Still got it

I had a lot of fun this weekend. Sacha and her mom spent four days with the kids so that I could go down to the Bay Area to visit my best friends from college. And, since my parents live in the area, I got the double bonus of seeing them, too. It was a whirlwind of a weekend - one night with my parents, then two nights at a fun hotel overlooking the Bay Bridge, then a quick lunch on Sunday with my parents and then pretty soon I was back in the rainy northwest. I had a great time, though. It was so nice to catch up with friends who know me so well, especially after what a rough spring it's been for me, and to have fun in the city at the same time! We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, went to the California Academy of Sciences, and spent most of the rest of the time eating delicious food and laughing a lot. It was perfect.

So, I got home last night and this morning, as I was rushing around to get the kids out the door to go to music class, I looked outside and realized there was no car out there. A few moments of mental confusion later, I realized I had parked it by a MAX stop several miles away and then, when Apa so graciously picked me up from the airport last night, completely forgot to ask him to drop me by the car on the way home. So, instead of going to music class, we had a big adventure to retrieve our Civic!

We took a long walk to our nearest MAX station and then took two different trains and another longish walk to get the car. It actually wasn't too far from our house, just awkward to get to on public transit. The reason we always park there for airport runs is because it's right next to our first apartment building from when we moved here in 2004, and there are no time limits on parking in that area, which is pretty rare in a city. And, it's pretty close to a MAX stop that leads to the airport. Anyway, the kids were very patient about the whole thing and loved riding on two different trains.

Afterward, as a reward for excellent behavior on everyone's part, we all went to Grand Central Baking and indulged in bacon, eggs, bread, juice, and decaf espresso (that one was for me only, obviously). It's been awhile since we went on a spontaneous adventure and I was very pleased at how well it went. Let's keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow, when we have to take the very same Civic in to get looked at by the mechanic. It's been making a weird noise and clearly needs some kind of attention, but the whole thing will require another long walk and some interesting transportation juggling. Let's hope I've really still got it!