However, as the dreaded three-oh approaches, it is apparent that we need to make some additional guidelines for PPAAA membership:
1. Only the penitent man shall pass
2. You must be in touch with your feminine side
3. Giveth and ye shall receive
Of course, the aftermath:
Goodbye Farnish and Austin! We have almost 5 years of memories at our first home "Farnish." Many memories of late night pong games, cooking dinner together, Christmas decorating, gardening- watching my cantaloupes take over the field, our infamous 10 feet tall sunflowers, Karl growing his "babies" (trees), and of course our beer can chicken incident! ....Austin, we'll be back...
We went to LA for the weekend to go to our friends Ben and Melissa's engagement party in Malibu on Sunday. We decided to go to Disneyland all day Saturday & we had a blast! We rode every ride and didn't even go home to take afternoon naps like we did as kids! Little did we know that Christmas at Disneyland started the day before! The minute we walked in the park there were decorations everywhere, Xmas music playing the whole time, and a huge Xmas tree on Main Street. The rides were just as fun as we remembered and some of them totally revamped with a Christmas theme. The longest we waited in line was 40 minutes and that was for Karl's favorite ride- Peter Pan (not!) It's a Small World was lit up with Christmas lights and was incredible looking! 
Karl and I decided it was time to jazz up our workouts a little and we joined BOOT CAMP! A change from our normal running routine through Golden Gate Park we decided to try something new. Karl joined a co-ed class in the evenings and I joined a women's only class in the mornings...early...5am! We are very sore and loving it! Carly kicks our buts and 10 minutes into the class I'm peeling off layers of clothing. 
Mom and the girls, Riane and Tay, visited us for the 4th and we had so much fun! We went to so many different cities- LA, Malibu, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Carmel, and of the course our favorite- San Fran! 
We all walked to the park and saw the Butterfly exhibit in the Conservatory of Flowers and it was so neat to walk in this atrium full of butterflies buzzing about landing on you! Taking a limo to Chinatown was fun! After seeing the 1 hour trolley line to Chinatown we decided to hop in a limo for the same price to take us to Chinatown! It really does feel like you are in a different part of the world the way the streets are just packed and narrow and plenty of dead animals hanging in the windows of markets...interesting. 
Florida with the girls for Wein's Batchelorette party was a blast!! (We all look so normal and innocent here..don't be fooled! :) I miss my girls so much! We had so much fun just hanging out on the beach, talking, laughing and of course partying! (We didn't have too many encounters with junk yard cats falling out of the rafters) but we all had very rough flights home on Sunday to say the least...I can't wait for the wedding to party with everyone again and hopefully get some TEX MEX and ritas! (click here for all the pics)
We went to Lake Tahoe to rock climb with some friends this weekend. There were six of us total and we were very lucky to stay at Karl's co-worker's fabulous vacation home in Lake Tahoe. The drive from San Francisco was about four hours. We climbed at Luther Spires the first day and had to hike in about 40 minutes to get to the rocks. We climbed all day with the guys completing about 6-7 climbs that day. (PICTURES!) I successfully got to the top of a hard climb for my first climb outside! I was very proud and it was tough! It's alot harder without all the preinstalled grips built into the wall for you like the gym and was having to stick my hands into tiny little crevices and pull very hard to propel myself up the huge rock. It took me awhile but I did it! The next day, moving a little slower and definitely sore from the first day we climbed at Big Chief and the hike in was about 30 minutes and the climbs were a little tougher and taller at some points. We climbed and then went a took a dip in the chilly Truckee River! It felt soo good and it was warm out this weekend so it was refreshing. We forgot what cold water really felt like after our warm swims in August in Texas. There were a ton of rafters and tubers floating by and we were happy to actually take a dip in some water. It made us miss home. We had a great weekend and can't wait to go back and camp and then SKI in the winter!!
What a weekend! We went to Sonoma Valley for our Anniversary weekend- 2 years! Saturday we drove just an hour north to beautiful Sonoma Valley for the weekend and decided as we left dreary, cloudy and cold San Fran that this was a good day to get out of the city! We decided to make this a camping trip as well as we have never camped by ourselves with all our new camping equipment. I (Jamie) would like to add that this was my first time camping with no electricity or water at the site and I did very well! Our plan was to set up camp in the daylight then start our bike ride through Sonoma Valley to visit different wineries.
