i hiked up to the top of buena vista park this morning in the cool, gray mist. i love mornings like that up there. it's surreal and dreamy in the quiet, damp woods and feels so removed from haight street below.

on my way to cole valley hardware i saw two or three groups of burners readying their vehicles for burning man.  it's such a colossal effort but so much fun and usually totally worth it. someday dan and i will return but we will most def be leaving the kids at home. i can't think of a worse buzzkill. plus they would be miserable. the lillywhites and the blazing hot desert sun are highly incompatible to start. then add some blinding sandstorms and 100 degree heat and you have the v.i.p. circle of dante's inferno.

last thursday i was invited to a luncheon at town hall for a new uptake blogger, caitlyn fitzsimmons. it was absolutely delightful. while i still love the printed page and lament the downfall of the newspaper industry, the negativity of the workplace at the chronicle does wear on me (a fresh crop of layoffs was announced last week). to be surrounded by such a talented, inspired and lively group of people working in new media was utterly affirming.  and the food, well,  i love town hall. i'm a freak for heirloom tomaoes and i had the absolute best of my life a couple of years back at t.h. heirlooms were on the menu thursday, presented a little differently and less simply with breadcrumbs and feta, but absoluetly divine. the butterscotch and chocolate pot de creme was smooth, rich, heavy and outstanding. a wonderful and inspiring lunch. thanks pat and elliot from uptake.com.

now, i'm up in my office where i can see the spires of st. ignatius church up the hill, the baby naps, parker talks incessently as i attempt write even though she promised to color and draw me a picture of the beach, and i can hear the strains of the last day of the 'outside lands' festival playing in golden gate park. missed it again. maybe next year...

yesterday parker started her first day as a pre-k student at laurel hill nursery school, the co-op that she (and we) attended last year. it wasn't tearful or traumatic for me, mostly because i'm so happy she's there not navigating her way through the san francisco unified school system yet. and also because i was at work and dan dropped her off.

we staved off the madness of the striving-for-diversity-but-failing-dismally school lottery system that san francisco employes to place children in public schools. at least for a year. her birthday is just days from the cut-off and while she's totally ready for kindergarten, frankly i'm not. i like to think i'm giving her another year of relative freedom and creativity in pre-k before she goes into "the system." plus, she'll thank me later in middle school when she's one of the older girls and in high school when she's the first in her class to get her license (though i'm told kids don't really care about that anymore... weird, it was such a milestone for us).

we live one block from our neighborhood school but have no guarantee of getting her in. no, we might not fit the demographic of the "diversity index" and could be placed in a school out by the cow palace or in potrero hill where we'd have to drive at least thirty minutes twice a day to get her to school.

tell me frisco, by not allowing/supporting neighborhood schools, rather having minivans, SUVs, and wagons traversing the city twice a day, five days a week transporting our precious cargo to and from school -- what does our carbon footprint really look like?

ok, so we're good at composting. but, wtf??

i was really excited to check out the california academy of sciences in golden gate park last friday. so excited that i almost bought a $250 membership in advance. it is, after all, practically in my front yard. i was ashamed to admit that friscomama and her babes had yet to make it across the northeast corner of the park to this much-lauded institution!

so, last friday, i hooked up with my friend angela and her brood and her friend jen and hers. i was encouraged by the fact that the line to get in didn’t cross the mall and spill out for a quarter mile down kennedy drive as i’ve witnessed on a number of occasions.  jen has a membership which saved us the staggering $25 entry fee for adult admission. am i high or is that high? anyway, we were in.

the soaring entryway was light-drenched and beautiful. the building is quite glamorous and showy. we started over to the lush, enticing  rainforest exhibit enclosed in a see-through  dome that rises four stories and replicates the rainforest habitat. but once we got there we were told it was a 40-minute wait just to get in.

ah, no thanks. waiting in line with six kids aged one through 11 is not my idea of  a day off well spent. i’d honestly rather be at work.

down to the aquarium.

the massive tanks filled with amazing sea creatures from an albino alligator to spotted sea horses to sleek  leopard sharks was really impressive. theoretically you are able to get up close and really integrate. but in reality, with hundreds of people trying to do the same, it was barely possible. at least not for me with a four-year-old and an almost two-year old.

