Caution: You might be hungry after reading...

On Wednesday, Niki and I took a little road trip to San Francisco!!

Niki was an awesome tour guide and looked up everything that we wanted to do prior to heading out there. We didn't have a solid plan and and the day ended up being perfect! I think that has to do with the fact that we had no time limits and there was no rush to be home before dinner. (Thanks Walt for taking care of the kids!).
I really enjoyed the alone time with Niki and exploring the city. I had been there once before about 10-15 years ago and remember going to The Warf but since that is so much like the Seattle waterfront we chose to "tour the world" instead.

Welcome to The Coit Tower.
It was built in 1933 with funds (about 1/3 = $133,000,00) from the Lillie Hitchcock Coit's estate.
The tower was built in memory of her and the San Francisco firemen.

The elevator ride up (210 feet) pretty much freaked me out because I don't do well with people I don't know standing really close to me and in small spaces. Niki is afraid of heights but she was okay and even looked out the windows.

Moving on to Ghirardelli Square...

After the long car ride into the city (thanks to the Giants game that was going on.. that we didn't know about until the next day) we stopped for a light snack at the Crown & Crumpet. It's located in Ghirardelli Square.

Niki enjoyed Peach Oolong tea with 2 small scones and I enjoyed decaf french press coffee with 2 crumpets. It was quite delightful even though we felt a little under dressed. ;-)

You won't believe it...!! In Ghirardelli Square is a Kara's Cupcakes. The reason I am SO excited about this is because during this pregnancy I have been hooked on cupcakes. Not just normal ones from home but the very special, melt in your mouth kind you can get in little bakeries. Back in Seattle the place I currently love is Trophy Cupcakes. Did I mention that I've been watching Cupcake Wars on the Food Network as well? (thanks Nick for watching it with me!). Anyhow... Kara's Cupcakes was ON Cupcake Wars!! Which is why stopping by this little shop made me SO excited. Niki and I purchased a lemon cupcake filled with lemon and a chocolate cupcake filled with caramel. We saved them for the next day.

A San Francisco treat. Ding. Ding.
This was my first time taking a ride on a street car. We rode on all 3 different lines throughout the day. The funniest thing about this is when I was riding on them.. baby Jonesey would MOVE around a ton. I feel her moving around quite a bit now but there was a very big difference when I was on a car. It was loud and bumpy.. but such a fun way to get around the city!


Moving on China Town....

When walking a few blocks to China Town, Niki and I saw a Google car!! It had a large ball on the top of it and about 10 camera lenses in it. Niki is going to be looking for us on Google street maps later on.

Welcome to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.
This is a very small, hole in the wall factory and produces about 30k cookies a day! Each of the women in this picture make about 10k each. It was very warm in this shop but I'm very glad we stopped in.

Very sweet man.. I'm assuming he was the owner or co-owner.
Niki and I bought a bag of plain and a bag of mixed with vanilla and chocolate.
YUM!

Lunch time at the Snow Garden restaurant.

Chicken Chow Fun with egg rolls on the side.
To keep it light since we would be heading to Little Italy later, Niki and I split a lunch plate. She recommended Chow Fun which I had never had before. I really liked it and plan on trying it again.

Moving on to Little Italy or also know as the North Beach area.....

Nothing like a pregnant chic trying to pick up a street car. ;-)

Ding. Ding.

Behind me is The Saint Peter & Paul's Cathedral across the street and to the right was a nice little park that Niki and I laid down in the grass for about an hour.. thinking about how lucky we were to be in San Francisco where the temperature was in the 70's and not 108 like it was in Sacramento. Walt, Niki's husband even told us that the A.C. in their house started to trip a breaker since it was working so hard to keep the temp. down in the house.

I like this picture because you can see Niki and the Cathedral in my glasses.

She was checking out some of the reviews on the cafes in the area to see which one we should eat at. We wanted something small and Soprano style. ;-) Okay, maybe it was just me wanting the Soprano style.

Our free appetizer. It was the best I've ever had at an Italian Restaurant.

Niki had FRESH gnocchi with fresh pesto on it. It tasted like butter and melted in our mouths. It was by far the best gnocchi we've ever had.



Moving on back down to Beach Ave.. to Ghirardelli Sqaure......

Did you really think that we would wrap up the day and not enjoy a hot fudge sundae from one of the Ghirardelli ice cream stores?!?

A perfect ending to a fun filled, sisters spending time together day.

Thanks Niki for all the research and planning that you did to make this day so awesome!!

Niki was pretty bummed that this was my view of the Golden Gate bridge on our way home. We took the Bay Bridge into the city planning to take the Golden Gate home with a great view of the city. We didn't end up leaving the city until about 7:45 that night and I guess the term they use here is.. the bridge was "socked" in. Who would have known.. I had never heard that term before.. must be a Californian thing. ;-)
Socked... a.k.a. fogged in.



