Oh my goodness!

Good Stuff!

Unless there is an earthquake, mudslide, fire or some other natural or manmade disaster, the San Francisco area is always a fun and beautiful area to visit.  Obviously it's a whole lot more fun to visit now that Sarah, Joey and James are living here.  The last time we were here was the end of July.  At that time the Martin family was in the middle of moving to a home more appropriate for James.  The new place is in Novato, which is just a few miles north of where they were living in San Rafael.  They've settled in quite nicely and are certainly enjoying the large space, as well as a fenced in back yard.  We've been here since Monday afternoon and it's been a whole lot of fun.  Beth and I are in agreement with that common statement about you need to be young to be a parent.  By the end of the day we're pretty whipped, but it's with a big smile on our face.
Sarah and Joey know we love them and have graciously accepted their seats a little further back on the bus.  Oh my goodness, that Sweet Baby James is something else!  He's now attending pre-school four days a week.  He is enjoying his new friends and teachers.  The facility is just a few blocks from their house and the typical routine is Joey dropping him off in the morning.  If the weather is nice, which it usually is out here, Sarah walks down and picks him up in the afternoon.  Beth and I were able to walk down with Sarah a couple of times this week.  It was fun to see him playing and enjoying himself before he saw us.  It was also a blast to see his face light up when he saw the three of us.

Our Ice Cream Buddy!

Doing a little trick riding

Showing off his new Mickey PJ's

Two great artists at work!

I guess we're becoming "regulars" to this area because we haven't even gone into the city or over to the wine country during this visit.  We have enjoyed finding a couple of nice areas to hike.  One that is flat and along a wetlands area and the other through some shaded woods in a nature preserve just a few minutes from their house.  Muir Woods is always a good choice also.

Hamilton Wetlands Trail

Indian Valley Preserve Trail

From the top of the Indian Valley Preserve Trail

One adventure that we did make Thursday was when we went to Oakland.  Now I'm sure that there are some really nice parts of Oakland.  We've actually been to the Oakland Zoo which we did really enjoy.   We ventured into what could easily be described as "no man's land" to go to the Oakland A's game.  Let's just say it's not in the nicest part of town.  I told Beth that it reminded me of the area around the old Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami.  You sort of take your life into your own hands when you venture in there.  Fortunately it was a day game and we found a parking lot close to the stadium.  I tipped the guy who claimed to be the parking lot attendant an extra dollar hoping that when we returned the car would still have tires and windows.
We were planning to buy tickets at the game, which ended up leading to additional excitement.  Beth and I were approached at the same time by different "independent ticket brokers".  Realizing they had two good prospects an argument soon broke out between the two of them.  Thankfully no weapons were drawn.  When they found out how little we were willing to pay they quickly lost interest in us or in beating each other up.  Shortly thereafter we found another guy who was willing to sell us two tickets at our price point and we were on our way.
Once safely inside, it was a surprisingly nice ball park.  Ballpark number 24 of 30 is now in the books.  Still to be checked off are; Pittsburg, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, Los Angeles (Angels) and Miami.  With only a week left in the regular season, there will be no more checked off this year.  Once we made it back to the rental car, we breathed a sigh of relief that the car was still there with all tires and windows in tact.

I'm NOT flashing gang signs.  That's a 24!

Friday was our last full day and we covered lots of ground, literally.  We enjoyed visiting Muir Woods National Monument which is part of the National Park System.  We hiked for close to five hours.  According to my I-phone we covered over nine miles and around 1000 feet of elevation change.

That's the Muir Woods Trail...……….right there!

Beth wearing a Redwood Tree on her head

I'm not sure what that is coming out of my head but it hurts!

The end of the trail

Muir Woods National Monument
We finished off the day attending a high school football game.  Joey is a volunteer coach at one of the local high schools.  He helps with the defense, and was quite proud of the 19-0 shut out.  They're 3-1 on the year, so they're doing pretty well.
It's now around 5:45 AM on Saturday morning.  We quietly left the Martin house around 3:45 and hopefully didn't wake anyone.  It was a great visit and we're already looking forward to seeing all of them again soon...……..especially one of them! Soon we'll be on our way back to Florida.  We're looking forward to celebrating a very special birthday!

There might be a little too much "government" in California.  This sign is posted in every restaurant and even movie theaters!  If I get cancer from eating at Chick-fil-a, so be it.