after about ten minutes of fish watching, roman took off like a shot into the crowd. it’s dark (aquarium) and people move slowly  (trying to see above/through/around the person/people in front of them) and the place is big with narrow passageways. i’m not a panicker, but i seriously didn’t see my young son for a good five minutes and my heart was starting to race. he thought it was funny.

remember, please, this was the cal academy on a weekday when it was not crowded...

back upstairs. the kids were intrigued by the huge shark jawbone but i was put off by the photographer’s busking.

the moss room restaurant has gotten great reviews. michael bauer loves it. i was curious to try it for lunch. the menu sounded great –  all sustainable and california and shit, but with the average entree at $20, it was a no-go for lunch with kids.

lastly, we went up to the groovy “living roof”. The roof is literally a garden of native plant species. the ladies and i found it fascinating though there wasn’t much blooming at the time. it looked more like a rolling hills of sod.

but, guess what? kids really don’t care about sod. true, that.

as i was leaving the roof, i got a call from my friend lyla tying to make a workout date. i expressed my frustration as she has children the same ages as mine. she then told me that there is a toddler room that was really key to the visit for her. ah, why hadn’t i seen anything about this on the website? too late.

clearly my kids aren’t really ready for the experience of cas. that’s not to say i'll give up. but i’m not buying a membership any time soon.

i hear the night thursday p.m. cocktail/dj/nightlife scene is awesome. maybe the trick is to leave the bits at home, have dinner at the moss room, and drink with adults while getting your weird science on.

going to see maria bamford at the punch line tonight.  she is an absurdist comic who can switch from various different characters without pause. sort of like  tracy ullman on crank. loves her. she's tiny and tweaked and manically funny.

one of the bennies being married to dan are the free shows (both comedy and music) and the vip status that comes with. we'll get free tix,  a sweet table,  bar tab, and often back stage access. plus everybody knows him and they treat us like rock stars.

we're meeting up for one at caffe puccini in north beach, the old 'hood, then if it is a lovely, balmy evening we'll  eat al fresco at trattoria pinocchio or if the fog has creeped over russian hill bringing gusts of arctic chill with it, we'll head to tommaso's, a family-owned frisco institution. mama lidia makes lasagne on tuesdays and it is to die.

i'm finally back in body after the spa girl getaway in napa last weekend. i so rarely get away that i sucked the life out of the 30 hour escape. i think i was up till at least three drinking red wine with meg. not especially relaxing when you only get five hours of sleep, but i recouped in the steam and sauna and did laps in the pool. i'll post deets soon on uptake.

it was heavenly. i hope heaven has  hands like my girl amber at silverado resort.

the foggy gloom of san francisco's summer finally wore me down last week. i had to get out. dan and the kids had escaped to 90 degree weather in sonoma a couple of times this summer, but not me. i had pinned hopes of logging in some proper beach time and wearing summery dresses and tank tops on my vacation on cape cod, but i was foiled by crap weather.

so, i decided we should go to tahoe. my friend joe loaned us his cabin in south lake and we went up last weekend.

it was exactly what my fog-shivering soul needed. sun, sleep, beach, grilling, swimming, eating, biking, drinking, 'weeds' on dvd -- and heat! i even went running a couple of times. imagine that.

we visited dan's brother and his wife and three boys. yup, three boys. i don't think i could handle being outnumbered by all that testosterone. i'd probably grow a third breast to compensate.

we borrowed bikes from them -- dan pulling nino in one of those trailer/chariot type things and me with parker on one of those tandem adult/kid bikes. i only almost killed her once! i lost my balance pushing off to cross highway 89 and nearly put the thing down (and her with it) before  an audience of about 50 people but i saved it with the help of a caring stranger. i have the imprint of the chain on my right calf and i swear my ass still feels bruised. the seat was brutal. but it was really fun. i need to get me a new bike.

kids were good. i think roman escaped with just a single head injury. it's tough being (almost) two. but he had quite the egg on his left temple going into the weekend. something to do with the toilet/bathroom door. thankfully not on my shift. my shift was the toilet-brush-in-mouth incident. i guess he figured it looked kinda like a large toothbrush.

they loved the beach and literally frolicked in the water. so damn cutey. good times.