San Francisco - Last Day

On our last day in San Francisco we slept in a bit.  Well, until around 8am, which feels like sleeping in to me!  We grabbed breakfast at Breaking Bread (yes, it was good enough for a repeat visit) and then decided to go tour Grace Cathedral.  This meant we had to hike all the way up Nob Hill, which is no small feat.  Seriously, if I lived in SF I wouldn't need a car or a gym membership.

The hike up was so rough that I couldn't take a picture of the cathedral.

Just kidding.  I just forgot.  I was too busy gabbing with Lance and getting distracted by all the other buildings in the area.

So I stole this picture from the interwebs.

Yep, that's what it looked like.  Actually, this looks better because they were redoing the front steps so it was all under construction.  They didn't even have those beautiful Doors of Paradise, which I was pretty bummed about.  (Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get Lance to take me to Italy to see them.  Hint hint.)

The inside was pretty standard cathedral-like.  Okay, that's weird, because all the cathedrals I've been in (and I've been in a lot) are pretty amazing, just in sheer size.  The vaulted ceilings, the arches, the stained glass - it's all pretty impressive.  But this cathedral had something extra - an art installation.

Apparently the cathedral has taken on an artist in residence who has strung 20 miles of ribbon from the ceiling.  It was really, really pretty.  (The pictures really don't do it justice.)

We walked all around the cathedral, looking in the little chapels and corners.  My favorite part was a wall that had framed pages from the bible, dating back centuries and centuries.  (I studied this sort of stuff in college - it was pretty exciting to me.  I'm sure Lance thought I was crazy for reading the little description of every single page.  I don't care - it was cool.) ((Random side note: when my brother and I went to London we went to the British Library and I got to see an original Gutenberg Bible, an original 1215 Magna Carta, and original Beatle's lyrics, all in one place.  It was aaaahhhhmmmaaaazzzinnnggg!))

So, anyways.  We hung out at the cathedral for an hour or so.  Here's my feet in the cathedral's famous labyrinth.  It felt a little weird just walking across the labyrinth instead of following the lines, but I'm a rebel like that.

Eventually we made our way back downtown, stopping for the first Jamba Juice I've had in probably 5 years.  We hung out at the hotel for a bit and then it was finally time to go.  I was sad to leave, but also anxious to just get the traveling over with.  Am I the only one like that?  I love to travel TO a destination, but going HOME is never fun.  Not that I don't love home, but it's just not as exciting as vacation!

We decided to take BART to the airport, since it is faster and far cheaper than a shuttle.  Our train car was full of other people with luggage and the ride was uneventful.  We got to our terminal at SFO only to realize that we were in the Smallest. Terminal. Ever.  Seriously, I've been in a lot of airports, and I've never been in one so small. And this was at SFO!  We had planned to eat something quick and easy at the airport, like McDonald's or something, but our options were either some sit-down place called Perry's or Amazingly Overpriced Crepes.  (Okay, that was not the name of the crepe place.  But it could have been.)  We went for the crepes.

On the way out we had flown on United and they were great.  On the way home we flew on Frontier.

Never again.

First of all, they didn't even seat us together.  Seriously?  I mean, okay, we didn't notice this until we were boarding the plane, but who thinks to check that they're sitting together when you bought the tickets together?!  Am I weird to expect seats next to each other?

Well, the list continues.  Our flight was an hour late taking off.  They charge TWO DOLLARS for a soda during the flight.  What the what?!!?!  I mean, seriously, it's the principle of the matter.  How much money do they actually save/earn in selling a can of soda?  Not enough to make up for the definite feeling of bad customer service it creates in the customers, that's for sure!  The flight attendants were extra grouchy and even rude to several passengers around me.  And then they had the gall to hawk a Frontier Airlines credit card during the middle of the flight.  They didn't even ever acknowledge or apologize for the flight being late.

Since our flight was late into Denver we basically had time to run to the bathroom and then get on to our next flight.  The second flight was pretty much the same, although the flight attendants didn't seem quite as grouchy.  On the drive home Lance and I both swore that we would never fly Frontier again, no matter how cheap they are.

We got home pretty late, and even though we were jet lagged I fell right to sleep; traveling wears me out.  Besides, I knew that the next day would start bright and early - and it did!

Only Josh seemed to care that we were finally home, so he was my favorite child of the morning.  (Everyone else took it in stride.)

