The California Academy of Sciences

The last stop for us in San Francisco was the California Academy of Sciences. Since we were leaving the area after the Academy of Sciences, we drove our van. There were A LOT of people there so parking was a bit tricky. Bryan dropped us off in front while he went and found a parking spot.

This was another really cool place. The kids had a blast going through all the displays. We got to go in a rainforest habitat here spiders crawled free and butterflies were everywhere.

We got to feel the San Francisco earthquakes in a simulator. We got to see an America's Cup sailboat. And a lot of other things. It was really fun but the kids were pretty tired. 

Courtney was ready to go.

So we loaded up and drove to our hotel in San Jose. We checked in, went swimming, ate dinner and then went to bed.

It was a busy day!!

The Exploritorium

This place was so cool!! And it was absolutely huge. 

We got ready, ate breakfast, caught the muni and went to the Exploritorium. It was a huge museum/science center where you could play and learn things.

When we first walked in we saw this:

It was a toilet made into a drinking fountain. The kids thought that was cool. They had experiments to explain all kinds of science things. They had fog machines, optical illusions and sense perception displays. 

They even had a display that would move and follow your movements. It was weird!

Courtney even got to try and make a plane and put it on top of a wind tunnel to see if it would stay up.

After a couple of hours the kids were tired so we ate a snack, loaded back on the cable car and then caught a bus to our hotel.

I have to say that if we had had the muni experience we had today, yesterday, we would not have use it so much. The cable cars/buses were really late and the drivers were so rude today. But we are done with them so it's okay.

Giants Game!!

When we knew we were coming to San Francisco we decided we would have to go to a Giants game. I had found some tickets on stub hub a few months ago and so we were set. 

We rode the muni bus and then the tram to the ballpark and we got more and more excited the closer we got!! The place was filled with orange and black and we felt at home (or at least that is what Ethan said).

We got to the ball park and took some pictures before going in.

Once we passed the bag inspection and the metal detecting wand (which went pretty quickly and Ethan thought was cool), we went into the park. Now, going to a Giants game isn't like others I have been to. People show up, like us, a couple hours early to experience it. It was crazy how many people were there so far before the opening pitch. 

We found our seats...way up in the nosebleed section. We were one row down from the top but I loved it because we could see everything going on.

Bryan took the kids out to get dinner at a vendor and they loved it.  They each got dinner and then a treat. Ethan ate chicken strips and garlic fries, Courtney got the same thing with just regular fries, and Bryan got a cha-cha bowl with pineapple salsa. We saw a show on PBS a few months ago about the food at AT&T Park so we were excited to try some. Courtney got her treat of cotton candy.

After a while the kids got kind of bored so Bryan took Ethan for a walk and Courtney and I goofed off.

Actually, Courtney goofed off while I took pictures. ;)

The game started and the kids, especially Ethan, got into the game. Bryan had a score keeping app on his phone so they got to use that. I was proud of the kids. It was cold and windy and we only had light jackets. Ethan and I went out in the 4th inning to get our treat and we got hot cocoa from Ghiradelli. It was so yummy and Ethan now understands my need to go to Ghiradelli Square.

The kids did wonderfully but when the game was tied at 2 at the end of the 9th inning, we decided to go back to the hotel. The ride back was easy and we it back in great time.

The kids went to bed while Bryan and I stayed up watching the game in tv. I think I fell asleep at midnight but the game didn't end until around 12:30 am, I think, with the Giants losing in the 16th inning!!

What a FUN FHE!!

Chowders

Ethan and I have looked forward to eating clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl for a long time. When we left Alcatraz all the kids wanted to do was eat lunch. We walked to Pier 39 and found "Chowders" the BEST place for clam chowder. 

Ethan was in heaven:

 

Courtney had chicken strips and fries and Bryan got fish and chips. It was great food.

There was only 1 seal in the Bay.

Then we went walking around the pier. Ethan found a Lefties store that was really cool. They had a special lefty pen and he loves writing with it.

Courtney wanted to go in a Del Sol store because they were advertising a free gift for going in the store. Del Sol specializes in clothes and accessories that change color in the sun. It was a fun store and they gave both Courtney and me a color changing ring as our free gift.

Bryan wanted to go into a tech store and that was fun.

Then we got on a bus and went back to the motel for a rest. We are going to have a late night tonight. We are going to a Giants game!!!

Alcatraz

The first stop on our San Francisco trip was Alcatraz. I was so excited!! Before we left, we borrowed movies from the library on the different places we would be going. We saw a Myth Busters in the escape from Alcatraz so the kids were excited to go.

I had bought tickets a few months ago and also a CityPass which entitles us to a lot of free things in the Bay Area. I was glad because the tours for the day were sold out. 

We got ready for the day, ate cereal for breakfast and then took off for the Muni stop near our hotel. We had free Muni (bus) passes so we decided to save money on parking. It was pretty fun and Ethan got to pull the "stop request" cord. 

We walked to the pier and found the ship we would be riding on. We loaded on and were excited to be going.

While we were crossing the bay, we saw one of the sailboats entered in the America's Cup race. It was really cool!!

After landing at Alcatraz we listened to a guide tell us a bit about the island then we hiked to the jail house to start the audio tour. That was nice because you could hear all about the parts of the prison and listen to narrations.

We told the kids we would leave them there if they weren't good. They didn't believe us!

Ethan in solitary.

The "escape" cell.

Courtney was hungry because he didn't want to eat much breakfast so she was a bit grumpy.

We saw a seal as we loaded back onto the boat to go back to San Francisco but I didn't get a picture of it. 

San Francisco and San Ramon

We made it to San Francisco!!

We found our hotel, checked in and took a little break. We are staying in the marina district which has some cool buildings. 

We were going to see some friends from college and have dinner with them so we decided to leave early and go to the temple and see a few sights.

There was construction at the Oakland Temple so we couldn't walk all the way around it but we did get to explore a bit of he grounds. We went into the visitors center too and it is exactly like the one in St. George. Bryan loves the view of the city.

On our way to the Higbee's house in San Ramon, we drove by the church building where Bryan went to seminary.

Then we made our way to he Higbee's house. It was great to see them and the kids had fun playing with their kids.

After we has finished visiting with them, we drove around to see the old neighborhood.

Here is the first Pack house:

Here is the second Pack house:

Here is Bryan's elementary school:

Here is the junior high that is completely remodeled:

Here is the football press box at Cal High:

Fun times!!

Driving Down the Coast

It is amazing how much earlier you wake up when you are camping than you do when you are in a hotel. We got up, ate breakfast and were amazed that no one else in the entire campground seemed to be up. We packed up and got going.

We wanted a beautiful drive so we decided to drive down to San Francisco on Highway 1. It was beautiful but a really windy road!! Bryan had fun driving it but after a few hours we had had enough of curves. But it was gorgeous. There was quite a bit of fog though. We saw a lighthouse too.