Hee Hoo Haw Hee Hoo Haw Hu Hu Ho Ho Hee Hee Haw Haw Hee Hu Haw!
Guess the person who wrote this fortune never vacationed with the Country Doctor and his four sons!
But oh how I wish it were true.
Oh! Oh Please!
We traipsed all over the entire city, starting at Telegraph Hill.
Breakfasting at North Beach.
Yes, my kids had coke for breakfast.
Yes, that’s right Coke!
And I had a huge bowl of coffee.
Yes, that’s right a bowl of coffee.
A bowl.
I feel so… so… spongy now.
Bananas in Chinatown.
Ferry Building – I bet no one has ever taken this angle before!
Cable car ride. I really really want to call the cable cars – trolley cars, because my idea of a cable car is one of those things in the mountains that takes you up to the top. But in San Francisco – everything is a little different.
They put coffee in BOWLS for crying out loud!
Dim Sum in Chinatown.
This is the scene of my relaxing fortune.
This is also where our children started dripping with emotion and consternation and fits of frothy fervor and where they started asking when we were going to a water park or an amusement park or a beach. And we told them that beaches in San Francisco were cold and terrible and they said IMPOSSIBLE TAKE US TO A BEACH NOW!!!
So we decided that the only thing to do was to let them find out how miserable beaches in San Francisco were for themselves.
Here are my miserable children.
Miserable and cold and wretched.
Miserable, cold, wretched, and shivering…
I think they have learned a lesson!
While my kids played in the freezing surf for TWO hours…
I laid on the sand and relaxed.
That is I tried to relax… whenever I wasn’t guarding my kids from the aggressively friendly nudist that wanted to tell us all about the rip tides.
Other than that, it was very relaxing…
They sure do look like they learned their lesson ;)
yesss i agree they have learned there lesson….such a hard lesson to learn too!!! :0)
Now those would have been some intresting pictures. (the nudist telling about the rip tide)
Yeah your kids looked so cold. Shame on you for forcing the beach on them. HA HA
I must say coffee in bowls is something I had never heard of…although the idea does appeal to me, “Yes, I’ll have a Venti Mocha Latte in a bowl, please?” Maybe an I.V. would work better for me. It looks like ya’ll are having a great time though. Enjoy your time away!
I’ve never seen more miserable looking kids. tsk
Coke at breakfast while on vacation is kind of a rule of mine…ok not really but i’ve been known to have dessert first at dinner so it’s kind of the same thing!
Your vacation just keeps getting better…
my boys have also had coke for breakfast….
nudist beaches in SF…omg
too funny
I am originally from Northern California – transplanted into Nebraska- we are taking our brood next month. First trip to the ocean so I am sure we will be doing much the same as you – hopefully with no nudists!
ok – this is the funniest blog i’ve ever read (ok – it’s right up there with PW but you’re right behind). hope you are having a blast. i’m in maine surviving the summer at our lake house with 4 1/2 yr old twins while hubby has the life of riley in NYC (our yr round house) and coming up here on weekends. he’s seeing billy joel in concert, eating fancy dinners, playing golf and doing whatever he darn well pleases. i’m here picking up dog poo and making sure the kids down drown in the lake. but i wouldn’t change places for one bit. ok – maybe for a long weekend but that’s it!! stacy
What I wouldn’t give for a bowl of coffee right now….
And a beach!!!! Even if it is freezing!
Yes, I want pictures of the friendly nudist!
M.R.
I loved the pictures. Looks as if you guys are having a blast. Have fun and keep sharing. Love it. Margie
What a fun post! I hope those kids learnt their lesson. They sure look miserable, uh?
I’m so glad to know that is coffee in the bowls and not soup. The thought of soup for breakfast made me a bit ill. The thought of pop for breakfast makes me a bit queasy, but soup is just too much.
Aggressively friendly nudist?!?
Tough kids… when we took our son to the beach near SF, it was March and he wore fleece. There was no swimming. Glad everyone’s enjoying their vacation! And San Francisco it probably a safe spot if you’re trying to avoid civil war monuments…
Kids are nuts. Mine started swimming in April this year and I told them it would be too cold. They were in for a few minutes and I asked, “Is it cold?” They sadi, NNNNo mmmom. Itttt’s pppperfect!” Their blue lips and shivering made me think otherwise.
