California, Part 1

Today, I wrote 1500 words on the novel, AND I now have all the photos copied from my old laptop to this desktop, so I thought I'd better start cataloging our trip to CA before the memories fade.

We said our goodbyes to SW London, and most of E's class met on the Common to have a farewell party for him after school. It was such a nice note to leave on. Even his teacher dropped by for a quick visit, on her way to the train station. Then, a few days later, I boarded a plane to San Francisco while B stayed behind to pack up the flat and transport things to N London. In SF, Dad picked us up and we struggled with the fog of jet lag for the first few days. As I recall, we all fell asleep around eight or nine, and woke up at 2am! The kids and I lay in bed and talked and giggled. The next day, it was 3, then 4, then 4:30 or so, then finally we were sleeping in until 6 or 7.

The first days involved some admin, like renewing my CA driver's license, which involved epic line-standing at the DMV. Bleuurgh! Our first "real outing" was on the bus to San Rafael to a street-painting festival. It was 90F, hot stuff! The kids were amazed, but petered out pretty quickly due to having been up since 3ish.

In those early days, we did a lot of early morning walks on the bike path. Once my license was renewed, I started taking them to the beach. We had a week or so of very very hot weather, which was perfect for Muir Beach. We got there early, because jet lag drove us out of the house, and even saw a buck running on the sand.

A few days in, we met up with our friend M, and took one of her Golden Retrievers on a canyon hike. The next day, we all went to the Marin County Fair together! We had so much fun there, visiting the petting zoo, going on rides, eating Southern food (crawfish etoufee!), watching a puppet show, and seeing art exhibits.

C was (stunningly) under the height requirement for the huge Ferris wheel, so she and I went on the carousel while M and E went on the wheel. Thank goodness for an extra adult!

Then it was the 4th of July, and of course we had to go to the Sausalito parade. I have such fond memories of watching the parade as a child, and even marching in it (at around age 4, as part of a waterfront float, then again at 12 helping out with a handmade wooden truck and wrangling its toddler drivers, then again at 13 or 14, with my karate team and instructor, who was... an interesting person, putting it mildly! But that's a story that will have to wait.). So, we got curbside seats, early parking, and spent time playing in the playground I used to frequent as a small child, which was another neat feeling. Then the floats started coming, and my kids realized some people threw candy in our direction, which made them quite engaged!

Before the parade started, we visited this old wooden statue of a man panning for gold. I remember this statue as a beloved old landmark, from my own childhood. Then, we went back to our curb for the parade!

The highlight for me was the brass band. I think the children loved the candy the most, or perhaps the man with the real live parrot on his bicycle, riding back and forth near us.

Afterward, we watched Grandad empty the dropbox at the library, and played in the creek (well, they did. I didn't.).

So... I'm going to leave it there for now! That was most of our first week in CA. After the 4th, Uncle Howard, his wife Nii and son Jack (7) showed up for their part of the visit! I have so many pictures that I'll need to split these blog posts into many parts... but at least I've made a start. I have to say, it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip/visit, and I'm almost amazed it worked so well!