The Beans and San Francisco

One of the greatest things about living where we do is that we get to hang out with the Beans.  Seriously.  They make our lives immensely happier.  Our usual hang out sessions are over games and dessert while Eleanor sleeps is fast asleep in her room.  Back in April though we decided to mix it up and get fancy.

We went in to the city, visited Golden Gate Park and then went ate at McCormick's in Ghirardelli Square for a seafood dinner.  The dinner was on PwC who gives their employees money for healthy living.  Aaron had racked up points for playing basketball, family walks, serving in the community and at church, etc. So thanks P-dub!

Anyways, the meal was delicious and it was especially breathtaking to watch the sun go down over the bay as we ate our food. And, as if we weren't full enough, we finished the night off with ghirardelli chocolate milkshakes because you have to do so when you visit Ghirardelli Square (well you don't have to but it would be irresponsible to pass on that opportunity).

Good times with the Beans!! Love you guys.

And the Beans captured this photo of Eleanor while at Golden Gate Park and it is now one of my all time favorites. Such a cool babes that one is.

Isn't it wonderful when family comes to visit?

Aaron's parents came to stay with us last weekend and we loved having them here!  It was really fun to have our first house guests and forced us to get out and enjoy the area even more.

Mark and Susan got to town on Thursday night and after catching up, we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for some dessert (Godiva Cheesecake is the best!). 

On Friday, Aaron went to work and I went for a quick substitute teaching interview (and will be starting to sub asap!).  Then Mark, Susan and I drove over to check out downtown Willow Glen, one of my favorite areas.  We ate Mexican food at a restaurant called Aqui and then browsed the shops.  The favorite stop of the afternoon was Powell's Sweet Shoppe, which is a candy lover's dream.  They were playing Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory in the store and had every kind of candy and chocolate, even the classics from our childhood. 

We then headed over to Caltrain and rode in to San Francisco (Aaron had to work in the city that day so we thought we would take advantage of him already being there).  It was an adventure navigating Caltrain and Muni (my first Muni experience) but we made it and checked out the Ferry Building and then ate a nice dinner at Boudin's at Fisherman's Wharf.  We were exhausted by the time we rolled in to San Jose again that night. 

On Saturday morning, Mark and Aaron set up the baby's crib!  This crib is incredibly special as it was the crib that Aaron and all his siblings slept in as babies.  Mark and Susan kept it in great shape and are kindly letting us use it for our babies.

After the crib set up, we went down to Santana Row, which is just 5 minutes from us (comparable to Salt Lake's City Creek).  We walked in to the Tesla store and drooled over the cars. McKells know their cars so it was extra fun to be in there with Mark and Susan and dream of driving one of the all-electric cars. 

We then drove up to Palo Alto to drive around Stanford and eat lunch at the Stanford Shopping Mall.  I love that area so much and hope to have more time in the future to walk around Stanford's campus. 

Mark and Susan left Saturday evening and I wish we could have had them stay even longer.  We packed a lot in though and really enjoyed the chance to catch up and spend some one on one time them.   

That time when PwC gave us a romantic getaway in San Francisco...

The title of this post may be deceiving but in all reality that's what ended up happening.

Since Aaron's first few days of his new job were in San Francisco, Pwc put him up in the St. Francis Hotel for the night.  Aaron checked to see if they put him with a roommate and when he found out he had the room to himself, I hopped on Caltrain and rode up to San Francisco to spend the night in the city with Aaron.

The St. Francis is right in Union Square (San Francisco's major shopping area) so we walked the streets and used yelp to find a good Indian restaurant.  We ended up at Little Delhi and felt like it was a good choice when we saw how many Indian people were eating at the restaurant :)  The food was good and then we finished it off by getting a Ghirardelli chocolate sundae afterwards, because that's what you do when you're in San Francisco.  Aaron told me about his first day of training and I told him how I passed the CBEST test (California's basic test for teachers and substitutes) and burnt my face with a curling iron.  It was good conversation.

The next morning Aaron had to go off to work so I got myself some breakfast from Boudin's and then headed back home to San Jose.

The whole thing was short and sweet but it sure made us love Aaron's new job!  If only we could get PwC to put us up in a hotel in the city more often ;)

 ^^Off to his 2nd day of work

Scoping out San Francisco

**I'm playing a bit of catch-up on old pictures and events before Aaron started working so here goes...

Aaron knew his first few days on the new job would be spent in the PWC San Francisco office so we decided to scope out how to get to his SF office and just play tourists for a bit before he started working.

We rode BART in (Aaron's first BART experience), walked to Aaron's office and then walked over to the Ferry Building.   The Ferry Building is right on the water and is full of shops and restaurants.  I vote that any time Aaron works in the city I should come and meet him for a dinner in the Ferry Building and then ride home together to San Jose :)

We then walked over to meet my dad at his office and go out to lunch.  We went to a delicious Indian food restaurant and Dad encouraged us to branch out (we love our Chicken Tikka Masala and really haven't ordered too much of anything else).  We got three really delicious dishes and enjoyed seeing and talking to my dad in the middle of his work day.

By the time we made it back to Walnut Creek we were seriously tired but it was a fun half day in the city.

^^Aaron humored me by taking a picture by these doors. I was just excited that this is where he would go on his first day of his career!^^

^^Aaron looking like a confident soon-to-be-father and me with a 23 week baby growing inside^^

^^Dad ordering the Indian food.  I should have gotten a better picture but I got caught up in our conversation and our good food :)^^