friday flashback - stieper san fran adventure

4. Drive the PCH and make good on my promise to the Cali girls. - DONE!

Flashback Friday.

Why Flashback Friday?  Because I am a CLASS A Procrastinator.  I am the professor of procrastination.  Procrastinators come to me to learn how to better procrastinate.  'Cept they never show up for class cause they procrastinated too long to register.  And I procrastinated too long to pull together a syllabus.  It's a long, constant cycle plagued with final gratification and negative reinforcement because somehow, SOMEDAY, the work finally gets done, and then you feel like you won. 

"Haha, WORK!  Who got the last laugh?  You wanted me to PLAN you out and follow a schedule?  Yet I wait til the last minute and still get you finished?  HA!  I WIN!"

(Somewhere my mother--a real professor--is thanking Jesus that she never had me as a student in her class.)

And here I am, once again procrastination about writing this post, by TALKING about procrastinating.  See, I told you.  My procrastination, it's a gift.

So I've instituted "Flashback Fridays" to finish out the ump-teen posts I currently have half-finished sitting in my Blogger Posting file.

This particular gem happened all the way back in March.  And I last posted about this trip in May

(And yes, I know it's July, stop judging.)

Okay, so to recap our California adventure, we started in LA, hit up DisneyLand, goofed around at the US/Mexico border, and drove all the way up the coast, until we reached....

San Francisco!

Where it was raining.  And late.  But we were happy, because we met up with Lisa (a pumpkin pie friend), her husband Sean, and their two girls Allison (who is Sadie's age) and Emily (who is two years older).

Its pretty amazing how the girls hit it off RIGHT AWAY.  This photo was taken literally minutes after we arrived.  And after Sadie had been in the Jeep for the majority of the day.  And the Stieper girls had been waiting on us to arrive for quite sometime. 

 

That night we went back to Lisa's house, hung out for a bit, and hit the hay after a long, long day.

Next day we got back on the road, crossed over the Bay Bridge (west coast version) and hit up the city.  I was so so so thrilled that we were able to meet up with another Mama friend of mine, Terra, and her beautiful kiddos, Noah and Maddie!!! :)

And now a whole slew of photos from our day:

Allison, Emily and Sadira got along SO WELL! They were the cutest little girl trifecta!

I

Watching a show on Pier 39

Sweet, sweet Noah, sharing his snacks:

Sea lions!

Terra, me, and Maddie B!

Lisa and I

The amazing Miss Madd!

(Terra and Sadie bonding over Angry Birds---Terra, I blame you for her addiction!! ;) )

Then we arrived at the gates of heaven, AKA: Ghirardelli Square...I was thrilled to even be standing in line...and that chocolate fudge sundae was A. Maze. Zing.

{cue sound of angels singing}

Alli's mean face!

Not everyday you walk into a man dressed like a sundae...

EVENTUALLY, we sadly had to say goodbye to the Stiepers.  The girls were not thrilled to have to say goodbye.  Sadie cried so much in the car she exhausted herself and fell asleep.

I wanted to go to the waters edge and put my feet in the Pacific one more time before we hopped a plane for the East Coast.  Sadie was asleep in the Jeep, and it was a pretty cool moment for me.  We had come full circle and made it through this awesome journey.

Of course I had to head down Lombard Street...the super windy road.

 

 The view from the 7th floor that night.  Our last night before coming home.

 

Our total mileage in California:

 The whole entire trip was an amazing experience.  San Francisco was the perfect way to end our adventure before heading home.  Lisa and family were so wonderful and welcoming.  I really wish we lived closer, but I found myself saying that about pretty much all of my friends this trip!

THANK YOU Lisa for your generosity and hospitality!  And THANK YOU Terra, for making time to see us and play! We had a blast.

And there you have it, our Stieper San Francisco Adventure.  Take that, procrastination.  Score: Nasrene 1, Procrastination....eh, I'll count that up tomorrow. ;)

[Nevermind I intended on posting this LAST Friday and it's taken me an extra week...procrastination!]