My next appointment is on Monday afternoon. I will post next week with an update on baby Jonesey and I.

Saturday Ride with Reba and Black Beauty

The weekend of the 14th - Nick and I headed over to my parents house for some much needed "guy time". Nick has been talking about getting his motorcycle endorsement for well over a year and at the end of July he took a weekend long course that allowed him to go the the DMV with his 100% written score and his 99% riding score and get his endorsement!!

Needless to say.. I'm not sure who was more "giddy" about the endorsement.. Nick or my dad. If you ask me - I would say it was my dad!

This is Honey Bear. My parents dog who is a Tibetan Mastiff.

I was 22 weeks in this picture. I'm feeling Jonesey move around all of the time now! Nick has not been able to feel her move yet but we know it's only a matter of a couple of weeks and he will be able to.

There was over 100 of these in their front yard.

My dad was asking Nick if he knew where the brakes were.. No, Nick .. They're on the handle bar! Just kidding!!
My dad has named both of his bikes. Nick is on "Reba" or since this ride Nick has re-named her to "Numb-Ass" and my dad is on his one and only "Black Beauty". Only he is allowed to ride her.

Check out that belly shot! ;-)

Ahhh.. Black Beauty.
100% Custom.


I'm in Sacramento right now for the week staying with my big sister Niki and her family. Today was the kids first day of school and was quite exciting! On Wednesday, Niki and I are going to San Francisco for the day and I'm really looking forward to it. =) I will post pictures of that adventure later this week.

I'm currently 23.2 days along (yes, I mis-posted how far along I was during the last post - Sorry!!) - Everything is going well; she should weigh about 1.1 to 1.5 pounds now and is the size of a small baby doll.
She can hear loud noises now and the inner parts of her ears will be developed by the end of this week which means that she has a good sense of up and down.
Something I learned today is that she most likely sleeps the most during the day when I am moving around and is mostly active during the night when I am laying down. The rocking or moving around during the day causes her to sleep. Interesting.
At this point I've started to read books about what to expect after she is born and what to be prepared for. I thought I knew a lot but it turns out that I'm learning new things all the time about babies, the birth and all of that good stuff.

My next doctor's appointment is on Monday and I'll have more of an update for you after that! I told Nick today that I feel bigger than I was last week and we think I might be at that point in the pregnancy that I'm growing more and more each week or at least it feels that way!

Oh.. No more morning sickness or at least not during the last week! YAY.
Swollen feet.. oh yes and getting bigger. Nick and I went shoe shopping last week and I almost had a pregnancy breakdown. I ended up being able to fit my feet in the 5th pair of shoes I tried on (these are for work) and they are ugly! It's the best I can do at this point and Nick is really good about reminding me that this is only temporary. I might post a picture of them someday.. once I get use to wearing them. ;-)

21.4 Weeks and growing...

Today I am 21.4 weeks along and feeling pretty good. I'm sleeping well, thanks to that pregnancy pillow Nick bought for me. I really thought I was past the point of getting sick in the morning but I have gotten sick twice this week. I keep trying to switch things up in the morning hoping that it will help but it hasn't.

My feet/ankles have been swollen since our camping trip in CA. We talked with our doctor last week and he said that with the high elevation and the heat.. I was pretty much signing myself up for it. I've been on my feet a lot at work this last week and the swelling hasn't gone away. I wake up in the morning and the swelling has gone down but by the end of the day.. they're huge again! As funny as it may sound, I've read that drinking a lot of water will help reduce the swelling!! I'm all over that. =)

Cravings right now? Fruits and veggies!! I'm really loving grilled veggies or just raw. All different types of fruit, all of the time.

Weight gain? Last week when Nick and I met up with Dr. Call my total weight gain for the pregnancy is 4.5 pounds! I'm feeling pretty good about that. The average weight gain at this point in the pregnancy is 8-12 pounds. I'm not eating for two.. I'm making good choices of what I'm eating and how much.

19.4 weeks in this picture.

Did you really think we had forgotten about our cats?!?

MoMo is taking enough naps for both of us now-a-days.

That's "Da Bird" that Chester has in his mouth. As you can see.. He gets pretty crazy when he's playing with it.

20.1 weeks! I went to Motherhood Maternity on Sunday.. wasn't planning on buying anything! The jeans that I have on.. I LOVE them! I wish I could wear every single day.

Thanks to our parents that brought over some REALLY cute clothes on the night that we had them over to celebrate us having a GIRL!! My dad even went shopping for a couple of outfits. How cute is that!?!