Our little Mini Trip & The Power of Prayer!!

We headed out to the Bay area Thursday Morning. My mom watched Luis, Luhani and Lana for us and we took Jaidyn out of school and decided to make it a date/trip, Jaidyn loves those.
Luckily the roads were clear, except for a little bit of fog over Donner pass. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get to Foster City, and we heard quite a few funny things on the way, from our 7 year old of course. (Jaidynisms). It was a beautiful sunny day!

We went to my appointment at 1 p.m. and then headed to San Francisco looking for a good sushi place to eat. We ended up in the Marina at a place called Wasabi's only to find that they didn't open until 4:30 p.m. But across the street was this Gourmet burger place called "Barney's" OH MY IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! (and I'm not really a burger lover), they had every kind of burger imaginable, and they serve Sweet Potato Fries (to die for!!), I know where I'll be going every time we go to SF. The Marina had some awesome shops and boutiques, we ended up in this little flower shop called "In Water-flowers with attitude". It was like the little flower shops you see on tv, so quaint and smelled oh so good, the flower shop owner gave Jaidyn and I a rose to take.

Then Jaidyn wanted to go to China Town, she learned recently about China during the Chinese New Year and couldn't wait to see what it was like (although she has been there before many times, she just doesn't remember). So off to China Town we went!

Jaidyn was exposed to some cultural differences. We went into a store that had fresh fish, mostly live for sale to check out the different fishes they had, everything from Koi to Stone fish, crabs and Lobsters. The store was so packed you could barely get through (apparently we picked a market day), bugs were flying around everywhere and the water the fish was in was so dirty you could barely see through it. It was quite sad, all of them piled on top of each other barely able to move, waiting for someone to buy them so they can be eaten. But I think the thing that was most different than what we are use to, is they also had buckets full of turtles and frogs. Jaidyn thinking that they were pets, said "oh, can we buy one and take one home" Dad said "no, those aren't pets honey." What do you mean? They are to make turtle stew and frog legs with. She was so disgusted, then as we walked in a little more we came to an area that said "fresh eggs" The room was filled with cages full of chickens, quail and other various birds. There were even geese, that they apparently were selling geese eggs. (or that's what I'd like to think). Anway, it was very stinky and Jaidyn couldn't take much more so we headed out of the store. As we were walking this lady walked past us carrying a flour sack, I could see something moving inside of it and then a little feather poked out through one of the holes, it was a CHICKEN! Jaidyn asked if she was taking it home to be a pet, John said "no, that chicken is dinner". Yuck, she said. I said " the only way you're going to get around that is to become a vegetarian". Jaidyn said "no, I can't do that, I like bacon too much." It was a very eye opening experience for all of us, there's a whole nother world out there.



Jaidyn wanted the chinese dress and outfit so bad, and I have to say she looked totally adorable in it.

And then.....she saw the Umbrella! I have to have the Umbrella to match mom! She carried the umbrella everywhere, everyone kept saying "beautiful" and she would politely respond with a big smile from ear to ear with "Si Si" (meaning: thank you in Mandarin).

So after a few hours in Chinatown, we headed to Haight & Ashbury, but by the time we got there everything was pretty much closing up. We headed on down the highway to go back home and then I saw "IKEA"

I had never been there before, I've been to their store online, and my friends kept saying it's such a fun place to go, so we pulled off the freeway and parked. It was a completely amazing store! So much to see, and the prices were so awesome.

I loved this room! Such a great idea for our Living Room!

Baskets..baskets..any kind of basket you can imagine!

My favorite part was the Kid area! I loved all the fun colors and accessories for a kids room!

We might have to turn one of our rooms into a playroom soon!

There was so much inspiration there! Even though a lot of it was a lot more modern than we like, there was still plenty of great ideas and fun things to add to our own home.

We had such a fun trip! It was nice to get away for the day and so VERY nice for my mom to take the 3 little ones, while we went. Thanks Mom and Dad! We truly needed this little mini vacation.

So then on the way home...

We were on our way home and had just passed Donner Pass. I had been dozing off and on throughout the 3 hour trip home. When I woke up and heard John say "oh, no, oh no" He had his headphones on, so he didn't know I was awake but there was a Beige Volvo in front of us that had hit black ice and began spinning out of control. We were fast approaching and John (being the great driver that he is, and completely being watched over) we were able to come to a stop to avoid being in an accident. The car in front of us however was not so lucky, they skid across the entire lanes and then back again, caught about 4 feet of air and then smashed into the right shoulder side railing, where they then did a donut and ended up with their nose in traffic. We immediately pulled over and John ran back to make sure everyone was okay, while I called 911. During my time on the telephone, there was a semi truck that started skidding, luckily he was an experienced driver and was able to gain back control and continued down the highway. (that could have been really bad) The 911 dispatcher asked if anyone was hurt and I couldn't tell so I got out of the car and started walking to the severely demolished vehicle, and yelled "is everyone okay?" John yelled back "yes, they are all fine, get in the car, get in the car". and another crash was heard, a second vehicle had ran into the guard railing. I ran back and got in the car, told the 911 dispatcher they were fine but to send someone soon, people were sliding all over. John came back to the truck and said "I want you and Jaidyn to drive down to the nearest town, I'm going to stay here until the police come, but there are people sliding left and right and I'm afraid they're going to slam into you". I did not want to leave him there, he promised me that he would stand behind the railing out of harms way. Then right then when he was walking back to the wrecked vehicle, and I was entering the Avalanche, I heard more brakes locking up and screaching. It looked as if the vehicle was coming our way. It was so scary! And I couldn't seem to move fast enough, it was almost as if I was in slow motion (like those horrible dreams you have sometimes where you can't scream), and I was worried about John and hoping that he and the other people were all okay. I called him on the cell phone and at first he didn't answer. I began to panic, then I finally got him. Everyone was okay, the third car skid and hit the railing as well and the police had finally shown up. I was down at the nearest town which was about a 1/4 of a mile down the road, I ended up driving through the houses and parked at the bottom of the hill where the accident was. I felt so bad because John had to trudge through snow waist deep just to get down the hill to where we were, but I was too nervous to get on the freeway and drive. Jaidyn was pretty upset and shaking. After we all pulled ourselves together, we headed back home. Although I was really tempted to take the 1st exit to Truckee and stay with John's mom and her husband until morning. We safely made it home at about 1 a.m.!

Once again John and I felt as if we were being watched over. The previous day I felt really prompted to have my house thoroughly clean before we left on Thursday, I just kept feeling like what if something happened to us and someone had to come to our house, I wouldn't want our house to be messy. It kept bothering me all day and into Thursday, even when we were on our way there and in California, I kept thinking that something might happen. All I can say is that we said a prayer before we left (as we always do when we go on trips) and I truly believe that this is why we did not end up in that accident. For all intents and purposes it should have ended up much differently! I am so thankful for the power of prayer and for a husband who always encourages us to say prayers before we travel!