A Fun Filled Day

We began the day with a birthday party for my cousin’s very cute 4 year-old daughter. So, we headed up to SF for the party.

Annabelle, the birthday girl.

It was an art party. White paper canvases taped to the wall and colorful paint was all the kids needed to have a great time.

My girls running through the “art gallery.”

After the party we headed for lunch. My high school/college friend Michelle and I planned to meet for lunch. Michelle and her husband have been living in SF for years. I’m glad I remembered that. I emailed an old email address of hers and luckily she still checks that account.

In college we met every Friday for lunch. We usually went to unique places around SLC. Today she treated me to a Belgium style crepe restaurant. Very good. It was wonderful to hear Michelle’s successes with getting a Masters in vocal performance, traveling solo through Europe, studying Opera in Italy, and eloping in the Italian Rivera to her long time boyfriend. Her stories all sounded very charming and very Michelle. I was so happy to meet up with her again.

The lovely Michelle.

Next we were off to the Randall Museum, a free children’s museum across town. Since I have no idea where I am going when I drive around SF we ended up at the far backside of the Randall Museum and in the nature park. All I knew was, I saw a sign that said “Randall Museum,” I saw a parking spot on the street (I know how rare that is), so I took it. We ended up hiking through the hills of the nature park. It was a delightful discovery. The views were AMAZING. The girls felt like they were on the top of the world.

Views from Corona Heights Park adjacent to the Randall Museum.

The museum was charming. It’s not new or fancy like other children museums. It kind of felt like walking into a redone high school science lab, but I liked that. There were plenty of hands-on science for the girls to discovery on their own. There were animals to see and pet, specimen slides to examine under a microscope and a red caboose in the train exhibit to play in.

Petting the bunnies.

The girls playing in the big red caboose and Mally drawing animals in what felt like a high school science teachers backroom. That room was full of science treasure like, human skeletons, rock collections, fossil and stuffed animals. They could have spent all day there, but I was getting tired so we had to go.

As I said before I parked on the street and since it is SF that meant it was on a steep hill. When I got to my car someone had squeezed their car between a motorcycle and my back bumper. The car was literally touching my car. And car parked in front of mine was not even a foot ahead. I didn’t know how I was going to squeeze my car through. I put the girls in the car, sat in the driver’s seat and said a little prayer. I knew I needed major help. I started my car and made one attempt to maneuver out. Not feeling confident at all, I noticed a man on the corner. So, I turned off my car and asked him if he would tell me when I got too close to the cars. He kindly agreed. With his help I did manage to drive out of that tight squeeze, but not without bumping the car behind me. I figured they were the ones who parked behind me and “kissed” my bumper, so they must be comfortable being so close and getting a “kiss” in return. All-in-all it was a interesting experience.