San Fran with the Fam, Part 1

We are on a special Spring Break this year with the kids...San Francisco, CA!!!  We were here almost 5 years ago on our ten year anniversary and thought of how fun it would be to bring the boys back some day (then only 2 boys!) and here we are thanks to the generous hospitality of a good friend of Doug's who insisted we come out and use his place.  It's been a great break from the routine back home.  Even the kids needed a break from the usual school days (it's their Easter break), especially Koen, but Doug and I too have been looking forward to this getaway.  Our biggest goal was to just soak up the time as a family on an adventure and so far we are totally achieving that goal!

Day 1 we flew out.  The boys did great on the long plane rides, longer than they are used to to get to Gramma and Grampa's, Florida or even Texas.  Even the time change wasn't a big deal as we arrived at 5pm San Fran time (8pm to their little bodies).  The first night was a little intense with all but Janse waking up around 3:30am thinking it was time to start the day, but thankfully they all fell back asleep eventually (me included after many, many visits and re-laydowns).  

When it was truly morning, we had a great start to the day with Doug whisking the big boys out quite early to try and beat the weekend tourist rush to Muir Woods.  He and the boys found a not so technical parking spot and went in to check out the huge trees (having been there before I stayed home with Janse, allowing him a nice morning nap and me some quiet!).

Next they went to the Muir Beach overlook.  They had fun checking out the old WWII lookouts and trying to catch glimpses of sea lions on the rocks below.

Next they went down to the beach below.  And that is where they stayed for hours.  They had lunch there around a fire a surfer had made (apparently they shared their lunch with him and he let them take over his fire...pretty awesome boy adventure!).  There's nothing like an unplanned day at the beach with your jeans rolled up!

Jansen and I had our own adventures.  We took a walk after his morning nap to get a lay of the land around our condo spot.  We walked to the ferry building enjoying the scenery along the way.

We eventually turned back around and went to the grocery store to stock up for the next few days (oh how I love urban adventures - how you can get something accomplished while you are on a stroll!).  On the way back, it was just too gorgeous to go back inside already (and I had brought Jansen's lunch), so we stopped at a bayside playground.  Jansen was perplexed by the rubber flooring.  I like the way the San Fran skyline is in the background.

Well, our plan of tiring out the boys worked well and they slept much better the second night.  Phew!  Still some interruptions, but everyone went back to sleep and slept a lot longer.  It's a good thing too because you know we had fun stuff planned for Sunday!  We headed out to Menlo Park to attend church with my cousin and her family (another family of 6!).  We are actually borrowing a car from another sweet cousin of mine that lives out here, but it doesn't fit our big fam, so Doug and Tavin took the train to church.  They are officially travel buddies.

After church we went back to my cousin's home.  She and her husband are amazing hosts.  We had a delicious brunch...such a spread!  Laura and Jamie, my cousin and her husband, are quite the team and Doug jumped in to help as well.

After brunch I put Janse down for his afternoon nap and the kids played for hours!! It was really special to see our kids together.  I didn't capture it super well with photos, but it was a very pleasant afternoon with the kids entertaining themselves and the adults enjoying lots of time to chat.  Couldn't have gone better!!  Here's Koen and Tav and Meredith (about Koen's age) playing laser tag in the rain.

Jack, Laura's oldest at 15, was such a sweet pal to Penn (and Penn became his shadow...it was adorable!!).  They were on a team together in laser tag.  

Doug and I were so relaxed after our afternoon with Laura and Jamie.  It was such a great start to our week! On Monday I took the 3 older boys out while Jansen took his morning nap and Doug got some peace and quiet.  It was a beautiful start to the day (better than they had called for it seemed).  The boys and I walked down to a playground adjacent to the Ferry Building.  We made some stops along the way...

The boys loved the playground.  Lots of equipment to play on and way more space to make noise and move than in the condo we are staying in!

Doug and Janse met us a little before noon and we then jumped on a street car (woo hoo!) and went to the famous Pier 39.  We had to of course stop by the sea lions.  The boys, especially Tav and Penn, were mesmerized!  The sea lions were totally making a racket and putting on quite a show too.  Very amusing!

Then we walked up to Ghirardhelli Square with the intention of picnicking on the lawn there overlooking Alcatraz, the huge historical ship there and the ocean vista.  But the weather had other plans...the rain pushed us under the only cover we could find.  We inhaled our lunch, walked quickly up to Ghirardhelli for our free sample and then back down to Pier 39 to catch a street car back to the Ferry Building.  The street car was packed.  Check out Jansen taking in the historical way to ride around San Fran!!

The boys had some much needed down time in the afternoon after so much walking and then we walked to dinner (out for pizza!).  Loving this neighborhood we are in and pretending we fit in around here. =)  Tuesday morning Doug had some work to do, so I took the boys to the local library.  They loved it!  We didn't pack any books with us, but thanks to a great program at the library here, we got to get a visitor's pass and checked out tons of books!  After that outing, we had lunch at home and then it was time for another family adventure...Land's End!  Here's a view from our parking spot of the Cliff House restaurant and some of the remains of the Sutro Baths below.  

We had a beautiful day.  It can be so fogged in and we had very clear skies and great views!

The boys were really into the information along the way.  Especially the lighthouse and the shipwrecks.

Family Photo!!

Playing around in the ruins...

While the big boys stayed busy with Doug.  Janse and I kept watch from afar (my balance isn't stellar with the Ergo on, so I didn't want to be crawling around on those walls!).

Look at this great picture of my boys!

After playing around at Land's End, we headed over to the beach area.  Doug drove the boys over and I walked with Jansen.  Look at this view!!

The boys immediately upon arrival stripped off their shoes and socks and rolled up their pants and they played, dug and wrestled in the sand.  Beautiful!

Jansen and I, still Ergo-ing it.  We had a nice little walk on the beach, but he still didn't tucker out for his afternoon nap!!  Too much to take note of I guess!

That still wasn't the end of our day.  After that we headed out to Golden Gate State Park and let the boys play at a playground.  It was a lot warmer away from the wind at the coast and the boys amazingly still had plenty of energy to play (here's hoping they sleep really well tonight, not sure how else to wear them out, that was a pretty big day!).  Well, we are up to date on our trip.  Stay tuned for what comes next!