We are home from SF! It has been a long day – we woke up at at 3:30 AM SF time, for a 5:50 AM flight. Even though we went to bed early last night, it was an early morning. We connected in Denver and made it back to DC by around 3:30. Looks like spring (summer?) is here! Our azaleas are starting to bloom, and my pansies look great. I moved the hanging pansies to the backyard because they were dying, and they perked up with the sunshine. I do not think we can hang plants on the porch – they really don't get enough sun.

Allie is back home with us too, and seems to be OK. I got a worried email yesterday from our dogsitter, who said that she had been very lethargic, but she perked up today and seems pretty normal. I think she's glad to be home, although now that I think of it, I haven't gotten a yodel yet. Maybe she misses Duffy, the bearded collie she's been hanging out at the dogsitter's house. The girls came with me to pick up Allie and they were happy to see her and meet Duffy.

No school tomorrow, which makes the transition back to work a little easier. No lunches to make and a more relaxed morning for me and Daddy.

So here is what we did for the rest of our trip:

Saturday morning, we got up and the girls and I went out for bagels at Noah's (well, the girls had bagels…) while Daddy went for a run. Then it was back to Chinatown to pick up the lanterns that the girls had seen on Thursday. M got an orange one and A got a pink one. We are supposedly going to hang them in their room, over their beds.

Then it was off to a cable car. At $5 a ticket (!), I thought it was underwhelming. Too crowded for the girls to hang off the side, and too short of a ride to appreciate it fully. But we hopped off at the base of Telegraph Hill and walked the long, painful walk to Coit Tower, where we waited for the elevator up to the top and enjoyed the great views.

Then it was back down to Washington Square where we went to a new-to-us restaurant for lunch called Cafe Divan. Yummy. We decided next to take a bus to the Exploratorium, which was a nice slow ambling ride through the Marina. The girls really enjoyed the Exploratorium. Daddy took them around the exhibits while I took advantage of the free wireless and downloaded some TV shows for the girls to watch on the plane home. (I'm not a huge fan of interactive museums.)

We walked around the Palace of Fine Arts and then headed over to Crissy Field to take some pictures by the ocean. I got a bit melancholy because I was looking up the beach at the dogs romping up on the sand, and it reminded me of taking a young Allie there when I lived there. She was so energetic and frisky and healthy back then, and it made me sad.

It then started to rain – a good SF misting – so we walked up to the Marina in seach of dinner on Chestnut Street. We stopped in a bookstore (yay!) for a while, walked around for a bit, and then opted for take-out salads from Pluto's. The girls wanted to eat in the hotel, so we brought our food back to the room and ate there. It was nice and cozy. Packed up, got in bed, and lights out by 9:15.

So that was our weekend in a nutshell! Travel today wasn't bad. Daddy got upgraded to first so he enjoyed the nice seat from SF-Denver and I got it from Denver-DC.

I will upload pics tomorrow!