So Behind... last of San Fran

Here, to play catch up here is the remainder of our trip pics. I actually have other things to blog about this summer even if I don't have too many pictures to add. Enjoy!

I just fit!

I made AJ sit on this huge tire since I got into the big rope!

That's the Golden Gate bridge behind us. You can see closer up pictures from last years trip.

Lunch in the sun with a bottle of wonderful Calfornia Wine!

Where they make the best chocolate in the world! Also, notice I'm in tennis shoes with my skirt because after 5 days of wearing cute instyle shoes in a very hilly city... I learned my lesson and I was just going for comfort for our last day of walking city adventures! I pulled it off ok, didn't I?

Cheesecake dessert before our Dancing Broadway Show we saw on AJ's birthday!

At he top of Macy's at the cheesecake factory over looking union square on AJ's birthday!

Yes, that is a dog, with a cat on top and a mouse on top of it. Yes, they were all live and living. You can see this guy on Utube too!

AJ wanted fried shrimp for his birthday...

We both got sick from eatting so much fried food... that were not used to... blah.

We got hot chocolate, tea and coffee brought to our room for free every day with a wake up call! It was so nice being in an upscale hotel for a change! Bathrobes too! What fun!

This is me mad on the cable car ride on St. Patty's Day because AJ wouldn't stop taking stupid pictures in the dark of every car we saw while riding up the hill...

This is AJ super excited to be on the cable car and refused to sit down inside the car but hang on the outside like they do in the movies.... sigh.

San Fran #2

Here are some random monument shots around the city:

Union Square

Block Party in Financial District on St. Patty's Day,

,... yes, we got a "Boot of Beer."

Some weird sculpture on Embarcadero StreetFerry Building
Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate Bridge, and a flying bird.

More Later...

San Francisco, We Miss You!

What a great trip we had! Sadly, AJ came down with a fever of 99.6 one hour before our alarms were supposed to go off to get to the airport at 4am. I popped him some ibeprofin so he could break his fever by the time we took off (which it did, Thank the Lord!). I packed extra medicine and tons of vitamins and off we went! In Detroit, we saw a train inside the airport just to get people from one end of the termanial to the other, neat!

This was our first time staying over night in the city and for a whole week too! We got to upgrade our hotel to a ritzy place with an amazing view to the bay bridge and Fishermans Warf! We were on the top of the hill of Union Square which was a bear to hike up just two blocks of steep incline! Here are some pictures of the street our hotel was on to show you how steep things are.

It was rainy the first day there so we stayed in and got some much needed rest. Which, is so OPPOSITE what AJ and I do on vacations as most of you know. But because AJ was sick, it was truely a blessing to rest. We saw some of China Town with tons of open markets and cheap merchandise too!

The first night there, I took AJ and our friend James (who picked us up from the airport) to a Brizilan Resturant (thanks to yelp reviews) where dancers came out to put on a show through out the dinner. THe food was very authentic and good!

Before our dinner we got to hangout in their basement which has cool lighting, some benches and a real waterfall, it felt like you were in a jungle and we ordered a fun drink that had a flame in the middle (hard to see in the picture) with two long straws!! AJ looks so tired and sick and all 3 pictures we took of this drink, so I posted the best one I could.

This is us with James! Thanks for the fun times!

Then I went to do some shopping for the next 3 days while AJ was in his conference. It wasn't too bad. I worked out in the morning and met AJ for lunch in their AMAZING food court at the Westfield Mall. Every food place in the mall was like really nice, with real plates and silverware and you could order some wine with your meal, and they had a Koren BBQ place, an amazing steak shop, Thai, Japaneese, sushi, a Crapes and Geloto place, seafoon too! Everything was so high class and amazing food, with big portions. We actually would split a meal for lunch that of course was around $9 anyway for one portion!

On top of that, this Mall was 6 stories high! And Nordstrom was the top 3 floors.

The original Vera Bradly store was in there, which I visited, since I now know who and what that is. I took some other pictures for my little sister to prove I was there, even though I didn't have a clue what any of the stores were,... and I've NEVER heard of this Dior thing... it was just a big wall with a word so I took a picture of it!
I was actually kind of embarressed to stand in front of this picture of a drag queen. Yuck.

More San Fran Adventures to come!

San Francisco, We're Comin' Back!

