Tim's older brother and sister, Jonny and Lizzie, came up from San Diego to visit this weekend! They both flew into Oakland on Saturday morning, so Tim and I woke up early to feed, love, and walk Navi to daycare and then we drove over to the airport to pick Lizzie and Jonny up. Lizzie has come to visit a few times before, but this was Jonny's first time visiting us in Berkeley, so after picking them up we drove over to campus so that Tim could give them a tour of Berkeley's campus, the labs he works in, and downtown Berkeley. We parked somewhat close to campus and we walked all around and we even showed them the dinosaur museum on campus that has a cast model of a T-Rex skeleton. We talked about whether a T-Rex was big enough to eat you up in a snap. The verdit was that yes, yes, they can. After showing them around, we wandered into downtown Berkeley and realized we were hungry! Jonny and Lizzie had been up very early in order to catch their plane, so after we realized that most restaurants weren't open yet for lunch, we decided breakfast was good, too! We sat down at a new restaurant on Shattuck Ave (I have forgotten the name) and had a delicious breakfast. After we were full, we wandered back through campus, toured around a little longer, then headed back to our car.
Then, we headed to the Berkeley Botanical Gardens to show them around, which was a lot of fun. I can't help it, but I always seem to fixate on animals rather than plants. We found two adorable frogs in the little humid greenhouse for tropical plants. There were also orange newts in the little lake, and a big water snake! We played with water skimmers for a little while. Oh, and there were plants, too! After wandering around the entire botanical gardens, we were hot, and tired of the sun. We got back into the car, and headed to the Sake factory for sake tasting! Neither Lizzie or Jonny had experienced sake tasting, so it was very new to them. I don't much like sake, so I just tried sips of Tim's drinks rather than suffering through entire glassfuls of sake. After the sake tasting, Jonny seemed pleased that now he will understand what to order for drinks when he is eating out at a sushi restaurant. When we wandered out of the factory, Tim decided that we had all enjoyed the frogs at the botanical garden so much that we should go to the reptile vivarium! So we wandered the 5 or 6 blocks to the reptile vivarium where we lost another hour or two raptly staring at all sorts of big frogs, little frogs, tiny frogs, bumpy toads, gross snakes, incredible lizards and newts that climb the glass, other disturbingly large reptiles, horrifying hairy spiders, and silly turtles of all sizes. When we emerged from this unique place, we were pretty hungry. After going home for a little break, we headed to dinner at Sweet Basil on Solano, which is a thai restaurant that Tim and I like. I was excited because the specials that night included the pumpkin curry that I've come to love! Dinner was very, very yummy. On the way home, we picked Navi up from doggy day care, and she was besides herself with delight to see Lizzie and Jonny again.
On Sunday, we had plans to go for a bike ride with their Uncle Doug. We woke up early, took Navi for a walk, and the four of us headed off with four of the six bikes Tim and I now own. Lizzie rode my commuting bike, Jonny rode Tim's commuting bike, and Tim and I rode our race bikes. We got onto the bart and headed towards the city and met Uncle Doug at the Ferry Building. Some of us wanted coffee (everyone but Tim) so we headed inside to pick up some coffee and some bread to eat before we started. This was unexpected, so we got off to a later start than we had expected. There were hordes of tourists so every time I checked, the line to the bathroom was far too long to be tolerated. We headed off, biking down Embarcadero around the city and to the Golden Gate Bridge. We biked over this and into Marin, where we biked along the shore and across the bike path Tim and I had seen numerous times on our drives down highway 101 in Marin, around lots of hilly roads, and finally arrived at Picco Pizzeria. We stopped for lunch, and had some yummy pizza and soft serve ice cream with a dark caramel sauce on top. After lunch, we headed back the way we came, and biked home. It was a really nice ride of about 40 miles or so, and I think Lizzie and Jonny had a lot of fun. It was also really nice to see Uncle Doug, and have fun with the lot of them. When we got home, we all showered and laid around for a while until it was time to take Jonny to the bart station so he could get to SFO and fly home. Lizzie is staying until Tuesday, so she has more time here with us!
Then, we headed to the Berkeley Botanical Gardens to show them around, which was a lot of fun. I can't help it, but I always seem to fixate on animals rather than plants. We found two adorable frogs in the little humid greenhouse for tropical plants. There were also orange newts in the little lake, and a big water snake! We played with water skimmers for a little while. Oh, and there were plants, too! After wandering around the entire botanical gardens, we were hot, and tired of the sun. We got back into the car, and headed to the Sake factory for sake tasting! Neither Lizzie or Jonny had experienced sake tasting, so it was very new to them. I don't much like sake, so I just tried sips of Tim's drinks rather than suffering through entire glassfuls of sake. After the sake tasting, Jonny seemed pleased that now he will understand what to order for drinks when he is eating out at a sushi restaurant. When we wandered out of the factory, Tim decided that we had all enjoyed the frogs at the botanical garden so much that we should go to the reptile vivarium! So we wandered the 5 or 6 blocks to the reptile vivarium where we lost another hour or two raptly staring at all sorts of big frogs, little frogs, tiny frogs, bumpy toads, gross snakes, incredible lizards and newts that climb the glass, other disturbingly large reptiles, horrifying hairy spiders, and silly turtles of all sizes. When we emerged from this unique place, we were pretty hungry. After going home for a little break, we headed to dinner at Sweet Basil on Solano, which is a thai restaurant that Tim and I like. I was excited because the specials that night included the pumpkin curry that I've come to love! Dinner was very, very yummy. On the way home, we picked Navi up from doggy day care, and she was besides herself with delight to see Lizzie and Jonny again.
On Sunday, we had plans to go for a bike ride with their Uncle Doug. We woke up early, took Navi for a walk, and the four of us headed off with four of the six bikes Tim and I now own. Lizzie rode my commuting bike, Jonny rode Tim's commuting bike, and Tim and I rode our race bikes. We got onto the bart and headed towards the city and met Uncle Doug at the Ferry Building. Some of us wanted coffee (everyone but Tim) so we headed inside to pick up some coffee and some bread to eat before we started. This was unexpected, so we got off to a later start than we had expected. There were hordes of tourists so every time I checked, the line to the bathroom was far too long to be tolerated. We headed off, biking down Embarcadero around the city and to the Golden Gate Bridge. We biked over this and into Marin, where we biked along the shore and across the bike path Tim and I had seen numerous times on our drives down highway 101 in Marin, around lots of hilly roads, and finally arrived at Picco Pizzeria. We stopped for lunch, and had some yummy pizza and soft serve ice cream with a dark caramel sauce on top. After lunch, we headed back the way we came, and biked home. It was a really nice ride of about 40 miles or so, and I think Lizzie and Jonny had a lot of fun. It was also really nice to see Uncle Doug, and have fun with the lot of them. When we got home, we all showered and laid around for a while until it was time to take Jonny to the bart station so he could get to SFO and fly home. Lizzie is staying until Tuesday, so she has more time here with us!
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