Day 3 -- We hit the Big City!

We got on the road to San Francisco, bright and early at 11:30. Rolled into the Golden Gate Park just in time for lunch and everyone was hungry. Muriel and Sarah provided a great spread and then we hit the playground.

Joseph is king of the mountain and there's another familiar face in the web... Camilla!

Sarah & Brigham, Hannah & Caroline coming down the cement slides. Mary Elizabeth is headed up with Aunt Muriel and after a few tries with Aunt Muriel...

she needs to do it herself!

Everybody loves to climb trees! Can you find all 8 kids?


Dinner at the Hong Kong Claypot in Chinatown--thanks Wilson for picking out the restaurant.

We took a little walk through the Chinatown night market and Aunt Muriel & Uncle Wilson could not say no when a little girl wanted a balloon flower, pretty soon all the nephews and nieces were lined up.

We ended the day by riding the trolley to Ghirardelli square and we had a little ice cream there. It was a great day!

Day 2 -- Strawberry picking and the beach

Our goal was to leave the house at 9:00 and we left by 9:35--pretty darn good for this group! Everyone love picking strawberries at Gridzich Farm and then yummy apple slushies. We got to the beach at lunch time, got out of the car and bundled up! It was cold. But by the time, we unloaded and got set up, the cold had burned off and it was a great beach day. Muriel, David and Heather joined us--but didn't make it into any of these shots.
The picking crew... We picked about 20 pounds of strawberries!



The kids spent most of their time digging this huge hole.


It was Mary Elizabeth's first time at the beach. She hung out with Dad and did not care for the water! Period.

Our Trip to San Francisco -- Day 1

Our family has flown to San Francisco for a 10-day vacation. We are staying with my sister, Sarah, in Mountain View. My sister, Muriel, lives in San Francisco and has organized an itinerary for us. Today, our first full day here, we went to Muir Woods to see the beautiful redwood trees. The kids have had a ball with their cousins. Their backyard trampoline has been a big hit. And we're all keeping fit with a running club. The kids ran from 1-2 miles today before we set off. Funny story of the day: we were talking about getting our alarm system set at home. Our nephew, Soren, was in the back seat listening to our discussion about the possibility of someone breaking into our house. He jumped in and said, "Yeah, someone could break in and paint your house with black with sharpie paint." Hmmm.... Paul replied that we haven't had much of a problem with that kind of thing in our neighborhood.

Princess...

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite stories was the Princess and the Pea. Here is one of my little princesses, sleeping soundly right on the floor. She did manage to find a quilt for some extra softness but I don't think we are going to pass the true princess test anytime soon, at least when it comes to sleeping on a pea.

Summer Birthday Party!

This year, I had the GREAT idea to combine Stewart's and Joseph's birthday parties into one summer extravaganza. We picked a date that was almost halfway between their two birthdays. We rented a HUGE waterslide, sent out invitations, stuffed a pinata, baked cupcakes and presto! It was a huge success. The boys were on the waterslide until dark and they had a great time.

Christmas Day Titans Game

Well if you have to go to a Titans game, we would definitely recommend a skybox! Paul received four tickets to the Nashville Titans game on Christmas day. It was our first Titans game and this was the way to go! It was freezing, but we had a great parking pass that took us almost to the front door. And then we zipped up the elevator to a box where you actually had a great view of the field and of course, the big screen TV's helped. Free food and a visit from the Titans cheerleaders just rounded out the experience. And despite the fact that the Titans were demolished by the San Diego Chargers, we had a great time and stayed warm!

Stewart's glasses

So after a couple of notes home from school, mom finally took Stewart to the eye doctor and was horrified when she realized how poor his vision was! So that night, we went to Costco, picked out glasses and waited... Stewart was a bit apprehensive about the new look and lucky for him, the glasses didn't arrive until the day school let out for winter break. So with some trepidation, he put them on and spent the next few hours checking out the difference in his vision with and without glasses. It was a dramatic enough improvement that he has kept his glasses on. And while he has been nervous showing people his new look, the response has been so positive that he is completely comfortable now.