The "Mama" comes to San Jose...

We had our first visitor to Cali…the "Mama"…
Yep – Phyllis came roaring in to conquer the big bad city of San Francisco, smell the Santa Cruz Coast and shop San Jose with us. And as luck would have it…sweat to death since she arrived in the HOTTEST week of the summer in Norcal. Did I mention we do not have any air conditioning? The weather had been awesome and all we did was brag about it since she was melting away in Tucson. And then WHAM! (Murphy’s law of course) we got hit with the bay area heat wave…which of course was not the plan.

Day 1: We ran around shopping in San Jose – poor Jon was tortured but endured the agony of shopping EVERYWHERE. We did happen to have lunch at a great spot in willow glen (an old historic neighborhood) at "La Villa Deli" which is famous for its homemade ravioli. YUMMY! We ended the day in Santa Cruz and had a nice long walk on the beach. We ran around like kids and popped seaweed pods! Mom made the observation that the beach smelt like fish…hmmm…we will leave it at that.

Day 2: We traveled over to the Oakland temple and attended a session with mom. The temple is HUGE! It was great to have her with us and to have the opportunity to be there together. This was also extra sentimental for Jon since it was where his parents were married 33 years ago! Here are a few pics!

Day 3: Day of rest – mom went with us to our GREAT ward (a shout out to the Cambrian Park Ward) and then we rested all day! A bunch of lazy bones! We conned her into a game of chicken foot in which she beat the pants off of us! You can never win a game against the Phyllis – she’s a ruthless monster! And you all wonder how Keele became so competitive! Go figure?

Day 4: Luckily for us it was perfect weather in the city, which is usually pretty cold around this time of year. Since mom had never been to San Francisco we decided to do it like a tourist.

Yep – we caved and rode the BIG RED (double decker) Site-Seeing tour buses! It was actually a blast and a great way to see the city in one day. We started with a tour of the whole city so that we could decide where we wanted to spend our time.
Of course the first stop was MACY’s @ Union Square where we shopped – and found the new Paris Hilton clothing line – all we could say was "that’s hot"! We then had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory where we had quite the view of the city from the rooftop and a couple of pigeons getting their groove on. Yikes! We of took the double decker across the Golden Gate Bridge, which was Beautiful and very cold. See the babushka pictures of Keele!
We stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts (see mom’s so cute pic) and then on to the Cannery where we took a cable car down to the Marriott to observe 360° views of the city from the sky bar. Our ears popped on the way up the elevator.
Mom was like a little girl – as she discovered the city, full of questions and excitement. Luckily we had our personal "fact man" Jon so mom learned all the history of San Francisco. He is so COOL! We ended the day with a LONG walk to Pier 39 where we observed the Sea Lions fighting over their floating harems. We initiated mom with a traditional bowl of clam chowder from Boudin's at Fisherman's Warf. Isn't she a beautiful mama? Man she gets foxier the older she gets -must be those italian genes!

And…of course we ended the trip with a BIG FAT HOT FUDGE Sundae at Ghiradelli’s Square. Day 5: So sad – Goodbye mama! Luckily, Since Keele had to be at work early the next morning, Jon took the Mama to the airport. It was a BLAST of a weekend! We had so much fun with mom’s visit and now we are ready for the rest of you! You can book a room any time at the Elder B&B…you just might have fun!