Minnesota and San Francisco

After returning from France, we headed up to Minnesota almost immediately - no sense in hanging out in such hot weather! Emily was very excited to get back to her "summer home" (even though it is not actually ours). She says that it feels like ours because we rent the same place every year. The temperatures were definitely cooler, so we enjoyed that and all of the great food.

It wouldn't be the mid-west in the summer if it didn't get its fair share of wild thunderstorms. We had some big ones this year, but they were always great for cooling things down. One afternoon, a storm arrived very unexpectedly and I told Emily that it was probably a warm rain that would make for a good shower. She got pretty excited about that and immediately put her swim suit on so that she could go play in it. As you can tell, she loved it! :)

Emily was also thrilled to see her cousins and spend some time at the county fair. They rode rides together, saw the animals, and Emily even went to her first ever demo derby. Not surprisingly, the rides and the animals were a hit, but the demo derby was too loud and boring for her. I agree!

Upon our return from Minnesota, we didn't waste much time before flying to San Francisco for a conference/boondoggle. Our conference activities gave Emily a chance to swim in the pool where she always seemed to make a friend (not shocking!), and oftentimes it was with a child whose parent(s) were attending the same conference.

Enjoying the view from our room

We did plenty of sight-seeing with the girls (a bus tour, Berkeley, hiking Muir Woods, etc.), and there were a few things that Emily really loved. One was watching the seals at Pier 39. We took two trips to see them and spent about half an hour each time. For a couple of days Emily decided that she was going to be a marine biologist, but that thought has already waned and she is back to wanting to be a baker.

While in the area, we decided to stop at the Buena Vista, a place that we discovered on our honeymoon. It was rather fortuitous for Emily because it turns out that it has the best french toast that she has ever eaten (and Abbie agrees with this assessment). Emily ordered it three times during our trip.

As you can see, yet again, she has a bit of a snaggletooth as an adult tooth is pushing a baby tooth out of the way, but the baby tooth isn't quite ready to come out yet. While walking along the pier, Emily also stumbled into helping with a magic show. :)

Finally, Emily seemed to enjoy walking around Chinatown. She even bought herself (actually, I bought her) a Chinese dress that she was very excited about it. You can see it in her hand below, although her main interest here was in reading with the little bronze girl. :)

All in all, it has been a whirlwind summer and I think that Emily has enjoyed all of our trips. She has seen and done so much in such a short period of time, but I also think that she is looking forward to staying put for awhile in her own house (her real house!). :)