(By the way- doesnt Karl look like one of the lead singers in the "Spazmatics" band with his helmet and backpack on here? Except unfortunately his isn't a Star Wars Backpack! I kept laughing the whole time we were biking!) I planned a 10 mile bike loop that included five wineries. The weather was so different just one hour north of the city- sunny and HOT! Finally, a taste of the Texas weather we left behind! I would say it was in the mid 90's in the heat of the day and dry! We went to the famous Sonoma Cheese Factory in Sonoma Square and loaded up on picnic supplies and hit the road to our first winery- Bartholomew Winery. We picnickend overlooking their vineyard and then biked to 2 other wineries- Ravenswood, where we love their spicy Zinfindels- yum! and then on to Sebastiani where we loved their zins and merlots as well! The biking in this area was awesome and flat with only some small inclines but nothing big at all and all the while biking alongside beautiful vineyards!! After three tastings we headed back- we still needed to be able to drive our bikes back! :) We hiked up Bald Mountain in the park and got some great views but it was too hazy that day to see San Francisco. The second day we completed our bike tour with three more wineries- Gundlach Bunschu, which was our favorite perched up on a hill overlooking their vineyards- another perfect picnic spot! Then, we toured and tasted at Buena Vista Winery and Schug. So fun! (See more pics in our Gallery...)
Muir Woods, 2006
We completed our tour and headed back to San Francisco. We stopped at the famous Muir Woods park on the way home, just a few miniutes north of San Francisco and the minute we opened our car door it was cool again! I'm telling you- you learn about dressing in LAYERS here! We hiked a 3 mile trail that winded around among the gorgoeous, huge redwood trees. It was awesome and and as warned- crowded. This redwood grove is the closest grove to San Francisco and gets lots of tourists! The hiking was cool and there were warnings up everywhere to watch out for Mountain lions and coyotes! (Signs everywhere saying- "pick up young children if you see a mountain lion" Crazy!
It's basically about a 3 mile stretch of beach on the Pacific that is beautiful but foggy, windy and cold! It was so different than the Texas coast I'm use to and everyone on the beach had sweaters on and had bonfires going! The only critters going in the water were the dogs and even they weren't dumb and seemed to be running out pretty quick. Hopefully Karl and I will ride down there together sometime soon with a bottle of wine and watch the sunset behind the fog...:)
I was so excited to be in San Francisco for my 27th birthday! Karl took me to eat at the famous Cliffhouse restaurant overlooking the Pacific. The restaurant is about a 3 mile drive from our new apartment and he made reservations to be there to watch the sunset! The view was amazing- with floor to ceiling windowns perched right over the ocean with the waves crashing on the rocks right in front of us! The sunset was gorgeous and the fog made for some really pretty colors mixed in! We had terrific seafood and my favorite- La Crema Chardonnay! yum! Anyone who comes to visit we will definitely make a stop here for drinks at sunset!
After getting unpacked and settled we went sight-seeing with some Flurry co-workers. First stop- Golden Gate Bridge! It was an unusually clear day and we got some great pictures. (See Gallery) The weather has been perfect since we got here- it ranges from upper 60's to mid 70's and the sun has been shining every day! We must have brought the good weather with us from Texas! There is so much to see and do in this city! Every day I think of somewhere new I want to go explore and see..better get busy before I start work here soon!
After three 12 hour days of straight driving from Austin- we're in San Francisco AND we're still married! Hooray! We drove to Deming, NM the first night and then through Arizona to L.A. the second night and stayed in Malibu and then from Malibu we took Rt 1 most of the way to get to San Fran! Rt 1 was incredible and we got some great shots of the scenery along the way. The roads were extremely curvy and you can only drive about 20 mph the whole way up Rt 1 but it was well worth it to see the ocean and the views! We will be posting all our pictures in our Gallery so stay tuned!
View from Rt 1
