Over memorial day weekend we went to San Francisco. We left on Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening. I still can't believe we're only an hour away from one of my favorite cities.
The pictures are all mixed up but this is the church we went to on Sunday morning. It was huge inside and very beautiful with lots of stained glass, etc.
The church is next to a contemporary art museum. I liked the contrast of the old church with such a modern sculpture next to it.
The black square is the entrance to the museum.
These photos are with my cell phone. This is the museum with the church in the background. It was almost touching it.
We stayed at The Intercontinental which was randomly a block from the children's museum and lots of shopping. We always book our hotels and airfare with orbitz or travelocity and luck out with really great deals.
A view from floor #24
My big girl who travels so well for us.
Having lunch at the Witch Craft, a well known sandwich shop. Unfortunately, our lunch was just average. Not worth all the hype that comes with the restaurant.
We went to the children's museum Saturday afternoon after lunch. It was more like a hands on science museum. Here we get to make clay figures and make a movie with them.
Evie's girl had to have long blond hair of course.
Joel is making a skate board movie. He basically moved his skateboarder and took a ton of still shots.
Ethan building with his legos
The kids were making a music video. The best part (other than the kids being so cute) was when Joel talked the staff into doing a song. One guy was training a group of workers and when Joel asked them to sing the guy said it was a good idea so the new staff would know how the system worked. We thought they would be totally into it but to our surprise they were shy, nervous and couldn't sing - but they did it.
The boys are bonking while Evie is doing a marathon computer drawing.
Evie loved this kaleidoscope drawing program. It may have helped that there was a girl next to her that was totally into it also.
Evie also loved this dance machine. You picked your music and style of video and danced your heart out.
This is Evie in her video...
After the museum we walked to the park. It was a great park. The weather changed drastically on us though. We were just thinking about leaving because we were getting sunburned when a storm quickly rained on us and and changed the temp.
The slide was so fast for the kids. It shot them down so quickly. Most of the time they
The kids loved the sand area. There was a water fountain that fed water into the sand. Yes, it made for quite the mess but when are our kids not total disasters.
Ethan pushing the water button...for about 10 minutes now...
And yes, here is a lap full of wet sand...
We let the kids ride the carousel while we waited for Alexander and his girlfriend Lauren. She graduated earlier in the morning and was on her way to her parents house which is about 25 minutes from Santa Cruz. They were coming right through San Francisco so the timing was perfect.
The kids got a big hug from uncle Alexander. They managed to not get him too dirty either.
And sushi for dinner. We were lucky enough to dine here the last time we were in San Francisco before we decided to make the move to Santa Cruz. We had good memories of this place so it was fun to go back. The sushi looks like art work....and tastes amazing.
After dinner we walked by the Wharf. The sunset was so pretty. Especially with the stormy skies.
We took a streetcar to get closer to the other end of the Wharf. Those little legs worked hard.
And the cable car ride. The old street cars and trolly's sure give San Fran a lot of character.
This past weekend we took Ethan's training wheels off his bike. He surprised us by cruising up and down the street, turning around easily. The next day we rode our bikes to the park near our house. Evie loves all the flowers and Ethan had fun riding his bike around the path there.
Over memorial day weekend we went to San Francisco. We left on Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening. I still can't believe we're only an hour away from one of my favorite cities.
The pictures are all mixed up but this is the church we went to on Sunday morning. It was huge inside and very beautiful with lots of stained glass, etc. 
The church is next to a contemporary art museum. I liked the contrast of the old church with such a modern sculpture next to it. 
The black square is the entrance to the museum.
These photos are with my cell phone. This is the museum with the church in the background. It was almost touching it. 
We stayed at The Intercontinental which was randomly a block from the children's museum and lots of shopping. We always book our hotels and airfare with orbitz or travelocity and luck out with really great deals. 
A view from floor #24
My big girl who travels so well for us.
Having lunch at the Witch Craft, a well known sandwich shop. Unfortunately, our lunch was just average. Not worth all the hype that comes with the restaurant. 
We went to the children's museum Saturday afternoon after lunch. It was more like a hands on science museum. Here we get to make clay figures and make a movie with them.
Evie's girl had to have long blond hair of course.
Joel is making a skate board movie. He basically moved his skateboarder and took a ton of still shots. 
Ethan building with his legos
The kids were making a music video. The best part (other than the kids being so cute) was when Joel talked the staff into doing a song. One guy was training a group of workers and when Joel asked them to sing the guy said it was a good idea so the new staff would know how the system worked. We thought they would be totally into it but to our surprise they were shy, nervous and couldn't sing - but they did it. 
The boys are bonking while Evie is doing a marathon computer drawing.
Evie loved this kaleidoscope drawing program. It may have helped that there was a girl next to her that was totally into it also.
Evie also loved this dance machine. You picked your music and style of video and danced your heart out. 
This is Evie in her video...
After the museum we walked to the park. It was a great park. The weather changed drastically on us though. We were just thinking about leaving because we were getting sunburned when a storm quickly rained on us and and changed the temp.
The slide was so fast for the kids. It shot them down so quickly. Most of the time they
The kids loved the sand area. There was a water fountain that fed water into the sand. Yes, it made for quite the mess but when are our kids not total disasters.
Ethan pushing the water button...for about 10 minutes now...
And yes, here is a lap full of wet sand...
We let the kids ride the carousel while we waited for Alexander and his girlfriend Lauren. She graduated earlier in the morning and was on her way to her parents house which is about 25 minutes from Santa Cruz. They were coming right through San Francisco so the timing was perfect. 
The kids got a big hug from uncle Alexander. They managed to not get him too dirty either.
And sushi for dinner. We were lucky enough to dine here the last time we were in San Francisco before we decided to make the move to Santa Cruz. We had good memories of this place so it was fun to go back. The sushi looks like art work....and tastes amazing. 
After dinner we walked by the Wharf. The sunset was so pretty. Especially with the stormy skies.
We took a streetcar to get closer to the other end of the Wharf. Those little legs worked hard.
We also took a cable car from the Wharf to the cheesecake factory for mommy's dessert. It's my favorite treat. It's cool how they still manually turn the trolly's around on the track. 
We got Evie a scooter two weeks ago and little did I know that it would quickly become Ethan's favorite thing to do. Evie was so great about sharing hers and would ride her bike so he could have her scooter. Anyway, we just got Ethan his own and the two of them love going together. We scootered to dinner and lunch this week. It has been a lot of fun. Ethan and I get about a half hour at the skate park while Evie is in her art class. 
Ethan plays hard and then he takes a break to watch the big kids.
This was his favorite thing to do yesterday. Go up one side and down the other of this ramp. He was good around the other kids. He would hold his own line and they would skateboard right next to him. It was fun to see him so happy. He was a good boy when we left too. Evie's class is an hour but it only gives us about a half hour at the park by the time we drop off and get there, etc. I know he'd love to stay longer but he just says 'okay mom' and scooters to the truck. It melts my heart. He really is a good boy.