When the boys got home from school we gave them their stuffed animals and all the little tchotchkies Lance had picked up from the conference.  They were all quite thrilled!  (Which is a relief.  Who wants to be the parents who bring home bad souvenirs?  Especially after all of the dang effort we put into getting the dang things!)

Tess and her hard-won pink pig.  Thank goodness she liked it! (She's sleeping with it in her bed as I type.)

Josh and his red dragon.

Spencer's black robot.

And Cole's... wait a second.  Nope, that punk wouldn't let me take a picture of him.

But I did get a couple of good shots of all four children.

As great as my trip was, I sure was glad to get home.  I sure love those kidlets of mine.

Nails!

Tess has been wanting me to paint her nails, so this morning while Cole was at preschool we got to work.  She was so proud!

"So pritty!  Princess hands!"  (Anything pretty is "princess".  Obviously.)

She couldn't stop looking at them and was quite pleased with herself.  I had even let her choose the color at the store, so bonus.

In a study of contrasts, this is what Tessie looked like this morning after a bagel with Nutella on top.

She was, to quote the girl, "A messy princess."

San Francisco Trip - The Silvers' Side of the Story

Janene was gracious enough to share her weekly email with her family, which details the goings on of the Madsen children while we were out of town.  Omigosh, I love this.  I might have to add "writing a guest blog post" clause to the next babysitting gig I set up.  None of my kids' actions surprise me, nor any of the comments about their notoriety at church - I'm not blind to their behavior.  

Enjoy.

******

Dear Family,

A month ago, we got an email, which read more as an advertisement (which makes sense, seeing as the author has a degree in Marketing and Advertising).  We were asked if we would babysit 4 kids ages 9, 6, 4, and 2, for 5 days while their parents were 2000 miles away.  This particular family has kids whose screams and yells are well known to every Sacrament meeting attendee, and even more so to the Primary and Nursery workers.  This was no secret to the parents, hence the advertisement format.  We were offered the experience of sleeping on a wonderful memory foam king size mattress, having free reign of garden-fresh vegetables, use of an awesome minivan, and the eternal love and gratitude of this family, in addition to some monetary compensation.  As former Primary instructors, we knew what this would entail, so naturally, we said "sure, but we want to know this, this, this, this, that, and that," hoping that all these details would discourage the advertiser.  In this, we were frustrated, because the advertiser is hyper-organized, able to answer and address every question we could come up with.

So, last Sunday, we embarked upon this adventure.  We received a green binder with schedules for the days we would be there, along with menu ideas, activity ideas, and optional events, such as napping.  Then, the parents drove off into the sunset.  (Well, not quite; it was 2:00 in the afternoon.  But, they left.)

On that first day, Janene got the experience of making a meal which nobody ate.  She made Hawaiian Haystacks, a meal marketed as having something for everybody--there are a billion toppings, after all!  She and David ate dinner.  The kids ate a topping or two.  There were many leftovers, which made Janene happy (for the sake of leftovers, not that nobody ate).  Then, she loaded dishes in the dishwasher (!) while the kids enjoyed their computer-on-the-weekend privileges.  In this, we did not discourage them, for there was no hitting or yelling.

On Monday, Janene went to work and David stayed home.  This made a lot of sense, since Janene makes more than David, and David has good stay-at-home dad skills.  (It was really because Janene had to physically be there to teach a class, but David's writing this portion, so we'll use his rationale.)  In this, the natural order of life was maintained.  Janene did, however, change the two-year-old's diaper before she left, because there are some things that Davids do not do.  David was on top of everything on his to-do list: the kids had their chores done, lunches made, and were out the door ready for school a full 35 minutes before the bus was scheduled to come!  This led to 35 minutes of hide-and-seek.  Though David tired of the game quickly, the kids did not, so they kept playing.  Eventually, the bus did come, and the two oldest kids were gone, leaving two fewer people to help entertain the younger kids.  David had a 10 am meeting that he had to Skype into, which meant that we had to entertain ourselves indoors.  The plans were to do something that afternoon, but these plans were inconvenienced by the youngest child needing to take a nap.  This turned out to be a great convenience, though, because there was now one less child to entertain.  Unfortunately, the napper was the child who needed the attention the least.  David had to entertain the remaining child, who is the most famous of these children to the Nursery and Primary workers, and indeed, to the whole ward.  The napper napped, and napped, and napped, for nigh on three hours of napping.  David was concerned she was napping too long, but he REALLY liked having only one kid around, so he let her nap.  David also didn't want to waken her, because before nap, he had to change a poopy diaper.  Eventually, she did wake up.  Wanting to leave the house, David suggested we go on a walk, an activity said to be popular, according to the green binder.  The activity was popular for both, but the direction to go in was not.  The boys would be home from school in 25 minutes, so we had to stay nearby; however, any attempt to turn in the direction of the house, or go in any path which would circle back to the house, was met with loud screams.  Eventually, they were tricked into doing a circle.  The school bus came, and David was grateful, because we had been standing in front of the house for 5 minutes, and he was worried that the kids would soon realize it was THEIR house we were standing in front of.  The boys did get off the school bus, and the kids were entertained by snacks, and a few minutes of SpongeBob SquarePants.  But all too soon, it was time to do homework for the two oldest boys.  David took the youngest two outside, hoping that Janene would hurry up and get home before he had to change a third diaper that day.  Eventually Janene showed up, David started a grease fire and burned half the hamburgers by accident, we ate, and then went swimming.  We did wait the requisite hour after eating before swimming, but mostly because it took that long to get swimsuits and sunblock on everybody.  After swimming, we came home and did the ritual fight of pajamas, teethbrushing, prayer, scriptures, and bedtime story.  David ended up changing three diapers that day.

