Lemonade from Lemons, San Francisco-style

My husband and I planned a daytrip with the kids in San Francisco. The California Academy of Natural Sciences had a free day today, so that was where we headed. The traffic was as expected - bumper to bumper for a few miles, which lost us a good hour. We finally got to the Music Concourse around 11:00. Of course, the parking garage was full, so we had to drive around a bit to find a spot. We did, a few feet from where the line ended. If you think this is a good thing, think again. The line stretched...and stretched. We learned soon after we fell into the line that the wait to get into the museum was "at least" 2 hours. Yes, 2 hours, "possibly 3". Plus, we were dressed for the heat. Luckily, the kids and I brought hoodies; my husband did not, so he was freezing. Go figure. My husband and I looked at each other and gave each other that look...if you are a parent of young children, you probably know what I am talking about. It's that look that asks, "are we going to do this to ourselves and the kids??"

Needless to say, we turned right around and walked the few feet to our car (which, I am proud to say, I parallel parked so nicely). We packed the kids back in and thought a moment of what to do. I was determined not to go straight home. I just drove 3+ hours for some fun. I was going to have some fun family time, darn it!

We started towards the wharf. My husband gave me directions and told me to turn left onto Divisadero...If you have never driven in San Francisco, here is a quick tip: don't expect to ever turn left...ever. Okay, just kidding. But seriously, I had to drive a few miles before I could make a left turn. This little snafu in our plans worked in our favor though. We had forgotten about Japantown, which we passed on the way to find a legal left turn. I thought, how cool, let's go to the mall there instead - it's indoors, it has clean restrooms, restaurants, and the kids have never been there. Psst, (and don't tell my husband) I also wanted to go into the Japanese bookstore and see if I could score any Japanese knitting stitchbooks. Yeah, like I need more stitchbooks...

So the day wasn't a bust after all. We ate some really good Japanese food, enjoyed some taiyaki (fish shaped snacks that my kids think taste like pancakes with nummy stuff inside), and checked out some fun stores. The kids even got a couple of souvenirs: my daughter chose erasers that were shaped like food - soda, burgers, etc., and my son chose erasers that were shaped like baseball equipment. These weren't cheapo erasers either - my daughter's erasers actually opened and one of the food containers contained another eraser that looked like Japanese Ramen noodles. My son was ecstatic about his baseballs, and I purchased magnetic bookmarks made from origami. Good times.