I love your blog and the doings of you and all your men folk… I so sympathize with you and so understand how awful you must have felt watching your kids suffer so acutely!!! Actually there are few things better than watching our kids consumed with joy… keep up with your excellent work – your screen doors are legendary in our family!!!
Have a great and “relaxing” time in SF.
Yup, they looked cold and miserable. And I grew up in a household where the mom and dad both had coke for breakfast. But I’m thinking it was good for you to have that bowl of coffee to help you cope with those miserable kids.
Kids! You have to tell them this is a learning experience and what they are supposed to be learning! Or they just will totally miss the whole thing!! As they obviously did! haha
SF has nudist??? Why is it nudests are always those people you wish they had kept their clothes on??? They are never glorious hunks of delicious manhood!!!
Glad you’re enjoying your trip out here. If you fly over Yosemite, you might want to try to take a few shots of the enormous fire. The ground shots are incredible.
I know that I’m on vacation when I get to have pie or chocolate cake for breakfast. My Mom once made that rule for us and it stuck…so Coke and a bowl of coffee seems like your beginning to get in the vacation mode to me! :)
I love the ferry market station. We never made it into the city on our day visit to San Fransico. We stayed along the piers, before it was time to jump on our ferry and go back across the bay.
i think we need the aggressive friendly nudist to start a blog. bwhaha! this is a great blog…i hopped over from PW and i’m adding you to my blogroll, too! great photos…love the story of your vaca! safe travels!
Ah, boys. Impervious to the elements as long as they’re having fun. :)
In San Fran, I’ve found that the best way to get rid of friendly nudists is to tell them you’re a Republican. Or better yet, that you voted for George W. Bush. ;) Works like a charm.
Yes, I can see the family is hating San Francisco. It just looks awful, what with cool weather and coffee bowls, Coke for breakfast and romping in frozen surf. And all that dim sum. I am really hurting for you, Rechelle. It looks awful.
Showing me dim sum in a cool-weather Chinatown is like waving a red flag. I am now going outside to flog a random Lawrencian for it being 99 degrees here.
I think it’s great, the shots of your kids having coke for breakfast! :)
Thank goodness for aggressively friendly nudist that warn of the rip tides…don’t know where we would be without them!
More FUN!!!
Oh wow, what a beautiful day there! The vacation god’s were smiling on you.
Kids! I'm glad you refrained from telling them "I told you so." teehee
I love dimsum. In my old hometown I used to meet up with a bunch of friends for dim sum and we'd feast. It was particularly awesome when the steam cart lady knew someone in our group and we'd get the hook up.
I love the coffee in bowl thing. I saw some latte bowls at Williams Sonoma (or was is Crate & Barrel?) and found them charming, but silly because I don't want to have to hold my coffee with both hands, ya know? Could you drink your bowl of coffee with one hand?
Eh, Coke for breakfast is no worse than coffee with tons of sugar and cream! Or a Mocha with all the whipped cream. I love they had the glass bottles and I also love the street pics of Chinatown.
If you take the ferry across the bay to Vallejo, they have a Six Flags Marine World Park. You get roller coasters and killer whales. My family loved it on our trip to California.
Actually, there is a Civil War era place in San Francisco: Fort Point, located below the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. If I remember correctly it is a national park/monument; it’s worth a visit.
I went to San Fran in July once…coatless. I had to buy a coat.
Enjoy your visit.
Wanted to let you know I got my DVD in the mail yesterday. Can’t wait to watch it!
Thanks.
I’m back because I just caught the last half of “Chocolat” and you’re not going to believe what they drank their hot chocolate out of…bowls, with both hands wrapped around the sides.
Sooooo what HOTEL did you end up in??
I dunno – looks like they were having fun to me! ?
What is a about kids and water that makes the temperature moot point? ;0) For a lady that struggles over the word panties, I imagine the friendly nudist was a bit over the top!
several years ago my husband wanted to take our family of 10 to NYC to see the sights. The kids were worried about “spending the whole time waiting for dad reading plaques”, I was worried about dad’s state of mind trying to keep everyone “on schedule” and the THOUGHT of herding 8 kids through the streets of New York. Fortunately we ended up at the Outer Banks, rented a house and just plopped, and had a GREAT time, and we’ve done it every year since.
It’s a treasured family time, but my husband still occasionally sounds bitter about getting “outvoted”!!
Did you ever see the movie “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”?
I just came across your blog. What a great read, you can concider me a faithfull daily reader!