I spent four years living in the Bay Area and only ventured into the East Bay once in a blue moon.
(And before you say it’s San Francisco snobbery, I beg to differ: Have you ever seen the traffic on the Bay Bridge? Oy vey. Even on Saturday mornings, we could get stuck on that thing for well over an hour.)
But now that my sister-in-law Lisa and new niece Lucy reside over in those parts, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing much more of the East Bay. On our recent trip back to see the VVs, we crashed in Oakland for the first two nights in adorable Rockridge and had a family outing to Berkeley Marina.


Though I’d written about the park’s kite festivals before, I’d never actually been and wow! What a beautiful slice of real estate the marina occupies—great for walking, running, playing or whatever your whimsy may be.
The dogs certainly were in heaven. As were their people. Jack worked on his catching while Vanessa played Frisbee with Frankie.



Taylor Swift Kiva and I spent some valuable time together during which I discovered we have a budding photographer on our hands. Kiva asked if we could go on a photo walk and “take pictures to post on the Internet.” A girl after my own heart! Nine years old and she already “gets” me.





Also, I might have to get her a real camera for her 10th birthday in January, as girlfriend has some serious talent. She took all of these photos and was even posing and styling her subjects. I love the gusto!


Great eye, right? These nieces and nephew of mine are too precious.
After our stomachs were growling, it was time for some grub at Barney’s, during which Kiva took control of my camera again and snapped some quality shots of her littlest cousin, Lucy Mae.
It was the perfect day. If living in the Bay Area had been all sunshine and puppies and kites and niece-and-nephew time, I might have never left!


It is a beautiful day and the photos are beautiful too.
Beautiful pictures! You most certainly do have a budding photographer on your hands.
Thank you! I’m keeping my fingers crossed she stays interested as she could be really good when she grows up!
I love pictures of Ella in the wind. And that baby with the bubbles is pretty darn cute too! I understand the traffic…when my now husband and I started dating, he lived in SF and I lived in Mountain View. It was like a long distance relationship because it made no sense to try to see each other after work during the week so we only spent weekends together for a while until he moved closer.
We used to live in San Mateo, and SVV worked over in the North Bay in San Anselmo or the East Bay in Albany. It was like an hour and a half each way to work, and that was in off-peak times (6am and 3pm), too!
Your niece does have a good eye! I lived in Berkeley for three years and I so miss the Bay Area. I’m in L.A. now and have been for the majority of my life, and the contrast between the Bay and L.A. is like night and day. I’m long overdue for a trip to Berkeley!
Funny, I always said if we stayed in California, we would have to be in LA (I’m a warm weather sort of gal). Though after two years gone, I say if we ever moved back to the Golden State (which won’t happen in this lifetime), I’d like to be in Berkeley!
Love these pics! 🙂
One of your best Kristin. Fabulous photos and of course wonderful models. I love how you are passing your considerable photographer skills on to the next generation. Jack and Kiva love to have their aunt Kristin and uncle Scott come visit. As do the rest of us. I miss you guys tonight
Come visit us! You have an open invitation =)
One of your best Kristin. Fabulous photos and of course wonderful models. I love how you are passing your considerable photographer skills on to the next generation. Jack and Kiva love to have their aunt Kristin and uncle Scott come visit. As do the rest of us. I miss you guys tonight
Yay, Berkeley! I miss it so much. I actually never spent too much time by the marina but there’s such beautiful views down there. Your photos are GORGEOUS! Did you get a new lens? Which one are you using here? These photos look so sharp (not that they don’t normally :)).
No ma’am! All were taken with my usual 24-105mm lens OR my iPhone. But thank you! I’ve started saving my photos at a bit higher res, which might be why it seems that way; the plus is that they appear a bit sharper online but the bonus is that my site probably doesn’t load quite as fast. Though I AM toying with the idea of finally buying a (refurb’d) Mark II after my conference is over as a present to myself… =)
Lovely photos and wow, you look so much like your Mum in the 2nd to last photo!!!
Say hi to her from me 🙂
I wish we could have some place like this (it’s like heaven) in my country. Anyways the puppies ar so fantastic and your sweety ……. oooooow 🙂
Very lovely photos. The places are so amazing and really relaxing.
pics of kiva w the camera = 100% precious. photographer in progress alert ; )
I wish I could have this place visit soon. Its look so fantastic . All the photos are so beautiful.
photos are awesome!!! great place 🙂
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OMG! Pictures are just awesome. Loved the post 🙂
Nice pictures and awesome kites 🙂