What Arabella did in Berkeley

I had 2 appraisals to do in the Bay Area on Monday and Keith and Arabella tagged along so we could have some family time, and I could type while Keith drove.  First house was in Livermore - there was a pretty standard little park nearby and we let Arabella get some energy out there before the drive to Berkeley.

Here Arabella is swinging on the monkey bars by herself. I am of the opinion that this outfit also makes her look like a mini Golden Girl - does anyone else see it? 

Then it was back in the car to Berkeley, where we found an awesome park near my last house - Cordonices Park. Here's their really cool concrete slide with cardboard pieces to sled on.

Slid at Cordonices Park (pic from Google) -Forgot to take pic of Arabella on there (Keith's fault)

Then we went to dinner at Filippo's on College Avenue - the pizza was awesome (I got pancetta, artichoke, olives and anchovies-Keith said too salty but Arabella and i knew it was good). I did not take a picture of the pizza - I need to start photographing everything for future exhibit on my blog!  We almost left when we weren't acknowledged after being seated for almost 15 minutes but once we got service it was great and pretty quick to get our food.

NO PIZZA PHOTO HERE - I FORGOT - BAD MOMMY BLOGGER

Arabella above the crowd on Daddy's shoulders in the ice cream line.

After dinner we walked down the street to Ici - it's a amazing little ice cream shop that always has a line out the door.

Ici in Berkeley

Sadly, they did not have chocolate chip

Fancy ice cream flavors - but no Chocolate Chip

but that was ok b/c Arabella saw the green tea ice cream and decided green was now and always had been her favorite flavor.  Mom and dad insisted that she try a sample first to verify her love for green and Arabella was effusive in her enjoyment of the greenness.

My Honey Rosemary and Apricot Noyeaux  ice cream cone

I loved the Honey Rosemary combo - it's a savory combo that almost tastes cinnamony. The Apricot Noyeaux was good and full of apricot-ness. I just googled the word Noyeaux while writing this (I thought it meant new in French - still think that is a good guess). It actually means "liquer made from brandy flavored with nut kernels". Super fancy! I wanted to get a better pic of my ice cream, as well as one of Arabella's green ice cream but the phone was almost out of juice plus this little shop is so crammed I really couldn't even raise my elbow out enough to get another good pic without sticking it in someone else's ice cream.


Here's a picture of a sign in the window of The Collector next door to Ici - I did a little windowshopping while waiting in the half hour line.

Sorry for the glare.    I love ice cream, dogs and toddlers too!!

Why can't the world be made up of more people like this store owner? I am sure we would all be less stressed and nicer to each other.


And then we got back to the car and realized I didn't have my phone (I took all these pics with Keith's phone - I thought I had left my phone in the car). Which could have been a real bummer ending to the night but wasn't since Dropsync had put all my appraisal pics into Dropbox already and I have phone insurance! So all's well that ends well.


And that's what Arabella did in Berkeley on Monday.