Vacation Wrap Up

I know. I've been a little slow getting caught up on my blog... it has been a CRAZY week. But, I'm ready to post the rest of our wonderful vacation for your viewing pleasure. We traveled North for the second week of our trip. We stayed with Chris' brother, Rich, and his family. Our families have a great time together because the kids all match up in age so there is always a buddy for everyone. We really had a wonderful time... here's a recap!

Fun in the Sun

Rich and Traci have the greatest backyard. It is so much fun to hang out in and has almost everything: pool and hot tub, playhouse, hammock, outdoor kitchen and BBQ, eating area, fire pit, beautiful flowers and trees... it really is the perfect backyard! The favorite activity of the week was definitely swimming. The kids swam 4 of the 5 days we were there and each time they stayed in the pool for hours! Diving, snorkeling, races, and games... they all had so much fun together!
Riding the Bart

Tuesday night Chris, Cassidy, and Max had plans to go into the city to watch the Giants play so we decided to make an adventure out of it. Chris, Traci and I took the 8 kids and we rode the bart (train) into the city and had dinner and then Traci and I brought the littler kids home while Chris stayed in the city with the older kids for the game (the Giants played the Chicago Cubs and won... they said it was a great game and they had a blast). Riding the bart turned out to be fun little adventure and the kids seemed to enjoy experiencing something new.

San Francisco in a Day

Thursday we took the day to enjoy the city. We really wish we could have had more time, but we did as much as we could in a day and it was probably just enough for the kids (they just wanted to get back to their cousins and the pool!) We started by driving South to San Mateo (about 20 minutes south of the city), where Chris and I used to live back when there were just 3 of us. We drove by our apartment, had breakfast at Stacks and walked around Burlingame a little. This was one of our favorite places to live and it was really fun to be back and show Max some of the things from when he was little. Then we drove into the city... we sort of took the long way so we cold see lots of things, cool houses, Golden Gate Park, etc. and we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. We tried to get a cool family picture in front of it but it was so foggy you can't even see it. Still fun! Then we drove back into the city, parked and got on the bus for a bus tour. This is he best thing to do with kids in big cities! We saw everything!! I won't even try to list it all. We got off only once... to eat at our favorite restaurant: The Steps of Rome in the North Beach area of the city. We also enjoyed relaxing in the park. The kids thought it was funny that people would just walk into the park, take their clothes off and lay down for some sun... so Max decided to join them. There were even girls in bikinis and one guy stripped down to his underwear! Right in the middle of the park in San Fran... crazy! We got off the bus for good at the famous Pier 39. We walked out to see the Sea Lions, but there were only a few because they have gone south to have their babies, we also tried to see Alcatraz but it was still too foggy. We did catch a magic show and both kids were called up to help out (Max stole the show). Then we walked down to Ghiradelli Square (passing Fisherman's Wharf and some other things on the way) to top our day off with a ice cream sundaes. It really was a very fun, very full, day and we were very ready for bed by the time we got home (except Chris, who went to a movie with Rich).

Fourth of July

What a fabulous holiday! We started the day driving to Sausalito (just North of San Fran on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge... such a beautiful place!) and having breakfast... the french toast tasted like funnel cake! Then we went to Muir Woods to enjoy the beauty of nature and admire the amazing Redwoods. The kids loved it. Afton was signing everything she saw (tree, leaf, rock, sky, clouds, birds, etc), and Chris and Abby looked for fairies and even did a little meditating. Mostly they just loved hanging with their cousins and enjoying a nice little walk through the forest. Then it was back to Rich and Traci's for, what else, swimming and a BBQ. Super Yummy!! It was a great day and fun to spend it together!

Well, that's it. A few other highlights of the trip were date night with Rich and Traci (thanks for babysitting AGAIN, Cass!) and a full day of scrapooking with Traci (thank you, thank you, thank you to our sweet husbands!) while everyone else went to see "Wall-E" and swim some more (I guess they just hadn't had enough!).

It was a great 2 weeks! Sorry for all the slideshows, I'm actually a little sick of them myself so you probably won't see one here for a while. But how else could I fit all our wonderful adventures into 3 little posts. Thanks for enduring it all... they say there is nothing worse than looking at someone else's vacation photos but I hope you enjoyed looking at ours!