A Weekend With Dad

There really is no better therapy for an atrocious week at work than a weekend one-on-one with your one year old daughter.  Makes one forget about all the superficialities of life.  Lisa was in Arizona visiting Cheryl this weekend, the Bay Area was blessed with some brilliant spring weather so Lilia and I made the most of it outdoors.  On Saturday we took the Surly from the popular tourist lookout over the Golden Gate Bridge on Conzelman Road down the roughly one mile trail to secluded Kirby Cove.  Lisa and I hiked down to Kirby a couple of months ago but yesterday was my first attempt at a steep off-road descent with Lilia on the back (Tennessee Valley last weekend was all flat).  Lilia pretty much giggled uncontrollably for the entire route down to the beach, I have a feeling this one is going to like adrenaline when she’s a little older!  There were a few campers and ambitious fishermen in the cove but other than that we had the place to ourselves.  Amazing to think that we were within spitting distance of a city of 4.3 million people and on the sunniest day (so far) of the year we had the beach under the Golden Gate pretty much to ourselves.  As she always enjoys doing at the beach, Lilia spent most of her time at Kirby Cove sampling the taste of the sand from one end of the beach to the other.  The photo above right is her standing next to a piece of the old military battery in prime position to be able to devour as much sand as possible by simply bending over and sticking out her tongue.  The diapers (nappies) for the next few days are going to be fun!

Dan Ransenberg also found himself flying solo with his son Samuel for the weekend so we organized to meet at Tennessee Valley parking lot at 10:30AM on Sunday to take the little ones for a hike to the beach.  I think Dan’s initial plan was for Samuel to have a little walk on the sand in his bare feet, but once Samuel saw Lilia’s little naked buns scooting off across the sand he had his mind set on heading in exactly the same direction!  The weather was magic for us and westerly breeze held off for our time in Tennessee Cove, both Lilia and Samuel were in absolute heaven as they frolicked around in the creek that meanders across the beach. A very popular spot for families down there on weekends like this.  If not for both Lilia and Samuel needing their afternoon naps, we’re quite sure that both of them would’ve been happy to stay down there playing in the sand all day!