On Tuesday, David didn't change any diapers.  He went to work, and Janene stayed home.  Since Janene likes to eat pancakes every day, and it's not very nice to eat pancakes and make everyone around you eat cold cereal, she made pancakes for everyone.  She learned that the temperature setting on the electric griddle did not match the temperature setting on her own electric griddle.  She also learned that she needed to spend most of breakfast time helping spread peanut butter, cut pancakes into pieces, and pour syrup for those not able to do it themselves.  Then she sent kids to shower and bathe.  She did not have everyone ready to go 35 minutes before the bus was scheduled to come.  But, they caught the bus with no problems.  The four-year-old had a preschool open house, where he would meet his teachers before preschool really started.  While driving to the open house, the two-year-old showed off her navigational sense, announcing that we were passing the "Pool!" or the place where they buy "Gas!"  The four-year-old did well at the open house, completing his scavenger hunt, where he learned where to find the sinks, the bathroom, the puzzles, the baby dolls, and other important locations in a preschool classroom.  He even did well at washing his hands after painting with them.  Upon arriving back home, we went outside, at which point the four-year-old became adamant that "Tessie wants to go inside!"  Tessie did not want to go inside, she was quite content to be pushed on the swing, but that did not convince said four-year-old.  After distracting him with the task of picking tomatoes and watering herbs, he did okay outside.  In serving lunch, Janene learned that four-year-old boys do not do well with the idea of sharing a plate of fruit; rather, they can get quite possessive if someone else takes a slice of apple from the plate which happens to be in front of them.  Then, the napper went down for her nap, and the non-napper struggled to entertain himself.  Any suggestions from the thorough list of activity ideas in the green binder were immediately dismissed, with a sound, "No!"  Eventually, the napper woke up, and the older boys came home from school.  David came home, and dinner was eaten.  Yes, you read that right, dinner was eaten, not picked at!  Then, the oldest and four-year-old went to a piano lesson.  This meant that David entertained three kids: the four-year-old, the piano teacher's four-year-old, and the piano teacher's not-quite-two-year-old, while the oldest had his piano lesson.  Of course, it helped that the two four-year-olds did alright at entertaining each other.  Meanwhile, Janene relaxed with a mellow two-year-old, while the six-year-old ran around outside.  Bedtime was as expected.  David and Janene expanded their game repertoire by playing Uno Attack with the nine-year-old, who is allowed to stay up an hour later than his siblings.

