San Francisco!

 Fire truck park with the boys.

 Inside a REAL fire truck!

 At the pumpkin patch.

 Alice wanted spider hair one morning.

 At Lucy's house for a cousin playdate. Danny, Parry (Amelia's), Charlie, and Lucy's twins Greta and Matilda.

Paul at the temple. Still some scaffolding on it, but we're starting to be able to see more of the spire. (There were water leaks up there.)

SANTA CRUZ - THURS - We made cards with the kids for Dillon, Emily, and Ruby, then we got the girls off to school. Dad Gabe arrived around 9 to watch the boys, and Paul and I were off! We drove Dad Gabe's car to the airport, parked, took the shuttle,

 had some trouble in security (suspicious granola bars in Paul's backpack!),

and finally got on a very cramped plane. We played some card games, but it was a pretty rough flight. I was getting motion sick. 

We got a rental car at SFO, then drove down the coastline. It was beautiful! We loved seeing the ocean, sand, and waves! We stopped in Half Moon Bay for lunch at Fish and Frites on a whim. 

We shared some fish and chips at an outdoor table while watching Mom and Dad open their mission call on facebook live. St. George temple visitors center! Awesome! 

We continued down the coast to Santa Cruz and drove around some of our old stomping grounds, past our townhouse, Paul's building, campus, etc. We took a walk in the forest there on campus, then checked out the bookstore, 

 and went to dinner at our old favorite Joe's Pizza and Subs to share a meatball sub  

 and a philly cheesesteak.

 Next we headed to the beach. It was perfect!

It had been a pretty hot day, but the sun was starting to set, and we put our feet in the freezing water and sat in the sand and enjoyed the view. It was SO romantic! 

We had our binoculars out and watched the surfers and the boats and the seabirds. We also facetimed with the kids. They seemed to be having a great time with Mom/Dad Gabe.

 Then we walked down the pier

  to see about 30 sea lions on a platform, as well as a sea otter out in the water. So cute! 

 We walked by some of the shops on the pier, and shared some ice cream while watching the last of the sunset. 

It was a perfect evening! We drove back to the airport using the freeway this time (it was pitch black, so no need for the scenic drive), dropped our rental car off, and took the BART train into San Francisco. We only had to walk a block or two to our Marriott hotel. Nice room, and we were totally wasted. We unpacked, showered, and crashed into bed.

SAUSALITO - FRI - We slept in, and got up when we both felt ready to get up. Amazing! Paul went to meetings all morning (data visualization and podcasting) while I took my time getting ready, and went to Ross and Old Navy. So nice to shop without kids! Then I met up with Paul for lunch at Inay Filipino Kitchen. One of the best Filipino places we've been to, and it was in a mall food court! 

 Delicious pork BBQ on a stick, lumpia, adobo, bangus fish, pancit, and Filipino sodas. 

We got some ice cream and went to look at a cute bookstore, then Paul went to a panel on digital science magazines while I shopped at Target. I know I have all these stores in my town, but I never get to go without kids. I bought food for Sunday. Then Paul was done for the day! We stopped at CVS for blister bandaids for my toes:( Then on to the Ferry Building to catch the ferry to Sausalito. 

 Really nice ride and views.

  In Sausalito, we found a really cool park, 

 then looked at all the sailboats and houseboats. One houseboat was in the shape of the Taj Mahal! 

Lots of cool houses built up into the hill, nice cool weather, and not crowded at all. We ended up at a park along the water called Gabrielson Park! We sat on a bench, looked at the bay, and talked to our kids. They had a good day with their grandparents and were all bathed and happy. 

Our ferry ride back to SF was even more beautiful as the sun was setting and everything was silhouetted. Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge,

  all the buildings on the skyline twinkling with lights in their windows, 

 and the Bay Bridge all lit up and sparkling. It was super romantic:) 

 We walked through the Ferry Building and looked at a few shops,

then headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was very crowded and there was lots of confusion. We ended up having to wait TWICE before getting seated, and then it was loud and dark. We had a few disappointments in our food (our favorite chicken wasn't cooked correctly), but we had awesome flatbread (with pears, walnuts, arugula, and cheese), amazing mashed potatoes, and really good caramel cheesecake. It was a relief to get out of there with all the chaos and noise. We were sore by the time we got back to our hotel. Paul went to Walgreens for more supplies and worked on my blisters, including draining them. Ouch! We went to bed tired and sore.

BILLIONAIRES ROW - SAT - Paul made cocoa in the coffee maker for breakfast in bed, then he went to his meetings. I struck out at Marshall's and Gap Kids, but had some success at Westfield Mall. Paul met me for lunch at Charley's to share a delicious Philly cheesesteak, then we walked a few blocks to a Filipino bookstore. Very fun! Paul went to his final meeting (where he ran into his UCSC advisor, Rob Irion) while I doctored up my toes some more,

then we walked

to catch the free bus to the Presidio. (With Paul, the LOVE SPECIALIST!)

 When we got off it was overcast and windy and fog was rolling in. It was magical! 

 We walked along the outside of the Presidio (huge green space with lots of trees), saw a few fancy houses,

 and up, up, up a million stairs (Lyon Street Steps) to see the beautiful view overlooking the foggy bay. 

Totally worth it! And everything was so pretty and manicured, and we were way outside of the dirty, gross, noisy city. 

  We went into the Presidio for a minute to be in the cold foggy forest. It was cool! 

 Then we walked along Billionaires Row, a few blocks of houses worth like $35 million each. 

 Very pretty and cool, and even some fun Halloween decorations:) We saw lots of fun houses for a lot of our walk; it was nice to be in the more residential part of town. 

 We ended up at La Mediterranee for dinner, and got their sampler dinner of a bunch of different dishes: seasoned chickpeas, hummus, baba ghanoush, tabuleh, pita, Armenian potato salad, dolma grape leaves, levant sandwiches, lamb lule, chicken cilicia fillo, spinach and feta fillo, chicken pomegranate, and rice pilaf. All that for $40 for the two of us! Cold dishes first,

 then hot dishes.

 For dessert, Paul got rosewater pudding with pistachios, and I got the vegan chocolate cake. It was an AWESOME meal! Then we walked more in the wind and fog, and talked to the kids, who had a great day at the park, doing cooking projects, and going to our ward trunk or treat, though we heard Danny got scared of a werewolf. Paul and I saw LOTS of creative costumes on our long walk back to the hotel. Everyone was headed to bars and restaurants in costume. 

 We stopped at the amazing Grace Cathedral, then the fancy Fairmont Hotel, and a few other little shops before we finally got back and rested our sore feet. 

 Poor Paul had to run back out to reload our transit cards for Sunday. We crashed into bed.

 HOME AGAIN - SUNDAY - We left our hotel at 8 am and took a bus to the Golden Gate Ward. Pretty small crowd. We left after the sacrament.

 This was my favorite house on the walk back to the bus stop. We took a bus to the train station, a train to the airport, an airbus to the terminal, and made it through security.

Waiting to board. With mechanical issues, our plane left an hour late, and was so full that they made us check our carry-ons. We napped and played cards on the flight, then got our luggage, shuttled to the car, and drove to pick up our kids in Riverton. Charlie burst into tears that he didn't want to go home! They had such a great time and we are SO grateful to Mom and Dad Gabe for making this possible for us! What a wonderful weekend and what a wonderful husband!!