Change of Plans, Change of Heart

On Friday, March 11th we woke up to news of the devastating earthquake in Japan. It was a solemn morning at our hotel as everyone was concerned and praying for the people of Japan. There were also many fears of the Tsunami hitting the Bay Area coastline. The hotel we were staying in is on the Bay but it is not in the direct path of any waves that may have hit. Fortunately the Bay Area was only mildly affected, unlike other areas of California like Santa Cruz.

I decided that the kids and I were going to take a break from our original plans that had us going into San Francisco and stay at the hotel. We had planned another day of taking BART into the city and for most of the morning BART was saying they may shutdown at any moment.

Instead we decided to play it safe at the hotel and make our own waves in the pool. I don't really want to sound like we lived it up or anything because honestly I spent most of my day watching my children feeling so completely blessed that we were safe and together. I wanted to hold them tighter, enjoy them more, express my love for them more. It was a day of quiet, simple fun.


I was throwing diving sticks for the boys to find in the pool. They found all of them but one and were looking all up and down the pool for it. And Rose popped herself out of the water and said, "I have it!" She had asked me if she could "GO!" while I was waiting to say, "On you marks, get set, go!" to the boys. I didn't think anything of her swimming around, she is so good at swimming now that we pretty much give her total freedom. But when she popped up with stick none of us could believe that she can dive to the bottom of the pool now too. Rose was one HAPPY girl!



After we swam for half the day we went Fishing! The girls were happy to get their girly Tinkerbell fishing poles. Darin and Nathan were happy to graduate to grown-up poles. I was thinking about getting them all new poles this summer but every morning we would walk and see guys fishing off of the pier by our hotel and the kids kept asking me if we could fish. The mood of the day seemed like a perfect afternoon to spend fishing. Especially as I thought of my Mom and my grandfather who just passed away a few weeks ago. My Tatang (filipino grandfather) taught me how to fish and took me all the time. It was nice to reflect on my loved ones and feel closer to them as I shared the love of fishing my mother and grandfather had given me with my children.
The girls had so much fun casting their toy fish into the bay. It was really great for them! Nathan was a very good teacher.

The boys and I spent practically the whole time setting up their new pole and learning how to cast without a button to release.




Just 5 minutes before we were about to call it an afternoon Rose accidentally dropped her fishing pole in the bay. She was so devastated. Also, I should mention that the affect of the Tsunami on the part of the Bay we were fishing in was fairly minimal. It was like High Tide all day and there were some rough currents. Usually we can really only see small waves at the edge of the shore, but there were 1-2 foot high waves all around us. We thought maybe it would increase our chances of catching something but it didn't.


Oh, my goodness I love that little bum!
After Ken got off work, he took the kids downstairs for the free snacks and drinks while I was able to get ready for our date. Like as in ACTUALLY shower and get ready! Sometimes I think only other Stay at Home Mom's can understand what that means to me:-)

Darin (can I just say it is so nice to have a kid who is old enough to babysit:-) watched the kids at the hotel and Ken and I went out to dinner at the Hungry Hunter. A restaurant that we LOVED 13 years ago and ate at practically once a week if we could afford it. Seriously we loved this place. Fast Forward to now and it was just so-so. The tableside salad bar was still amazing! The hot, fresh sourdough was delicious. Our steak was not that great, neither was the clam chowder that I used to love. And the main killer was that they charged us $9.99 for my side salad because Ken and I just shared the Porterhouse. That was ridiculous to me. The decor was seriously shabby too. It's hard to say if we have changed or in the chain has changed.

We had fun though, especially trying to balance on a fence to take this picture of us by the sign with my iphone. We stopped at Rite Aid and picked up some Thrifty ice cream to bring home to the kids. Thrifty's used to be a drugstore like Rite Aid when I was growing up and you could buy a scoop of ice cream from the counter for $.39 and a double for $.65 They have a flavor called Chocolate Malted Crunch that I totally love. Anyway, Rite Aid bought them out so some of their stores still sell cartons of the ice cream. Of course we know which ones do/do not within a 20 mile radius of Ken's headquarters:-)

It was good day for all of us and one that reminded us to slow down and enjoy the precious time we have with each other.