On Wednesday, Janene once again went to her high-paying job, while David didn't; he stayed home.  This time, he only had the kids ready 15 minutes before the bus came.  There was only 15 minutes of hide-and-seek.  This time, David wanted to DO something, so they all piled into the van, and went to Columbian Park Zoo, a local establishment featuring monkeys, a butterfly garden, a walk-through kangaroo enclosure, sea otters, and a giant tortoise, among other things.  Following his usual timing, David showed up 40 minutes before the zoo opened!  Luckily, the zoo shares grounds with a park.  Unluckily, the infant swings were being remulched.  This led to the same problem that was experienced on Monday's walk.  This was solved by having the older child hang out with a grandma and her kids on one toy, while David took the other child to a different toy.  In this way, we were entertained for 25 minutes.  A long snack ate up the remaining 15 minutes, and finally, the zoo was opened.  Now the kids didn't want to leave the park.  After many reminders of why we were there in the first place, they decided they did want to go to the zoo after all, and we walked over.  So far today, David hadn't changed a diaper.  We stayed at the zoo for an hour.  The animals were kind of boring, though; it must have been a late night for them.  Driving 5 mph below the speed limit, we made it home in time for lunch (they're very quiet when in the van).  The normal routine of lunch, nap, and entertain the remaining child followed.  David didn't dare try and go on a walk again after the napper woke up, so we played on the swingset instead.  David has perfected the art of pushing a swing with one had while reading a book with the other.  Someday, he'll replace the book with a smartphone.  Janene came home later than she did on Monday; David thinks that was intentional, but he didn't ask her.  That meant that dinner was a little late, because it's harder to make dinner when you have a bunch of kids around.  For all you mothers out there, there's a big learning curve; I'm sure that after that first time, I can do it much better now.  The oldest child was picked up for Cub Scouts, which meant it was 3 on 2.  The neighbor kids wanted to play, so we sent the kids outside.  The children were put to bed a little early so that David could go to Horrible Movie Night, a Mystery Science Theater 3000 style event.  The movie was appropriately horrible--Plan 9 From Outer Space, anyone?  David only had to change two diapers that day.

On Thursday, David went to work and Janene stayed home.  She made pancakes for breakfast again.  This time, she tried to teach the six- and nine-year-old how to cut their own pancakes; she was moderately successful.  The four-year-old had his first day of preschool.  After driving past the "Pool!" and "Gas!" we arrived at "Hey!  There's my preschool!"  The four-year-old, who, the previous year, had major problems leaving his mom to go to teachers he didn't know, had no problem leaving someone he sort of knew to go to teachers he didn't know.  Upon returning home, the two-year-old became rather sad and upset, possibly from being on the 4th full day without mommy.  But, the green binder held the solution: milk on mommy's bed, with the all-powerful and soothing piggy blanket.  The rest of the morning, she entertained herself well.  Then, it was off to pick up her brother from preschool.  The two-year-old did not want to leave the van once we pulled into the garage, and Janene had no problem with that; she could take 10 minutes to come inside if she wanted.  The four-year-old, on the other hand, did NOT like this arrangement.  "Tessie needs to go inside!  No!" (along with the beginnings of sobs) "Tessie needs to go inside!"  After about 10 minutes, Tessie decided she was ready to come inside, and the minor tantrum subsided.  Despite being adamantly against the idea of eating anything that was suggested, both kids ate their chicken nuggets and peaches.  The napper went down for her nap, and the non-napper actually did very well at entertaining himself!  (If only he could start off every day with the stimulation of preschool . . .)  Homework was done, dinner was made and eaten, and we went to the pool again.  There, the two-year-old explored the excitement of making a fountain with the squirt toy; she couldn't figure out filling it up, but she had fun squirting the water out.  Then we went home, got the kids ready for bed, and told them that when they woke up, their parents would be home.  Then, Janene packed up her stuff, said goodnight to David, and went home.  (She had to teach at 8:30 the next morning.)  The parents showed up at 1 am.  David told them we had taken the kids swimming, so they probably should shower the next morning, to which the mom replied, "pshhhh"; she wasn't going to worry about it.  Then David came home and tried to sleep, couldn't because he was already awake, so stayed up and did work for a few hours.  At church today, we learned that the kids had been a little crazy this weekend, and were asked if we wanted them back.  :)

And that, dear family, was our week.

Love,

David and Janene

San Francisco - Day Three

Okay, seriously, yesterday's post was a little out of control.  I will try to keep this one shorter.

I don't know that I actually will, but I will certainly try.

So, once again Lance was off for an early morning and I was left to my own devices.  My own devices happen to be my favorite, so I was cool with this.

I took my sweet time getting ready, started getting hungry, and then discovered that my brand new shirt that I had worn exactly one time had a hole in it!!  What the what?!  Fortunately, it was just a seam that had come apart at the shoulder and I had a small sewing kit with me, so 10 minutes later I was good to go.  (Yes, I had a sewing kit.  Yes, I am the closest thing to an Eagle Scout my parents ever had.)

