Mother's Day
Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, was the local radio station, KFOG's, annual "KABOOM" (aka SkyConcert) free concert and fireworks show. They take over an entire Pier near the Bay Bridge and literally tens of thousands of people congregate for the festivities. The Dodgers were also in town, playing the Giants just a quarter-mile down the road. As I came over the bridge back from and East Bay visit and noticed all the commotion (i.e. traffic), I was reminded of what I was doing just one-year ago. Actually, it was one-year and a week - KFOG must have hosted this year's party a week earlier than last year.
Last year, I was sitting in the same traffic which was compounded by 2 factors: 1) we didn't have a FastTrak pass which helps speed you through the toll plaza and 2) the traffic was worse as the Giants were playing the A's. So, half of the East Bay was trying to get over the bridge to go to either event.
I, on the other hand, had no interest in attending either event. I'm a Giants fan and love the KABOOM concerts, but I was in labor and trying desparately to get to the hospital to have my babies! Last year was a Mothers-To-Be Day (see my blog posting here).... This year got to be our first "real" Mother's Day!!
Our first Mother's Day was spend, naturally, with both our mothers and Paul's sisters, who are also mothers in celebration. We traveled down to a great park in Palo Alto called Mitchell Park. The park includes shuffleboard courts, checkerboard/chess tables, seven tennis courts, two paddle tennis courts, four handball courts, jogging trails, picnic areas with barbecues, multi-use concrete bowl, toddler playgrounds, children's water park, large dog run and restrooms (the restroom by the toddler water park has toddler-sized toilets and sinks - great for kids; a real challenge for their accompaning adults!). Since you need to reserve the picnic tables in advance, we made a giant layout on blankets and tablecloths on the grass under a huge tree, which actually gave us more shade than under the reservation-only arbor and tables. The kids had a great time running between the water park and the sand box (bad combination!), challenged Paul to a water-balloon duel, and played with grandparents and toys under the shade of the tree. Enjoy our pictures here.
