Super San Francisco and Sonoma

After a quick turn around back home, J and I headed out to Sacramento/Grass Valley area to visit with B's mom for a few days. J loves the farm and he was super psyched about the newest addition, Beach. Beach is an older horse dying for some company. They are currently looking into that, but until Beach gets a friend, he is going to be content with neighing at the neighbor's horse. Especially between 4 and 5 am. Not my favorite time of day. J even yelled at the horse one morning, shouting, "What's all that noise about horsie?"

L gives J a ride on his tractor

J enjoyed a playdate with a three year old, M. The two of them were so cute together. They spent about 2 hours running all over the place collecting and cracking eggs, feeding chickens, petting the goats, playing with cars and trains, and best of all, blowing bubbles. When they were finally overstimulated, J had a meltdown and M and his dad left. We found out that M wondered why J was crying. When his dad told him it's because he was sad they were leaving, M began to have a meltdown. So cute. They also got together for breakfast later in the week. It's so easy to get along with new people when you're two.

J and M feed the chickens

After a few days on the farm, I headed down to San Francisco for B and M's wedding. I had my first solo driving experience in the city, which I am proud to say I passed with flying colors. I even succeeded in parallel parking on a hill the first time. If you've ever been to SF, you know what I'm talking about when I talk about the hills!

We were very fortunate that B's aunt L offered to let us stay at her house in Mill Valley while she was in NY taking her daughter to college. B flew in later that evening after working. S, one of my nearest and dearest from Colgate, and her husband P also stayed there with us. I had a chance to meet B's cousin W's girlfriend, S, who is a total sweetie and enjoyed the meal I cooked them with the fervor that only a starving college student possesses. We spent the better portion of our first night catching up. I then enjoyed my first night's sleep without neighing.

Friday was an awesome day. We woke up and headed into San Francisco by ferry. It felt so good to be in mid 60-70 degree weather and to be on the water. After a quick walk around fisherman's wharf, we boarded a ferry for a tour of Alcatraz. In all the years we've been to CA, B and I have never done the trip. It was so much fun! I highly recommend doing it because not only is it interesting if you're a crime buff, but also because you get to see what torture these prisoners were faced being so close to civilization but so far away.

Ick. B crouching down in cell block D. Never dare him to do anything.

Their crime? Not sharing enough gin and tonics.

Following our prison tour, we walked around a bit, shared a few drinks, then headed into Chinatown for an early dinner. Since good Chinese food is pretty much non-existent in Texas, I was really jonesing for some good stuff. If you've never had tomato beef chow mein, you are missing out on one of life's greatest meals. Yum.

After that, we walked (about a half hour) down to AT&T Park for the Giants/Padres game. This was a treat from the bride and groom to all of their out of town guests (which was almost everyone). We tried to get a cab, but getting a cab in SF is almost impossible so we ended up walking the whole way. We figured it at least made us out to be rock stars because not only did we do a full day of sightseeing, but we also walked off all of our dinner! The game was fun, but I barely watched any of it. It was such a great setting to see people we hadn't seen in years and to catch up. We finally got kicked out by one of the ushers after the game ended because he wanted to go home. I expect that kind of treatment in NY, but I was surprised by it on the casual coast!

It's been years since the three of us have been together! You'd think I would have worn lipstick.

Saturday was the day of the wedding and it was a glorious day. S and I walked into Mill Valley for coffee and chit chat before we leisurely got ready to drive to Sonoma. The wedding was at Cornerstone Gardens, which is just across the street from Gloria Ferrer, one of our favorite champagne wineries (okay, any champagne place is a fave of mine). Since we had time to kill, we shared some champagne before heading over for the ceremony.

B's wedding was one of the nicest weddings I have ever attended. It seriously could have been detailed in Martha Stewart Weddings. Now I'm not knocking any of the other weddings I've been to, so please don't take offense, but this girl has been to so many weddings, and her fiance was totally an uber-planning groom that they thought of everything. The ceremony was short and sweet and performed by a family friend. The cocktail hour was on the lawn and you were free to roam and enjoy the various gardens. Dinner was under a tent and the food was beautiful California fare paired with local wines from the Sonoma Valley.

B and M

The best part for all of us were the speeches. Both sets of parents toasted the bride and groom and said such kind things, but it was the groom's mom that had every woman in the tent weeping. She said that there was a time when M was taking a picture with B and her and said, "These are my two favorite girls." She said, "M, now it's time for you to put B first and I am happy to take second place." Can you imagine a mother in law saying such a thing about the bride? We were all in awe by what she said and had tears in our eyes. The men were all laughing at us, but anyone who has been married knows what it means to get such a nod from the mother in law. And we all hoped our mother in laws were listening at that moment.

The tent

Happy Guests

There was dancing and a fabulous band in the barn following dinner. There were couches and tons of pillows and great mood lighting, and flip flops so that you didn't ruin your heels dancing on the concrete floor. The champagne flowed all night and we danced until the end. It was such a great party and I'm not doing it justice in this blog.

Old friend SM and his wife B

On Sunday J and B's mom joined us in Mill Valley. We took J to the San Francisco Zoo and met up with B's other aunt S. We got to see the giraffes during feeding time, which I thought was fantastic because they were so close to us. J's response? "What's next? I want to see something else." He was fixated on the penguins. I think it's because they're at about his level and he could have stayed there all afternoon encouraging them to dive into the water. We ended the day with more tomato beef chow mein. We headed back to Texas with full bellies.

W reads to J

The elders are amazed by the giraffes

What a cute face!

Aunt S poses with the boys

The final bonus was J got a shout-out from the pilot on the ride home after he invited himself into the cockpit and got to push some buttons. He thinks it's his right to go in there now that he's traveled so much this month.

Whew! Sorry for the long post, but it was such a good time. I think that does it for the weddings and our travel for a little while. That is, after our little jaunt down to San Antonio this weekend. We're going because we got a great deal on one of those time share offers. We have absolutely no intention of buying a time share, but it gives us a good excuse to check out SA. We haven't been there in the almost three years we've been living here, so it should be a good time.