sitting there.  All that time, Ethan was slowly growing out of the fabric we had chosen for his quilt.  Mom Fail.  Oops! 

Then, Weston's teacher had a baby and I was going to make a quilt for her and I remembered this fabric just sitting around.  Ethan was completely okay with it because he really didn't want a baby quilt.  So, I got to work and finished the top before Christmas and in between working on Weston's birthday party finished it up!

 I love the bright colors with sandwiched between white stripes and then the bold black and white border.  I machine quilted both sides of each seam, which is so easy!  Straight lines are my jam!  I went with an easy binding, using the backing to bind the quilt.  You can find a tutorial here. 

This ended up really easy quilt to make and probably would have gone really fast if I hadn't been so distracted with other projects and family fun!  Ha ha!  

What's for dinner {February 2019}

I am sitting here finally getting to my coffee, which is much needed after a crazy day and daylight savings.  I am going to look on the bright side and enjoy the lighter evenings and savor these last few cooler days.   It's the beginning of the week and I besides being tired (I'm just assuming we are all in the same boat), we still have to feed our families.  They need food. Always.  And with that, let's talk talk meal inspiration.  This is one of those posts where I fill you in on some yummy recipes we discovered during the previous month.  In order to make to this post, they have to be recipes that I would want to make again and think that you should too.

So, let's talk food.  And drool.  And maybe do some menu planning while we are at it. 

 Sheet Pan Fajitas were just the easiest things ever!  Not to mention, I really REALLY love sheet pan meals!  This one made enough for two meals so another win and a night off from cooking for me!  It also didn't take a ton of time to prep and everything cooked at the same time and everyone could eat what they want.  Seriously, this was a definite win!  Another perk of sheet pan dinners. . . minimal dishes: cutting board, knife, and sheet pan.  Seriously, easiest thing ever! Also, because it's technically a whole 30 recipe (we added tortillas), the ingredients are super clean. . . no yucky stuff here!  After this sheet pan dinner, I may never make fajitas

You can find this recipe here.

Pineapple Teriyaki Meatball Skewers
Let's be honest.  Not all recipes come from a perfectly curated Pinterest board or a fancy recipe book.  And not everything can be made from scratch all the time.  Like you, we are busy.  There are practices and climbing classes and doctors appointments, and tons of other things that keep you busy (It's why we drink coffee at 3:00!).  Sometimes, you just need to keep some go-to products in your freezer that you can just grab on nights like these.  Costco is my favorite place to grab random quick dinner starters, like the Aidells Teriyaki Pineapple Meatballs.  On the back of the package is a picture of pretty kabobs.  I remembered the pineapple. . . not the peppers.  They were still good.  I made a random pinterest teriyaki recipe (that I forgot to save. . . oops) and served them over rice.  Ethan even begged to eat them in his lunch the next day. 

Note: WESTON couldn't eat this because even thought we use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, the meatballs have soy sauce in them.  He did eat the rice with some sauce on top and some chicken nuggets and was a happy camper.  If you have kids with food allergies, sometimes chicken nuggets are a thing. 

The official recipe for these is here.

Marinades are my favorite for making dinner super tasty, especially when we are at the point of cleaning out the fridge.  This particular dinner was the last 3 sweet potatoes that baked, the last of the romaine and some kale from the garden, croutons I made with the last few pieces of sourdough bread and some New Primal Ceasar Dressing.  The chicken, I grilled after it sat in marinade for a few hours.  This dinner ended up being fabulous, not a ton of work, and I didn't have to go to the store to get anything.  My favorite Marinades are these two:

Basalmic & Honey

Best Ever Chicken Marinade

Panini nights have been reappearing more and more lately. Probably because they are so easy and everyone is happy with their dinner.  NO ONE COMPLAINS about anything!  Not to mention, we've discovered some really neat new dairy free cheeses that MELT and Taste good! QWNo joke.  The non dairy industry is getting really good at making delicious options.  But that's another story, for another day (soon, I promise!).  There are tons of recipes on Pinterest, but the reality is. . . some good lunch meat (we love the Plainville Farms Roasted Turkey), some Pesto, and your favorite cheese.  Then, you can add whatever your heart desires: bacon, roasted red peppers, tapenade, grilled onions. . . the list could keep going! 

