The hubb’s family reunion was in Los Angeles, Ca this year so the girls left on Saturday with the Grandparents and we left on Wednesday to meet them. They took a few days to get there and we took the car by its horns and did the quick day trip, 14 hours to be exact! Yes we drive a little fast when we get to Cali due to the 70 speed limit and the super straight roads.

We were able to go to Disneyland/Cal Adventure for the day on Thursday (and yes it really is the happiest place on earth, at least for me), we got to lounge by the pool(much needed rest) and we enjoyed some Mexican food at Mijares in Pasadena. I had some amazing flan and my hubby had some not-so-vegetarian-Menudo. YIKES!

Of course we got to spend time with my the hubb’s family and we enjoyed lots of stories which filled his aunts porch with uproarious laughter. We all had a great time. Our trip home was super quick, much like on the way down, but this time with the whole family. We made some great memories and now we are onto getting my oldest ready for college. This summer just seemed to fly by. Not to mention that my daughter who was just 5 yrs old yesterday is now 18 and leaving the house. How does that even happen?

Well here are the only two photos we took, it’s so sad….but I kept forgetting to bring my camera or I didn’t want to lug it around, those dang cameras are so big and I lost my battery charger for my tiny camera.

Our long weekend in San Francisco was a success, with only a few tears shed and some of those shed by my dh when he realized that none of his girls are morning people. But that’s what road trips and family time are for, learning and learning to love. Heck life is about learning and learning to love. Here is what I learned about San Francisco.

1. I want to go back! It is a beautiful city and since I am trying to learn how to use my camera, I had plenty of opportunities to use my new found camera skills, and as you can see they are not that great yet.

2. San Francisco was the first large city to start a curbside composting program. OK so this may not excite you but I find it exciting when cities take charge and make changes for the better of the environment.

3. If you get out of the tourist area there is a lot of fun and good food to be had. We went down to Pier 39 once just to check it out but our hotel was out amongst the houses and we were within walking distance to a ton of great restaurants, shops and the beach.

4. San Francisco is full of people from all over the world. At any given time you are going to meet someone from somewhere far away, making every smile an opportunity to introduce yourself and find out where they are from.

5. You CAN’T eat your way through the city in a weekend let alone two years. Our lovely waiter at Rose’s Cafe said he has lived in San Francisco for two years and is still eating his way through the city.

6. There is no shortage of used clothing stores in San Francisco. We visited a couple places and the thing I noticed that was different from Portland was that the prices were much higher. They did have a nice variety of vintage clothes from the 50′s and 60′s which was so fun to browse through.

NOTE: None of these photos have been edited.