I ate at this awesome little place called Breaking Bread, which was sooo delicious, but again, this may have been because I was starving.  (I freely admit that I may have gone to this place because it reminded me of a certain TV show that I love to hate but mostly love.)  I sat outside and enjoyed the cool bay breeze as I ate my chorizo migas and read my Kindle.  *nom*nom*nom*

My plans for the day started with Coit Tower, where, amazingly, I had never been before.  I knew it would be quite a hike up the hill, so I decided to head up there early, hoping to get some good views of the bay before my tour.

Well, I walked. And I hiked.  And I pretty much scaled some vertical cliffs to get up that dang Telegraph Hill!  Oh my word, those were steep hills! We're talking sidewalks that were only stairs.  All the way up.  For several full blocks. Oh, and thanks to Google Maps I went through some fairly sketchy streets on my way.  I walked extra fast up those hills.  My eyes will never unsee the sign for "Big Al's Live Nude Girls".  Oy.

I finally made it to Telegraph Hill!  And then I had to climb more stairs.  Good grief.  I mean, I know I'm no Olympic athlete, but I've been running regularly for a couple of months now and have pretty good endurance.  But boy, what a hot mess I was after that climb!  My face was totally sweaty and my hair was totally frizzed out and I was there a good hour before my tour.  And the views...

Well, as you can see, the bay was not being cooperative that day.  Instead of the fog burning off by 9ish as it had all week, it was 10am and still very, very foggy.  Dang it.

So I tried for a selfie, but again I look goofy.  I need to take some lessons from my cute Young Women.

That faint shadow is the Bay Bridge.  Oh boy, it was All Bridge All The Time while we were there because on Thursday night they were shutting it down for a few days to open the new Oakland expanse.  Seriously, it's all the news talked about.  It was like a bridgepocolypse was going to happen.  Everyone was reminiscing and waxing poetic about that old span of the bridge.  I felt like writing a sonnet titled "Ode to the Bridge of My Youth" but never got around to it, because, you know, it's just a bridge.

Anyways.

Here's the tower.  It's pretty tall.  You could pay $7 to take the elevator to the top, but I didn't feel like it.  I mean, I've been to the top of some pretty tall towers; plus, it was foggy, so what would I miss?

So I killed some time by taking some pictures of my feet at the top of those dang stairs.  (Yes, those are new shoes.  My friend Jessica talked me into getting them and they are GREAT!  Probably the most comfortable walking shoes I've ever owned.  Skechers, you are my fav.)

And some views of the city.  That's not the direction I came from; the hills I climbed were much, much steeper!

That's Lombard Street, a.k.a. the Crookedest Road in the World.  I thought about walking over to it and then realized that it was a 1.5 mile walk just to get there, not to mention come back.  Hey, I've been to that street before.  I've walked down it and driven down it.  I didn't need to see it again.

Then I chatted on the phone with my dad for a bit.  It was nice to talk to him.  Generally he's the one on the road when we talk, but this time it was me out of town!  (Granted, he was out of town, too, but still.)

I noticed this interesting tree; I thought it was so pretty.  The fruit on it was fuzzy and weird and reminded me of something out of a Dr. Seuss book.  This made me think of my brother, Kyle, because he sure loves and knows a lot about landscaping plants.

Another selfie.  My hair = out of control.

So finally it was time for the tour!  Coit Tower was built during the depression, and in order to support starving artists the government commissioned 26 artists to paint murals on the inside.  Then they told them what they had to paint.  Well, as artists are wont to do, they painted what they wanted and often left subtle and not-so-subtle messages in the scenes that told the government how they really felt about life, the universe, and everything. (But mostly about how they didn't like the government.)  Some of these paintings were really quite controversial, but somehow they survived. It was really quite fascinating, so I will now go through a detailed explanation of each one.

Kidding.  But here are some of the ones I liked best.  I like how the window is part of the silo; the silo was kind of a joke because after the tower was built not many people liked it and they called it The Silo.

The artists painted the faces of the other artists all throughout their murals.  Not that I knew what any of the artists looked like, but the guide assured us this was true.

Our tour guide, pointing out some possible anti-Semitic portions of this mural.

Apparently the artist was an admirer of Hitler... until he had to fight in WWII.  Then, not so much.

See the SS symbol on the box? Not-so-subtle.

This was one of the most controversial murals of all because it showed all these different people reading controversial papers.

Then, because we were extra cool and because we were on the official tour, we got to see murals that are closed to the public.  They're painted on a narrow staircase and in some smaller rooms on the second floor.  If the general public were allowed up there the paintings would probably be damaged.  It was really neat.
 

