To Cali and Back

Whew! We just got back from a week long trip to northern California to visit my parents and various other family members. We had so much fun while we were there.

 

 

We visited the amusement park Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Back when the park was Marine World Africa USA I had my very first job.

 

The weather was actually very nice while we were there. Mid 70's I would guess. Perfect for us who were escaping the 100+ temps back in Utah.

The park has several coasters now. I believe Kong was the first so I wanted ride it before the other BIG rides.

 



Can you see my feet? We're actually on this car! My Dad just wanted a few pics of the ride and had no clue we were on this one. After seeing the other not-so-exciting pictures we realized we were there. Pretty fun!

 



 

There's a few water rides, too. Monsoon Falls and White Water Safari. Any cooler and we would've froze to death. It wasn't too bad but I was soaked!

 

I love this pic of my oldest. The others look almost bored. :o)

 

 

We also snuck in a few shows. The Sea Lion show had a pirate theme and was pretty cute. We sat in the front row and had a great view. One of the harbor seals didn't feel like playing along so we had a good time watching the trainers try to convince him to go back to his pen.

 

The other show as the Dolphin Splashtacular. Along with the dolphins splashing people in the first few rows there were Cirque Du Soleil acrobatic performers. Amazing!

 

 

 The town I grew up in, Vallejo, runs a ferry to San Francisco several times a day. We took a day trip into SF one day in order to catch another boat for a cruise around the Bay.

 

Don't these kids look excited!?

 

 

I've still never made it to Alcatraz Island. Tickets sell out weeks in advance. Next time I'll have to think ahead. :o)  Luckily our boat cruise went right up close to the island for lots of picture opportunities as well learning some great history about the former prison.

It gets pretty windy out there on the Bay but this guy let me snuggle to keep warm.

 



 

The Bay Cruise took us right under the Golden Gate bridge. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather!

 

 

We shared the water with some amazing boats. The America's Cup is going on so we got to see some pretty cool sailing vessels. Who knew Prada made boats, too!?  ;o)

My favorite boat in the bay sits at the end of Hyde Street Pier. The Balclutha is a ship that I had the privilege of staying over night on when I was in grade school. We were hoping to make it down to the museum so my kids could take a look but we ran out of time. Maybe next year.

(That's the Bay bridge in the background)

 



 

After the bay cruise we made a quick jaunt to Pier 39. that place is BUSY!

We walked around peeking into shops here and there. At one point we descended a staircase. Once at the bottom we realized we'd all been thinking the same thing: There was some horrible piano music coming from somewhere. 

 

 

At that moment my dad looked back and pointed to the stairs. They were painted to look like a piano keys and had sensors on the side. The horrible music was actually coming from the seven of us as we trampled down the stairs! It was really cool! Difficult to play a tune on though as you're on stairs and hopping from one to the other is a little tricky if the notes you want are far apart.

 

We had a really nice week and aside from traveling in the car 12 hours each way to Grandma and Grandpa's house, these three kids did pretty good.

 

THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR HOSTING OUR CRAZY BUNCH! WE LOVE YOU!

 

Now if the first day of school could just get here soon then maybe I could get some sewing done!