San Francisco 2016- Part 5

 
 Sunday was supposed to be a complete washout so we were planning indoor activities.  We spent a calm morning at our house and even got a little school work done. By the afternoon the sun was out and it was warm so we quickly got the kids into their Halloween costumes and headed for Ghiradhelli Square where there were some festivities for the kids.  All of the kids got some amazing face painting done that matched their costumes: Noah- a police mustache, James- a Harry Potter forehead scar, Ben- a skeleton face and Audrey a lion face.

Since we had unexpected nice weather we headed over the the Exploritorium (hands on science museum) to take advantage of their free day.  On the way home we stopped off at Land's End to explore the old baths and to Ocean Beach to watch the sunset.  

Today we celebrated Halloween and our last day in San Francisco with a few rides on the Muni, a cable car, a vintage trolley and a ferry boat.  All to take us to Alcatraz and back.  Since planning this trip we thought there was no way we would be bringing the kids to Alcatraz, but because some other things fell through we had some free time today AND the kids have all wanted to make the trip so badly (so did Gabe and I).

We had a bit of time to kill before boarding the boat so we checked out Fisherman's Wharf. One of the few things open was the Musee Mecanique a vintage arcade.  Vintage like early 1900s penny games, everything from race cars to a dancing clown to several "executioner" games where they show a doll getting it's head chopped off by a guillotine.  They also had table Pac Man, Asteroid and air hockey.

The trip to Alcatraz was way better than I thought it might be with the kids.  The National Park Service does an amazing job there.  We learned the complete history of the island, got to explore other areas from when it was a military fort and the Native American occupation in the 1970s.  The highlight for everyone was the video and audio tour of the cell block.  The kids all had their own headphones and did a fantastic job for the entire 45 minute tour, listening and following the directions... I see more audio tours in our future;)

We hurried back to our house for a quick supper then we were off to trick or treating in a neighborhood a few Muni stops away.  This was clearly a wealthier neighborhood where lots of people visit.  The kids got so much candy great candy... I wish I hadn't bought treats for the plane ride home!  All in all we had an awesome Halloween this year!

Thanks for a great visit San Francisco!  We are hoping of a smooth trip home tomorrow:)

San Francisco 2016- Part 4

 

Friday we spent most of our day at the Golden Gate Park.  First, we toured the Japanese Tea Garden.  There were some impressive greenery sculptures, rock bridges and koi. Much to Ben's disappointment, we didn't actually have any tea, but did get the full experience otherwise. 

Our next stop was the California Science Center.  There was a very educational exhibit about earthquakes and what to do in the event of one.  I thought for sure this would put James' anxiety over the edge, especially when we went into the "earthquake house" simulator.  He handled the whole thing well and the more questions he was able to pepper the museum staff with the better he seemed to feel;)  This museum also housed a planetarium, an aquarium AND a four story indoor rainforest. The kids certainly enjoyed themselves, but I think they were getting a bit of museum fatigue, so we cut a few things short and left at lunchtime.  

We explored the children's playground in the park which everyone enjoyed.  After that we headed back to our house for some much needed downtime, a dip in the hot tub and some Halloween crafts.  

Saturday we did a little of everything which was ironic because we hadn't planned ahead much for this day.  We took the Muni (subway) in to explore Chinatown.  Once we made it through the Dragon Gate we found ourselves walking up and up perusing the various gift shops and food shops.  The sights and sounds were new to the kids and they seemed fairly fascinated by the whole experience.  We found our way down a back alley to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.  Apparently, fortune cookies do not come from China, but were an American invention and it wasn't until a few decades ago that fortune cookies even made their way to China.  The process of making fortune cookies was surprisingly simplistic, the kids were enthralled.

After leaving the factory we continued the uphill climb to the Cable Car Museum.  Although there were certainly some cool museum components, the best part for all of us was that it was an actual working garage where all the cables to run the cable cars ran through. 

On our descent we stopped off for a dim sum lunch.  I was afraid the kids would balk at the whole thing, but they did a fantastic job trying each of the dishes as they came.  We picked up a few souvenirs at the shops and headed back to the Muni.  

We stopped off at our house to grab the kids costumes then headed to the San Francisco Zoo for their "Boofest" celebration.  It was neat to see the animals playing with and, in some cases, eating pumpkins.  

We were afraid this would be our last sunny/fog free day here, so we had a quick dinner and hopped in the car to explore the western coast/cliffs of the city.  Our first/last stop was the beach.  Gabe and I thought we would all walk down the beach, get a nice picture with the bridge in the background and the kids would play in the sand for a bit before leaving making the whole thing a quick stop over... We should really know better by now... the kids took their shoes off and immediately waded into the water.  Before we knew it Ben got knocked over by a big wave and his clothes were completely soaked.  Then James got knocked over and almost lost his glasses, even his fleece coat was soaked.  Despite this, all 4 kids continued to frolic in the water for a long time until we pulled them away.  On the walk back to the car they were bemoaning the fact that if we had just brought their bathing suits this wouldn't have happened... They all road home naked...

San Francisco 2016- Part 3

 Wednesday, with the conference behind us, we hopped in the car (for the first time in several days) and headed south the explore Monterrey Bay.  Since working at the Oceanarium in college I have wanted to visit the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  People would always come in with high praises for this being one of the best aquariums in the US.  We took the scenic route on our way down following Route 1 along the coast.  It was really neat to see so many beautiful beaches and cliffs.  As we got closer we drove along the boardwalk in Santa Cruz and through farm country.  We have been wondering where all of the produce we eat comes from when it says grown in California. Well, we found several huge commercial farms with hundreds and hundreds of workers.  We took full advantage of the farm stands there and scooped up kiwi- 10 for $1 (that isn't a typo), small watermelon 2 for $1 and other amazing deals on strawberries and avocado.

The aquarium did not disappoint. It was large, engaging and had so many fantastic staff who were all kind, knowledgeable and very willing to answer any of the kids questions.  We were probably all most impressed with the schools of sardines in several tanks. Seeing the canning process that used to happen in those same buildings also helped.  

After the aquarium we rented a surry bike and cruised along the shore.  As it turns out it is really had to pedal that kind of bike with only two adult peddlers... at least the coastline was beautiful and the kids kept the fighting to a minimum. After the ride we got a well deserved ice-cream.  We had a wonderful day in Monterrey and could have spent more than a day there if time had allowed.

Thursday morning we thought we were heading to the California Science Center, but when we started driving we noticed that the weather was over cast, but not foggy, so we took a detour to the Golden Gate Bridge so that Noah could get a picture with his Darth Vader/Golden Gate Bridge shirt actually at the bridge.  In true fashion we all got out of the car, found some interesting exhibits and by 12:30 we were just leaving... maybe we will try the museum tomorrow;)  

The weather was quite pleasant with no rain in sight so we walked about halfway across the bridge.  The only reason we didn't make it all the way across was we didn't bring the stroller and Audrey was getting a bit "uncooperative". We learned some bridge engineering and got the kids' National Park stamps.  Then we headed directly below the bridge to Fort Point.  Again, I thought it would take minutes, but we got caught up in a tour (that's right, the kids tolerated a 45 minute walking tour with other adults), explored the fort and then stayed for (the highlight) the demonstration on how to load and fire a cannon... they were pretty thrilled with their cannoneir certificates.  

After all that the rain came, so we toured around the city a bit and took in Twin Peaks before heading back to our house.  This evening one of Gabe's friends from college came over for dinner and we had a great time catching up.  Thanks for the visit Pat!