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!