Weekending :: Walt Disney + Valencia Street

Flip Flop weather in January!  Yes, really.

Our weekend was long and full.  A few trips to Bodega Bay wherein we visited with friends, went to the beach (twice), had the requisite hot dog at the golf course, dropped soup off to a sick friend, attended the annual crab feed, visited with the former postmistress and popped in one of Steve's open houses on Cliff Avenue.   We had a lot to do in that little town!

I love you more than bread.  I do.

We also worked on our second batch of Valentine's Day cards.  We started saving these plastic bread ties (is that right?) several years ago for a friend who incorporated them into his art.  I noticed that some of the plastic pieces had little heart-shaped pieces cut out of them.  G quickly divided them up and we set to positioning them just so and affixing them with our strongest glue.  Oh, and added a silly sentiment.  I think they are just great.

My purging and organizing continued throughout the weekend.  I tackled the dreaded jewelry hutch in my bedroom, parted with lots of books from Grady's overflowing bookshelves and created harmony in my closet.  My house feels clean and pared down.

Waffles & Walt

We had a family day in the city on Monday (MLK, Jr. Day).  The only museum that wasn't closed on Monday was the Walt Disney Family Museum, so we gobbled up G's homemade waffles and hit the road.  The museum is located in the Presidio and is housed in a renovated, former barrack.  It was tastefully done and had loads of letters, drawings, old films and you really learned about the genius of the man behind it all.

Views from the museum of the Golden Gate & the awesome paint samples from years gone by

There wasn't a lot of bells & whistles or flash to the museum and the history ended around the time that he built Disneyland and started his foray into television.  We also learned that he only lived to be 65.  What a life.  We then out to a gift shop (naturally, right?), but it was just a regular size museum gift shop and wasn't too obnoxious.  Very different than the Disney Store at our local mall!

G's favorite part of the exhibit?  The jars of paint pictured above.

Valencia Street has great street art

We ventured over to Valencia Street and tried to locate two southern BBQ joints, to no avail.  We ended up having a late lunch at Luna Park and it was fantastic.

We stopped in to 826 Valencia & Paxton Gate.  G acquired a small bag of porcupine quills and a raccoon penis bone. I don't know if I should be amused or concerned.  I think I'm both.

Father-son reading & a bunch of birds atop the Golden Gate

The guys started reading Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and had a tough time with the slang.  I love watching Steve read to Grady.  I'm a very animated reader and Steve is slow, quiet and steady.  I think our reading styles say a lot about us.  They're pushing through, but this one might take a little while to finish.

I love long weekends.