Lagoon

Yesterday we treated the kids to their first ever trip to Lagoon (I know, I know,I am a slacker and most people have a hard time believing my kids hadn't ever been even though I live 15 minutes away, we have found better things to spend our money on). I had been promising Ethan for a couple of years that I would take them, and it was time to keep that promise. I told him, "come Hell or high water we were going August 8th". It was almost Hell. John ended up having to work, Ethan had scout camp the night before in Fairfield, Taylor was invited to a friend birthday party, and to top it all off Ben came down with a fever Friday. So, after everyone was home and "drugging" up Ben with Tylenol we spent the last half of the day at Lagoon. That proved to be long enough for Ben anyway. The kids had a blast and are excitedly planning our bounce back day.

Cliffhanger

Musik Express

Carousel

Carousel

Ethan

Katie

Ben LOVES cotton candy

Train ride

John

Taylor

goofy Ben, showing us his "moves"

Well, It has been a few months since I have posted anything. The reason being, is not much has been going on. School doesn't start until August 24th. I am personally looking forward to it, so the kids have more to do. I am not looking forward to the homework and all the other problems that go hand in hand with school. Enough of that for now.
This past weekend, we celebrated my mother-in-laws 60th birthday. It was nice. Anna, Johns littlest sister brought over her face painting make-up and painted the kids faces. My kids loved it. They actually got very upset when we got home and I told them we had to wash it off. I had to promise that they can have her do it again. Anyway, she is planning on doing this for a part-time second job, so if anyone is looking for a great face painter, let me know and I can give you Anna's number.

This was taken after we got home. For more pictures check out my album on facebook.

San Francisco Vacation day 4

Today we had decided to do our own walking tour. And what a walk it was! We walked all along Fishermans Warf and took in what I believe was ALL the sights it had to offer. The best part of the Warf for me was watching the California Sea Otters. They were so funny. If the wind hadn't been so bad I could have stayed there, watching them for hours.
After we "finished" with the Warf, we went to ride the cable cars. The line was 45 minutes long, but we decided to do it anyway. Finally our turn arrived and we rode it over to China Town. We then walked China Town and Nob Hill. We caught the cable car again and rode to the crookest street. We walked down one side of it and went back up the other, all the while watching people trying to drive down it. It was funny. John and I both were glad NOT to be driving down that street. From there we caught the car car again and rode back down to the Warf.
After eating dinner we walked to Ghiradelli Square, we enjoyed the best icecream sundae's. I had a peanut butter and fudge, John had their midnight revere. YUMMY! Well worth the cost, and once again making me glad we don't live there becasue we would go broke eating all those sundaes. After our sundaes we walked down municipal pier (kinda scary), in hope to see the city lighting up for night. On our walk back we stopped at the little beach and I had to test the water. Brrrrr! It was so cold.
We walked and walked and walked, until we thought we could go no further and we finally went back to our hotel. To say my legs hurt is a huge understatement, but so worth it!

San Fran Day 3 City Tour, Muir Woods and Salsalito

We spent the morning going on a tour of the city. The tour was by bus and we went ALL over the city. It was nice. The only down fall is being on a tour bus you are restricted to their time schedules and stops. I enjoyed the the tour, where John didn't as much. My only complaint is not stopping more often to take in the sights. John's complaints were not enough of the city, stops to short, and not stopping enough. Our tour guy was an Italian man, who was very funny and quite knowledgeable of the city. We went through some of the "neighborhoods" of San Francisco, like China Town, Union Square and of course across the Golden Gate bridge. It was another COLD, windy and foggy day.
In the afternoon, we took another tour bus and went to Muir Woods and Salsalito. Muir Woods was beautiful! The redwood trees were amazing! The tree were at least 250 feet tall. John was in heaven. His dream now is to one day climb one. Our tour guide wasn't as good as our morning guy and only gave us an hour to explore the woods. We felt like we were in such a hurry and this place is so calm and beautiful you just want to leisurely walk through and take you time exploring. From Muir Woods we went to Salsalito. This is a huge tourist trap place. John and I didn't really enjoy it. It was just a lot of shops and not much else. You can pay to take the ferry back over to San Francisco, but the ferry was due for quite a while and decided to take the tour bus back. Tomorrow we are planning on riding the cable cars and do our own walking tour of the city.