Wacky Wednesdays: Alameda's Crab Cove

Our final Wacky Wednesday of the Kindergarten school year was a return visit (following a field trip earlier in the year) to Alameda's Crab Cove.

We weren't really able to coordinate our visit with low tide, having just a couple of hours in the afternoon while Daphne finished up a typically epic nap at her part-time daycare, but we still found a few little crabs and had a good time walking along the beach and in the nearby park.

I don't have photographic evidence to prove this, but I'm willing to bet we finished off the afternoon with ice cream!

Wacky Wednesdays: UC Berkeley, Part 2!

I almost forgot that after our buddy Max left, Elias and I stayed on campus a bit longer to visit the buildings where most of my classes took place when I went to college there more than a decade earlier.

Here's Elias in front of some student artwork on display in the hallways (even though it was technically summer when we were there):

In front of the fountain between the art and law buildings:

And checking out this strange, outdoor shower near the Berkeley Art Museum:

It's so strange visiting a place like that, the architecture of which, at least, is virtually unchanged since I went there, while my life is totally, completely different!

Wacky Wednesdays: UC Berkeley (with a buddy!)

After spring break 2014 (yep, still way, way behind on this blog but committed to catching up on Wacky Wednesday posts so I can maybe pull together a photo/scrapbook for Elias for Christmas!), Elias and I saw the documentary 'Bears' one Wednesday afternoon, followed by - as so many of our afternoons together are - ice cream!

He's also sporting what I believe was his first lost tooth. He's lost another 8 since then!

About a month after this (late May 2014 - look at that, he's wearing the same shirt!), we had an epic Wacky Wednesday adventure with good buddy Max and his mom, Meri. They've since moved to New Jersey - we miss them so.

For this adventure, we met up at UC Berkeley, where we walked around campus...

...toured the Campanile...

...and enjoyed the best frozen yogurt in the area.

So much fun. Hard to believe this was a year and a half ago! Sigh.

Wacky Wednesdays: Go-Carting through San Francisco

Elias and I took our second mama-son road trip this past weekend to visit Grandpa Dale in Bend, Oregon, but as I am super behind on this blog, I'm going to keep going with my Wacky Wednesday posts first. If I can maintain this weekly posting, I'll be caught up in no time!

We stayed put for Spring Break 2014. On the days when Daphne was at daycare, Elias and I enjoyed epic outings together, including redeeming a GoCar gift certificate Neal had purchased for my birthday a few months earlier. First stop - mini donuts on Pier 39:

We watched the sea lions for a bit, too:

We made our way from there to the GoCar place, where we got outfitted for our adventure:

If I remember correctly, we had to return our original GoCar for a replacement. I can't remember why. And the helmets were all a little too big for Elias. This adventure isn't perfectly well-suited for an almost 6 year old but we made do. Elias had a blast, of course.

We took quite a few breaks along the 2 hour tour that winds toward the Golden Gate Bridge and back to Fisherman's Wharf. Here we are just north of Fort Mason Center:

And another break at Chrissy Field, with an incredible backdrop provided by the Golden Gate bridge, sans fog:

Never too chilly to out-run a few waves:

We stopped a couple more times for an even better view of the bridge:

And a few more selfies:

Those are my sunglasses, by the way.

The pictures slowed down after we turned back toward Fisherman's Wharf. For much of the loop, you're right on the street with all the regular traffic and it's a bit nerve-wracking, especially with your precious cargo on board. But eventually we turned in our GoCar and headed back to Pier 39 to end the day with ice cream.

Hence the beginning of our summer of selfies and soft serve, to be continued!

Wacky Wednesdays: exploring Oakland gems in April 2014

A couple of months ago, maybe three now, I started updating my other blog on a more-or-less weekly basis. Up until the past few weeks, anyway, I was pretty consistent. So I thought, why don't I do the same in order to catch up on my family blog? So here I am. Perhaps posting every Monday? Time will tell. I'm working on a little birthday project for Elias' 7th coming up in just about one month so I'm going to update the Wacky Wednesday series before I update this blog on any other family shenanigans.

And it should be pretty easy to do since, one year later, I don't remember all the details. Thank goodness for taking tons of pictures on my phone! In early April last year, Elias and I cashed in a free petite sundae coupon at Fenton's...

...rented a kayak at the Lake Merritt Boating Center (closed at the moment)...

...and split a mani-pedi.

I love this kid. And I miss our Wednesday afternoons together, now that I'm working, but more about that crazy transition in another post. Stay tuned!

Wacky Wednesdays - a dog park for Doge

I'm way, way behind on this blog, so bear with me as I backtrack almost a year and try to catch up. You might remember my first "wacky Wednesday" post many months ago. For our second "wacky Wednesday" afternoon adventure, Elias and I ventured into North Berkeley again. Actually, we started out in Richmond, north of north Berkeley, for a run/bike ride, Doge in tow, at Point Isabel, a popular spot for folks with dogs.

So it was fitting that we brought along Doge, right?

From there we visited our favorite nursery in north Berkeley to buy a ceramic pot (ceramic being one of the "themes" for a 9 year anniversary) and a red daisy plant (the flowers we had at our wedding) for Neal's and my wedding anniversary.

We finished off the afternoon with cookies from a bakery around the corner before spending 45 minutes in traffic back to Oakland to fetch Daphne! But a good time with my little dude, nonetheless.