Table Mountain Wild Flowers

Every year spring comes and goes and we just don't make it up to Table Mountain to see the world famous wild flowers. This year, all the stars were aligned just right for a visit with incredible flowers all around.



We picnicked under the old oak tree.



We hiked down to a neat water fall.



Rex & Valerie spotted more than one garden snake out enjoying the sunshine in the brook. Amira!!! DON'T TOUCH THE SNAKES!





Looks idyllic, doesn't it? What you can't hear is the complaints about the forced march across the beautiful mesa covered with wild flowers. Worst mother ever.





Well, once we gave the kids food and water, the whole thing didn't seem so bad.

Meet the Chicks!

Here is Amira holding the "olive egger" she has dubbed "Olive". If all goes well, this will be a hen who provides delightfully olive colored eggs. She is a cross between a Maran and an Ameracauna.



Below we have the Cochin (with the feathery feet -- or "fancy pants" as Valerie says). Valerie has dubbed her to be "Perch" (for seemingly obvious reasons).



Here you can partly see the other "olive egger" named "Happy" by Rex. Of course, what chick wouldn't be happy in Valerie's dress pocket? You might notice that Happy is much darker than Olive although they are both the same cross breed. We think Happy has a little more Maran in her looks. Again, we are hoping she's a she. Olive Eggers were a straight run and a bit of a wild card.



Sure, go ahead and make those hen and chick jokes ... I can hear you from here! See if you get an omelette out of me!



Here Amira is holding our Cuckoo Maran that Rex has dubbed "Lucky". He named her lucky in the hopes that she really is a hen and will be with us for a long time. Last time we got chickens (three years ago), Rex named his Maran "Short Stock". He turned out to be one cantankerous and loud rooster. Off to the farm he went. Then we replaced him with Nicky. She got ill and died after only a few months. So, that is the story behind this name. We think that Lucky may not be pure Maran though. She's got some feathery feet that leads us to believe she is part "sneaky Cochin" as well.



Here's Valerie showing off how Perch can perch. (Note the background: compost, pitch fork, old worm bins, etc. Do you hear the theme song to Green Acres or Sanford & Son when you look at this?)





Here are the girls in the "tanning salon" (homemade brooder under the heat lamp).

Peep Peep Peep!!!!

Just like every other family on the block ... It's St. Patrick's Day and what better way to celebrate than to get baby chicks! Okay, so this has nothing to do with St. Patrick's day ... but we do have chicks!



I will upload more pix later. We have a two week old cochin and three other baby chicks that are only two days old. We have a cuckoo maran and two "olive eggers" (a cross between the Ameracauna and a maran that will lay olive colored eggs ... if they are in fact hens. We are not sure. That's why we took two. We gamble on the gender of our pets).

Here's a picture of the cochin (has feathery feet). She is two weeks older than the others. Rex taught her to perch on sticks.







Will update with names and close up pix of all the little fluff balls later.

Country Mice in the Big City

Last weekend the kids and I made a road trip to San Francisco to see Uncle Scott & Aunt Dawn. It's a shame that we don't get to see them more often. But each time we do see them, I feel like I get a good few days of belly laughs!

After a three hour drive to the city and forcing my kids to carry their luggage from the less expensive parking garage to the hotel (maybe they'll pack less next time?) I figured they deserved a refreshing mocktail at the top of the hotel. Amira, Valerie & I cozied right up to the window on the 39th floor so we could enjoy the view of the Bay.



Rex decided it would be much safer to enjoy the view from a distance and an opaque wall. I understand this. After all, we all know about the history of picture windows on sky scrapers seeking out nine year old children and sucking them right through the glass. Physics, indeed!




Scott and Dawn met us up top and had time for a brief photo op before we headed off to Japan Town. I made reservations for the six of us at Benihana. I figured some food entertainment would go over well with the kids.




I have to say that the quality of the food was not that high. Also, remember the days when the onion volcano actually erupted with flames? Now it only steams and spews ash.



We had plans to visit the Exploratorium or the new Steinhart Academy of Sciences if it was raining over the weekend. But, as it turned out we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. So, we took the family to the children's playground at Golden Gate Park.







Our first attraction was the pop-up gopher. Valerie (aka: Ellie May) immediately befriended the critter and fed it an exotic mix of park flowers (much to the delight of the gopher).

Following that the kids climbed up spider webs for a while.





Then they hijacked some cardboard for the City Cement Luge.





Art sessions were being offered in a building just off the playground. Amira and Valerie decided to create some art for us. Aunt Dawn funded the venture.





While the girls were off in the art session, Uncle Scott & Rex went pigeon hunting.



On the way out Scott & Dawn treated us to a carousel ride.









Now, it was time for Korean food! We ran down to Hahn's Hibachi on Polk Street. I think we were all pleased with the food there. And we got rock star parking out front.



Before leaving the restaurant I strongly suggested that everyone use the nice clean bathroom there. I didn't realize that anyone had actually dissented until we were about two blocks away and Rex started shrieking that he had to go "really bad".

Scott took advantage of this opportunity to strike up conversation, "So, Rex, do you think it's going to rain today?" Meanwhile I drove as fast as possible over the hills on Gough Street. Hitting bumps as hard as I could was my non-verbal way of saying, "Told ya so!" Scott continued the back seat conversation, "You know, just yesterday I emptied an entire bottle of nice warm water out on the pavement just for the fun of it. Have you been to Niagra Falls?"




Finally, several blocks away Rex demanded that I pull over so he could use the bathroom at an Arco station on Fell & Divisadero Streets. Now, people in SF are notorious for not letting anyone use the bathroom under any circumstances. But Scott talked these guys into letting Rex in.





I'm sorry that this photo doesn't capture the absolute squalor of the place. Really, that place was disgusting. I didn't have to say "I told you so".



Once that scene was done, we went back into the park with our sights set on renting a Surrey Bike and cruising around. We took a nice walk around Stowe Lake on the way in. The light was beautiful this time of afternoon. We got to see turtles and ducks and boats and all kinds of cool stuff.








The bike rental is round back of the boat house. We took this photo at the beginning -- because we were too exhausted to smile at the end of the ride. Can you believe the kids wanted to rent a paddle boat afterward? I guess they weren't peddling!







After a day of running around in the park, Scott & Dawn headed back to their hotel for a little rest while I got suckered into taking the kids to another park downtown. Yes, this was against my better judgement since I was going to drag the entire family down the BART station and out to the Mission for dinner.

We got all the way over to Las Ramblas, only to find out they couldn't take us because we didn't have a reservation. I was so disappointed. I swear the last time I tried to make a reservation (months ago) I was told they didn't take them?? Well, I am over 40 ... so, that may or may not be true. But, as luck would have it, Picaro was right around the corner. The tapas (while different from Ramblas) were yummy!





We averted a near melt down on the part of Amira (who had clearly had too much vacation at this point and not enough sleep) by letting her be the dinner photographer. Honestly, these kids take better photos than I do!









Sunday morning we milled around Yerba Buena. The kids went back to their favorite park, then we played at the water falls and on the grass. This was our last photo opportunity before saying good-bye to Scott & Dawn as they continued their journey up North to see whales.



What? No Merry-Go-Round? Try: Scott-Go-Round!

















The kids and I crashed the house of a friend in the city before driving over the Golden Gate Bridge in the late afternoon sun.



It's true ... we ate our way through San Francisco like a Pacman!