And to make it even easier, we keep a bag of frozen tater tots or sweet potato fries.  Definitlely one of the easiest meals. 

It's lemon season and one of our favorite things to do is make lemonade.  I'm pretty sure my kids could live off the stuff.  This year, I found this recipe and I think I'm going to make it again tomorrow.  It's delicious and super refreshing!  Plus, so easy.  There's no simple syrup making or anything. 

You can find it here.

I finally got around to making No Crumbs Left's famous marinated onions.  Seriously, the best things ever.  I put them on everything. . . salads and sandwiches instantly become so much better (even if they were good before!).  Plus, they just sit on your counter and marinate.  Then, after you are all done with the onions, you just use the marinade for your chicken breasts or a salad dressing.  Nothing goes to waste.  THESE NEED to be in your menu plan this week. 

You can find the recipe and a video here.


And that's February's wrap up.  You can see what i'm cooking up each week on my instagram feed and in my instagram highlights under "what's cooking."

Have you discovered a recipe that you think NEEDS to be on my table?  Leave a comment with a link and maybe it will be on my menu plan. 

Weston is 8: A Star Wars Party

 Well, our baby up and did it.  He grew and got older and now he's 8 and looking less like a little kid every day.  This year to celebrate, he chose Star Wars, which was super fitting because he just loves just about anything Star Wars related.  So once again I sat down and started searching Pinterest for inspiration and then figured out how I could take my own spin on things.  This year, we did a family party and let him invite a few friends.  It was the perfect amount and he chose friends from different areas of his life and it was fun watching everyone connect. 

I had a hard time picking out a specific color scheme because there are just so many ways to go with this.  Weston loves BB8, which was a perfect focus for an eighth birthday.  But, I found some inspiration from a pinterest pin and just went with it.  The table cloth was from Target's party section, same with the napkins and wrapping paper table runner.  I used plain white cardstock and printed out simple letters to do the words and glued them on black butcher paper that I got at a local school supply store.  And then, since we have tons of Lego Brickheadz laying around, we grabbed the Star Wars ones and placed them around the house.

Food was super fun because there were just so MANY ideas.  Jon actually thought I was planning way too much food, but I couldn't help it.  So many ideas. 

I made these cupcakes using this recipe that is just amazing! And then, to make them completely Weston friendly (food allergies), I frosted half of them with the Simple Mills Chocolate frosting (which is amazing!!).  Last month, when my parents had to get their car worked on really quick, she found a cute little cake decorating store and picked out all sorts of sprinkles that worked amazing for these cupcakes!  Sprinkles really do make things happier. . . I'm pretty sure that's a fact! 

 The food was so easy!  Not all of it was Weston friendly (the Ewok/teddy grahams have soy, as do some of the other food options), but there was enough that he didn't feel like he was missing out on his birthday fun.  Jon mentioned a few times that I was probably over doing it on food, but I am not joking when I say that most of this was eaten by the end of the party. 

I always love having things to do for kids during parties.  This year, I planned a few activities and then some outdoor games.  We didn't get to do the outdoor games because it was a lovely, rainy day.  So, I scattered activities around to give the kids, who were probably going a tad stir crazy (it's been raining a lot and we aren't used to it!) to do.  

:: I dug out some of our Star Wars Puzzles.

:: I printed some coloring and activity pages that I found on Pinterest. 

:: We had a nerf gun activity with toilet paper rolls with Storm Troopers on them and you had to knock them over.  I forgot to take a picture. . . oops.  But it was a big hit!

:: Build a Droid that I found here.  

:: How to draw Yoda

:: Jedi Training (It was raining, so when we had a break, Jon took them all outside and let them play with the pool noodle light sabors and play basketball).  

:: Photo Booth. . . because it was fun! 

 For favors, the kids got to take home a light sabor and one of these coloring packs I found on Amazon.  They come with a sticker, coloring book, and a couple of crayons. It was perfect

 to thank everyone for coming!

 

And that's his birthday!  I still can't believe he's 8 and not my little baby.  But, just like the book, "my baby he'll be."