So to hold tradition of traveling on our birthdays (during spring break) every year, we're going to San Francisco for a whole week this time, only in one city! I don't know how we'll do staying in one place for a whole week! AJ got a confrence for work out there and so we're off to spend a day in wine country again, this time in Napa since we saw Sonoma last time. We're staying right in downtown Union Square in the city in an amazing Marriot hotel! I can't wait to see what their gym is like! Also, we'll get to see their St. Patrick's Day Parade coming down one block from our hotel! We fly out March 14th! Woohoo!

Here are some of our memories from San Francisco last March.

Missing the Holiday

So, I think we have to wait until Easter to get some family, food, and holiday spirit... which is on my little sisters birthday this year, April 12th! Super Bowl was kind of a holiday for the rest of America but... not really. Work is giving a 4 day weekend over Valentine's Day too! I can't wait! AJ will probably do our typical order in G&M crab cakes, dress up in a sexy little dress (AJ doesn't do that part... :o)), and have candle light! The rest of the world goes out on Valentine's Day,... but for 4 years now,... we don't!

I can't wait for the next sister fondue night over Easter! Everyone else out there... PRAY FOR SNOW!!!

Little sister, her hubby, Bob, me, and my hubby, AJ.

All the women in the Wise Family, notice lots of cookies close by!

Excited for Alaska,... anyone?

So after much research and discussion, we've decided to go to Alaska for our big vacation this year! It will be our big trip before babies.

As many of you know, we are crazy adventure people when we vacation. So we've considered doing a 6 day, 5 night backpacking trip which includes, white water rafting, ice climbing, glacier trekking, sea kayaking, and of course camping outdoors in the wilderness of the Alaska mountains! AJ was so pumped that we'd have to be in top physical condition to do it to... do you want to know the one thing that deterred him?? That he wouldn't be able to shower except once in 6 days! HA! That's my super clean man!!

Eitherway, we found it's going to be more cost effective (to my suprise) to rent a car and drive it around to a bunch of different cities on the south east paninsula of the state while staying in bed and breakfasts and doing day long trips for the activities we want on different glaciers! We'll still get our class IV rapids and sea kayaking around glaciers in our trip, no doubt! We're still deciding whether to tack on a few days in Baff, Canada on our way home (the most beautiful place hidden between mountains and sitting on Lake Louise). As of now, we figured we can see Banff when we're older and we won't be able to go ice trekking, climbing, rafting, or doing crazy kayaking in open seas when we're older...

Here are some pictures to get you as excited as me!

Scotch Comes for a Visit

Our friends, Mike and Laura, had to go out of town for a week and we excitedly volunteered to watch their weinheimer dog, Scotch. It was great to see how much this big dog LOVES to cuddle! You can sit on the sofa or on the floor and he would hop right up next to you, turn around 3 times and then collapse right on your lap! We noticed also, because he has thin skin that he gets cold easily. We started covering him up with blankets and old towels and he would nudge his head under the blanket, so we started covering his whole face and he would give a big sigh of gratitude and give almost a purr once he was completely covered from head to toe!

what is that bundle of blanket between AJ's legs...


Oh, it's a huge 85 lb weinheimer!!!



That isn't even the funniest part. Laura mention that Scotch likes to sleep in bed with them and at first we weren't sure, but as soon as we climbed in, Scotch leaped up on our bed and walked up to our pillow and nuzzled his head under the covers and slinked his way down to the bottom of the bed, UNDER THE COVERS, and curled up in a little ball and went to sleep. We kept lifting up the covers to see if he could still breathe... AJ couldn't stop laughing either! He actually stayed out of our way and we didn't feel him much over the course of the night except when he got too hot, and would get out of the covers, go lay on the floor for about 3 minutes and then get back up into bed and we'd lift the covers and he'd crawl right back under them to the foot of the bed.

Just to show you how big he is, even though he can curl into a tiny ball,... this is a picture of one of the kids of AJ's study buddies who wanted his picture with Scotch by our tree... this is as close as the kid would get! HA!

Too funny!!! Needless to say, we're washing, blankets and sheets today now that he's gone but it certainly was fun having an 85lb snuggle bear follow you around all weekend! The walks in 20 degree weather were the best.... I guess you could say, AJ and I had forgotten all the things you do for a dog. As my mother would say, "it's best to watch and barrow someone else's dog so then at the end of the day, you can always give it back!"

We'll miss you Scotch! Thanks for a very snuggly, well-behaved, doggy weekend!