The murals in the final room were far different from any of the others.  They were done by the wife of the architect/builder (?) of Coit Tower.  I just think they were so pretty and so different.  I really liked them; especially the scenes with children.

After the tour the fog was clearing, but it was still pretty dense over the one thing I really wanted to see:

Seriously, I went to SF and never once saw the symbol that pretty much defines the city because of the fog. I'm awesome like that.  But I did see Alcatraz!

Ah, there's the city!  See the Bay Bridge?  That's about where I started from and then walked all the way to the tower.  Because I'm awesome like that.

After the tour I was at a little bit of a loss as to what to do.  I didn't have anymore tours to go on and didn't have any plans.  So I walked for a bit in the general direction of the Golden Gate Bridge, hoping the fog would clear.  I saw gorgeous bougainvillea on then way.  I really wish it could grow in Indiana.

I ran across a bunch of these.  The Barbary Coast featured heavily in my Bawdy and Naughty tour, if that gives you any sense of what that area was generally known for!  They have these little plaques in the sidewalk in the general area of where that district used to be.

Eventually I found myself down at the one place I swore I would never go.  The one place that seems to draw all tourists like a magnet: Fisherman's Warf.  I had walked all the way down there to see the dang bridge, but it was still foggy.  (As it would be.  The entire day.  Everywhere else: clear.  Golden Gate Bridge: fogged in.) I got another good look at Alcatraz.

I took a rather obligatory look at those dang sea lions.  They're still there, barking and goofing off and getting in the way of the sailors.  And being stinky. The tourists still love them.  (I don't.)

I even took a video of them for the kids.  Cole has probably watched it a dozen times already. The best part was when I was walking further down the pier and a giant sea lion was on a warf he shouldn't be on and a sailor had to use a hose to spray the sea lion off.  The sea lion was quite offended.

I strolled down Pier 39, looking for some possible souvenirs for the kids, but couldn't bring myself to buy anything.  It was all just overpriced stuff I knew they wouldn't really like.

It was well past lunch, it was hot, and I was pooped.  I could have taken the light rail home, but decided to save myself $2 and just walk the mile and a half back to the hotel.  I figured with the time I would have to wait for the light rail and then ride it, I'd be home about the same time.  I was right.

There's Coit tower as I was walking along the Embarcadero.  There was a huge Princess Cruise ship docked, which seemed crazy to me.  Who would go on a cruise to SF?!  Foreigners, I guess.  It made me feel bad for them, though, because Fisherman's Warf and the other touristy spots they probably went to?  Not really the best parts of SF in my opinion.  Because, you know, now I'm a SF expert and all. Ha.

Well I got back to the Ferry Building, which was close to our hotel, and decided to get lunch.  So I picked up a sandwich at this place I had seen on the Food Network and that I really wanted to try just because of the name: Boccalone - Tasty Salted Pig Parts.  I mean, seriously, how could I not? (The sandwich I got?  Awesome.)

And then, because I couldn't get ice cream the night before, I indulged in some perfectly delicious gelato, which I ate on the way to the hotel.  (One scoop of dark chocolate, one scoop of blood orange, in case you were wondering.)

I fell onto my bed and ate my sandwich while watching lame afternoon TV and browsing Pinterest.  I felt slightly guilty about not seeing more of the city, but then I thought "Hey!  I'm on vacation!  It's okay to by a little lazy."  And so I was.  And it was heavenly.

Finally, it was time for the VMWorld Party.

Guys.  This party.  It was a Party.  (That's party with a capital P.)

Okay, I know the thought of a party with 20,000+ IT professionals doesn't sound very... partylike.  But seriously.  VMWorld killed it.

First of all, they rented out AT&T Park.  As in where the SF Giants play.  Yes, the entire park.  (I've been to this park several times, and I've been to many other ball parks.  This one is still the nicest and prettiest in my opinion.)  ((The SF Giants' awful record this season notwithstanding.))

Goosebumps entering!  (I am my father's daughter, after all.)

The place was packed.  Every concession and drink stand was open, and you could get whatever you wanted and as much as you wanted.  Lance and I were probably the only ones in the park not drinking all the free beer and wine.

We got some food and sat in the stadium to eat.  There were all sorts of carnival games and rides on the field.  It was a pretty amazing sight.

