Our trip to San Francisco for my brother’s wedding over Labor Day weekend was a whirlwind. It went well overall, and we enjoyed all the wedding-related festivities, but let’s just say that being in downtown San Francisco for a wedding with a 1.5-year-old is CRAZY exhausting and stressful. We weren’t able to relax and enjoy everything like we would have wanted to, but we did our best given the circumstances.
My family rented a VRBO house that had 2 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms and slept 14, so we had my 2 other brothers and sisters-in-law, nephew, 3 cousins and 1 boyfriend, 2 uncles, 1 aunt, my parents plus me, Travis and Emma all staying in the same house. Luckily, our oven was broken when we arrived and the owners compensated us by giving us access to the downstairs unit, which had 4 more bedrooms and a bathroom. So we had plenty of space to spread out in the end.
The first day, we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf with my aunt, uncle, brother, sis-in-law and nephew, and toured the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a ship used during WWII.
That afternoon, Jill (the bride) had a ‘bridal bash’ where a group of us ladies went on a chocolate tour in downtown San Fran. We learned a lot about gourmet chocolate, the history of the area, and ate/drank chocolate until we were sick of it. It was fun!
After that, we went to dinner at the Biergarten, a casual outdoor German restaurant. The food was delicious, but unfortunately Emma was not the happiest camper sitting around, so Travis and I had to take her across the street to a park for a bit, and then we headed home early.
Saturday, we hung out at the house and park across the street until the Welcome Picnic in the Redwoods that Brian and Jill (Brill) were hosting. It was a beautiful setting, and the sandwiches, potato salad, chips and dessert really hit the spot (so much so that I ate way too much). Emma loved running around and getting dirty.
Jen and I got dropped off with the kids at the Conservatory of Music on the way back by our aunt and uncle for the rehearsal and groom’s dinner. During the rehearsal, we decided that Emma would just come in during the procession with me and Travis instead of her walking with the other (older) flower girl – which, it turned out, was a very good decision. The groom’s dinner was on the bottom floor of the Conservatory and was BBQ catered by one of Brian and Jill’s friends. It was tasty! There were also 3 cakes for dessert – the one I tried was pineapple and coconut. Delicious.
Without my aunt and uncle’s car, we had too many people to fit in just the one minivan so my brother Chris and SIL Meg ended up walking the 1.5 miles back to our house – and they had to push our jogging stroller (empty) because it wouldn’t fit in the car either. It was a very hilly 1.5 miles home, but they were troopers.
Stay tuned for Part Two…
Life, Really Blog 