"Between the New Years"

Saturday, we drove out to the Presidio of San Francisco for a "Between the New Years" celebration with hundreds of families who've adopted from China.  It was incredibly fun and we were bummed that we forgot to bring our camera!  Fortunately, M3 and Rod remembered theirs and were so nice (as always!) to let us borrow it.  Here's one of the pictures from the day:

Of course, that's M3 and Rose and Marie with me and Maddy and Gwen.

Behind us are some of the buildings on the Presidio (which was, sadly, deactivated several years ago).  The one directly above M3's head was the old Criminal Investigations Division (CID) headquarters and the one to the right (in the corner of the picture) was the male barracks.  If you could see the one next to that, it would be the female barracks and that's where I lived for two years back in the early 1980's.

I can't tell you how nostalgic it was to be back on the Presidio after more than 20 years!  I walked on the same sidewalks that I walked on way back then.  What if I had a crystal ball and saw 25 years into the future to see the picture above?   

I just got some pictures from Mary-Mia of the girls playing in the bouncer so I'll update this post to add them!

	Gwen was VERY enthusiastic about the bouncer!  She was a wild woman and held her own with the kids twice (or more) her age while most of her peers stayed on the sideline and tried not to get bounced on!
	Once or twice, she was knocked flat on her back.  Here she is about to have medical aid rendered by a handsome 4 year old!  Don't worry, she was fine!  Gwen falls down usually for dramatic effect and likes to lay there for a few moments to see what kind of attention she can draw.  Yes, I do have a real Drama Queen on my hands!  She's tough as steel though and rarely cries even when she's really knocked down for real!
	Maddy had fun but was much more reserved about it.  Especially since the bouncer would suddenly deflate without notice and the whole structure would collapse onto the children (who were screaming and running for the exit flap).

Then it would spring back up and like a Jack-in-the-box and the kids would pile back in only to repeat the process 15 minutes later! 

We're going to get one of these for the girls' 3rd birthday party this summer.  Hopefully one that doesn't do the spontaneous deflation trick!

	Front view of the (Montgomery Street) barracks with Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
	This is me while I was stationed on the Presidio. I'm holding my best friend's daughter.  They lived in on-base housing hear the Lombard Gate.  I was 18 or 19 years old when this picture was taken.
	here's the way the barracks looked when I lived there.
	And here the same barracks more than 100 years earlier!  Isn't it funny  how you don't really imagine that color existed before the 1900s?  :)