San Francisco

So my parents decided to fly into San Francisco for Christmas this year and make an extra little vacation out of the trip (not to mention the tickets into SF were $200 cheaper than flying in to Fresno). They flew in on Tuesday and had a night to themselves, then we drove up Wednesday to pick them up. Here are some pictures of our adventures in the city yesterday. We started off in North Beach (a day of parking there is only $8 vs. $20 or more in Union Square), walked over to Washington Square and went inside St. Peter and Paul Church, then walked the stairs up to Coit Tower. Of course, as adults, we soak in the gorgeous view, stand in awe of the murals painted on the inside walls of the tower...what did the kids think was amazing? The self-cleaning toilet stall in the parking lot! And, no, I didn't take a picture of it. Back down the stairs. Lunch at Il Pollaiao...YUM! We tried to get the sign in the background. While waiting for our table to be set up Isaac saw a face in the rain-soaked street. Do you see it? After lunch it was up Columbus Avenue to head to Chinatown. But first, a stop at the Italian Bakery for a bite of cannoli for dessert! Isaac is NOT pointing to the cannolis, rather a squid in the window. The kids thought the hanging fish and poultry in the windows of Chinatown was QUITE interesting. At the start of Grant Avenue. Right after we took this picture it started to pour down rain...but we were prepared! We made it all the way up the street to the entrance gate. After a quick stop at Starbucks for hot coffee and a dry place to sit a while, we headed up Nob Hill. In front of Mark Hopkins hotel, overlooking the city. We walked into the Fairmont Hotel to see the 2-story gingerbread house in the lobby. At the top of Nob Hill stands Grace Cathedral. As if all that walking wasn't enough exercise, Randy and Isaac had to have step-jumping contests to burn a little extra steam. Now, down the hill back towards Washington Square, with a stop in the Cable Car museum to see the big sheaves. A stop in Woh Hei Yuen Park to play awhile. It was mostly dry by then. We made it back to our car around 4:30 and decided to leave the city for home rather that stay for dinner. At 6 p.m., after an hour and a half of singing, making up songs, sampling all the small candies we'd collected throughout the day, and generally trying not to go crazy (or wet our pants...can't stop for a potty break when you're stuck in the middle of traffic) we finally made it onto the Bay Bridge! But who can complain when you get to stop in Castro Valley at your favorite pizza parlor, Pyzano's, for dinner? And now, with full tummies, we made it home with my parents, safe and sound, ready to celebrate Christmas together!

We hope your families are enjoying adventures of your own, ready to celebrate Christmas together!

Christmas performances

This past week the kids had two Christmas performances. All three of them had a performance at church with their classes, and Violet had a fun, little performance at her gymnastics class too. I didn't record all of them, but little snippets if you'd like to see! Audrey's class made a video, but I'll have to wait and get a copy of it.

Disneyland

We started the holiday season with a flourish this year and visited Disneyland for 2 days! We have been saving up in our Disneyland jar for 3 years and finally (with the surprise blessing of a reimbursement from some of Randy's work expenses that we were not expecting) had enough to take the trip. Grandma Arlene came along too! I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story! Starting our morning with Mickey! First stop? Space Mountain (the first of four times). Waiting for Dumbo...only about 10 minutes! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! Violet too! This time she was tall enough to ride every ride but one on the Disneyland side. And boy did she LOVE to ride the rides! Violet was mystified with the Nemo submarine! We stopped for dinner at the Golden Horseshoe and took a table upstairs to watch the show. The kids clapped along and laughed at all the silly jokes. After dinner it was dark...the perfect time to ride Small World. I love that ride! Watching the fireworks from Main Street, hot chocolates and ciders in hand! The end of a fantastic day! Just can't wait...what fun awaits us on Day 2? Back on Buzz Lightyear...the kids could not get enough. I think we went 6 or 7 times. The Matterhorn! Riding the carousel at California Adventures. The second morning we headed over to California Adventures for a while. A 2-day park hopper ticket is only $10 more than a 2-day Disneyland ticket, so we paid the extra to play in the Bug's Life section and see the Aladdin show in the Hyperion theater (a 50 minute Broadway-quality musical WELL worth your hour). But aside from that, I have yet to be greatly impressed with this "side" of the park. Seemingly half the park was "under construction", the MaliBoomer is GONE (Randy and my favorite ride in past years) and because the rides are so limited, the rides that were open had very long lines. Toy Story 4-D Adventure was an hour wait, which in the summer or on a weekend is not a big deal. But when you go in the winter, on a weekday, waiting for 20 minutes is about the maximum. Not to dissuade you from visiting California Adventures, but...if you've only got one day, and ESPECIALLY if it is the Christmas season, choose the real Disneyland. All that said, the kids enjoyed our few hours in that park. We rode on the Symphony Swings (Violet favorite for the day), the Mickey Fun Wheel (previously called the Sun Wheel), and Randy and I took Audrey and Isaac on California Screamin' while Grandma took Violet back to the swings, the Jumpin' Jellyfish, and the carousel again. Tuck & Roll bumper cars. Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. Climbing through Sleeping Beauty's castle. Randy and Arlene didn't know there was an actual staircase up, over, and down, through the castle! Isaac at Jedi Training Academy. He took his choosing VERY seriously. Isaac was SOOO excited to fight Darth Vader! Waiting for the Christmas Fantasy Parade (don't be fooled, Isaac wasn't really sleeping). We got great seats right along the curb and had lots of characters come say hello to us. Randy and Isaac got a bunch of fake snow dumped on their heads by Goofy, and Isaac got asked to the ball from one of Cinderella's ugly step-sisters. He got all embarrassed and shook his head "no". We loved the parade! Violet was enthralled with the princesses and the girls with snowflake costumes on roller skates. And, of course, they had Santa on the last float, which Violet pointed out as "the real Santa". After the parade we headed back on our favorite ride one more time (Buzz Lightyear), then over to the New Orleans side for some dessert. Unfortunately, the restaurant we headed to was closed (no beignets...so sad), but the fireworks show as seen over the water was a fantastic view! The kids were so exhausted. We stopped at the bathrooms on the way out, took the shuttle to our van, changed the kids in their pajamas, and they were asleep before we stopped 10 miles down the road for a Starbucks coffee to keep Randy and I awake on the drive home (4 hours). What a way to start the holiday!