Remember how I mentioned that during the gold rush men outnumbered the women 50:1?  Yeah, those same numbers were in effect that night.  Seriously, so many IT guys.  I kinda stood out.  The concessions ladies were extra nice to me for it.  (One of them, a large older lady with lots of attitude, exclaimed "Darlin', you're the first woman I've seen in an hour!  What can I get you, sugar?!"  I fell in love with her instantly.)

Okay, so not only was there free food, free booze (Or, in our case, free sodas.  Woo-hoo!), rides and games, all at an awesome venue, but there was also - get this - TWO CONCERTS.  I kid you not.

The first band was Imagine Dragons.  I've been listening to their album a lot recently and you know what?  I really like them.  They have a lot of potential. (And I'm not just saying that because they have ties to BYU and such.)  I could tell that most people had never heard of them because they gave me funny looks when they caught me singing along with the songs.

You know how some bands don't sound as good live and it's a disappointment?  Imagine Dragons is not one of those bands.  They sounded great!

And what were we doing while the concert was going on?  Well, we could have stood with the rather large, large crowd right in front of the stage, but I'm not so big on being squished in a big crowd with lots of people I don't know.  So we instead we walked around and played carnival games.

Oh, and took pictures of my feet.  On the infield.  Of AT&T Park.  *wheeeee!!*

Here's Lance playing the one game I actually beat him at.  It was hard!  We decided we should get one stuffed animal for each of our kids; these weren't the cruddy plush toys you usually get at carnivals - they were pretty nice.  And free!  (Or the most expensive stuffed animals ever, depending on how you look at it.) ((I chose not to look at it.))

We got three animals pretty quickly: a red dragon and two different robots.  We decided what we really needed was a pink pig for Tess.

Oh brother - getting that @#$(%*!!! pink pig turned out to be ridonkulous!  Seriously, all of the games with those dang pigs were impossible!!  And yet, they couldn't have been, because we saw plenty of rather inebriated people walking around with pink pigs.  Gosh dang it!!!  It became a quest. We HAD to get a pink pig for Tess.

But first, we had to take a picture of me on First Base.  (I blame my goofiness on the fact that a couple of drunk guys told me I should slide into first, which I politely declined and said leading off of first would be good enough.  They didn't agree.  I told Lance to just take the picture so we could get out of there.)

I also got to stand on the pitcher's mound, which was pretty cool.  I contemplated stealing some of the dirt for my dad, but realized that was getting a little weird.

But back to the quest.  Game after game we played, and no pink pig!  After something like 295 games we decided to take a break and get some churros.  Because that's what you do in situations like this.  You also take some pictures.

By this point Train was playing.  Train is pretty good, not my most favorite band ever, but I like most of their songs.  They were alright; not as good live as on the radio.  But that lead singer sure knew how to work the crowds, bringing people up on stage to sing with him and stuff.  A true entertainer, I guess.

The evening was drawing to a close and we were getting desperate: we had picked up a stuffed penguin, but no pink pig!  We decided to play one more game - it involved shooting water at a target.  I should have known that anything with shooting was right up Lance's alley.  He lost the first try, but rocked it the second.

 "What do you want?" the carnie yelled to Lance.
"A pink pig!" yelled the triumphant father.
"A what?" said the incredulous carnie.  But then he tossed him the pig.

Hurray!!  We had scored the pink pig!  If Tess didn't like it then we would keep it for ourselves, we worked so dang hard for it!

We wandered a bit more and basked in our pink pig glory.  Then we found the Giant's dugout.  How cool is that?  Yeah, that's me.  Chillin' in the dugout.  No big deal.

I'm so bummed this picture is so blurry.  Because how cool is it that Lance is on the phone in the dugout holding a bunch of stuffed animals!? (Answer: very.)

The evening ended with fireworks.  Yeah, for reals.

I'm sure it was a spectacular show, but we couldn't see most of it because of the fog.  (Oh SF, some things never change...)

While everyone crowded their way out of the stadium, Lance and I sat on the sidelines drinking soda and waiting for the lines and crowds to dissipate.

We happily walked back to our hotel, prizes in hand, laughing about telling the kids about how hard we had to work for their toys.  "And then, we had to play MORE carnival games!  And then, we HAD to eat MORE churros!  All for YOU."

We are wonderful parents.

And it was a wonderful night.  I'm so glad I got to go with Lance.

P.S.  Here's the one shot I got of our hotel room. The bed is covered in stuffed animals and other conference paraphernalia.