We began November with a staycation-ish/running event in SF. Last year, Tom ran the US Half Marathon in SF last year and we all had so much fun that we decided we would do it again this year. And, this year, Tom got a PR! This was a hilly course, no less. The kids and I got to the finish line in time to see him cross, but before he was across the line, we saw all sorts of very strong-looking runners looking pretty beat! The course has hills!
The kids love the bling, our’s and their’s. It’s great support, though. They make us feel so good and so accomplished when they get all excited about our medals!
So Tom got to run across the Golden Gate bridge again. This year, there was no construction, so the path didn’t bottleneck as severely as last year. I got a picture of this on Expo day (the day before the race). We spent the day browsing the goods at Sports Basement (got Dylan a much-needed new jacket and fleece) and walking back to the hotel from the Presidio (a good 4 miles or so and Dylan walked them all!!).
On the way, the kids picked lots of dandelions. Lots. I still love how Dylan MUST stop to pick flowers. If he sees one in the grass, it’s instant brakes.
And, of course, Cameron must stop to pick some, too!
We had the stroller, but OF COURSE, Chloe preferred being carried instead but not by just anyone–she needs to tucker out my arms and my arms alone!
On race day, we started with breakfast in the hotel and a picture near the concierge.
And, we snapped some photos of some of SF’s old-school trolleys.
It just so happened that Heather’s birthday was the same weekend as Tom’s race and she wanted to celebrate at the Exploratorium. Quite fortunately, the Exploratorium moved to its new location at the pier, so the kids and I were able to take the trolley there! They were so cute and so excited! I thought we were going to be late (so Tom stayed behind to load up the car and drive it to the Exploratorium), but the trolley ride closed the distance between Point A and Point B so quickly, we were there before anyone else!
The Exploratorium has lots of outdoor stuff to look at, including this interesting evolution exhibit out in front. We played with that until Heather, Assaf and the girls arrived.
There is something for everyone there…love this place! Chloe was glued to this really kind of boring (on the relative scale of exhibit quality/excitingness!) exhibit where you look through and watch a train go around on a track. Really, the exhibit is about color perception, but she didn’t care about that part! We spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for her to move on to something else!
And, here’s a picture that is out of sequence–big kids on the trolley! Little girl is in the Ergo, so not visible!
Another picture out of sequence: Dylan playing with that evolution exhibit outside while waiting for HAKT to arrive.
I think one of the most interesting exhibits to me was one on the changing definitions of madness. There were some interesting profiles of psychiatric patients from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s who were committed to asylums for syphilis and depression, conditions that are now treatable with medication. I was also surprised to see an old grad school professor of mine (who now teaches at Stanford) featured as one of the specialists (so her video was rolling on one of the video screens).
Anyway, I got to steal away and read all of this stuff because Chloe was tired, tired, tired and I was walking her around to try to get her to sleep. I never succeeded, but at least I got to read some interesting stuff while I tried!
Chloe got her 47th or 59th wind once we all went outside to see what was there.
It was so cold outside, but you couldn’t tell by the kids’ clothes! They were alllll running around like mad. Despite the cold, I liked being outside better and the lighting, though still drab and overcast, was much nicer for pictures.
And, finally a pic of the bday gal. The whole weekend was a lot of fun! So much fun, in fact, I think this US Half thing is going to become tradition (and, hopefully, Heather’s bday celebration in SF will be, too!)!
