September 2014

We went to the drive-in as a last of summer blast. It was a wonderful time!

I'm supposed to be doing something productive that involves writing the sequel to my book. But I'm not. I don't know why, but the motivation just isn't readily available today. But as I sat here, randomly surfing the internet in an act of distraction, I came upon the link for the blog. I wondered how many times I'd actually managed to sit down and document life and was surprised to see the results of my wondering.

Twelve.

That's it. Twelve whole posts. I started to do monthly posts, but gave up on that as well. As a writer, (or "writer" with the finger quotations, as I like to say) I should be using this as practice to keep my mind in writing mode. So a September post it is!

School:

School is in full swing and the kids are in their routines. Alex has discovered that second grade is more work than he thought it would be. They are always busy and he has homework all of the time. He's starting to tell me how much he dislikes school. That doesn't make me happy. That being said, he's still doing amazing. His reading skills are way up there and he's whipping through books at an astonishing rate. The Book-It program starts in October. He'll have his books read at the end of the first week. Abby, on the other hand, is in love with school. I think this is the first grade happy bubble. That bubble will most likely burst next year as it has for Alex. She has come to surprise me in her reading skills as well. That little girl has gone from barely reading to reading two to three full books per night. She read five Dr. Seuss books tonight on her own. It shocks me how far she has come in one month. I'll be interested to see what her teacher says at the parent teacher conferences next month. Evie, my little stay at home child, is the one who I fear is suffering the most with school in full swing. She gets lonely, the poor little one. The only one to keep her company all day is me. And I'm told that I am not exactly a bucket of happy joyfulness these days. I hope and pray she does not grow up scarred and resentful. I just don't know anyone with kids her age and I'm way too anti-social to be in a playgroup.

Second Grade

First Grade

Almost 2 years old...AKA...No grade, but wanted her picture taken too.

Home for sale...still:

It's been four months and our matchbox house is still up for sale with zero interest. Honestly, I'm getting worried. We had one lady that may have had interest, but that fizzled out like wet fireworks. So far, we've been told our house is too small, over-priced, has uneven floors, horrible ceilings, is in a bad location, and has no curb appeal. Nice, huh? The problem is: We are busting at the seams. We've ran into problem after problem trying to fit three kids in one office-sized room. Bunk beds are too big to fit and too tall for a drop ceiling. So we are now thinking of putting a twin bed in our "master" bedroom with Josh and me for Evie. Which brings me to my next point -

Insomnia:

I don't think I have a full case of insomnia. But it's pretty close. I can't sleep these days. Oh, I'm exhausted alright. I just toss and turn when I go to bed. It could be that my mind doesn't have a snooze button and just keeps thinking all night long. OR it could be the chainsaw-like snoring husband and an almost two-year old that shares a bed with me due to the fact that she refuses to sleep in her own bed for some reason. I get about three inches of bed to sleep on and that's on a good night. She has major sleep issues. I remember thinking that Alex and Abby had issues. I was wrong. Evie has issues. Problem 1: She fell out of her crib very early and had to be put in a toddler bed for her own safety. Keeping a one-year old in a toddler bed is next to impossible. Keeping a one-year old like Evie in one, is even harder. She doesn't want to sleep in it. At all. So she wakes up crying up to ten times per night BEFORE I go to bed. Problem 2: She is in our room. She can sense me like a wounded seal in shark infested waters. It's almost creepy. Within two minutes of crawling into bed, she is awake and screaming for me. So yeah. I'm tired. This can't be good.

This is what happens at night when I'm trying to have time to myself. Actually, as I'm making this post, she's doing the same thing. *sigh*

Visitor:

The only other thing we've been dealing with lately, is a visitor that has made himself a home away from home. An outdoor cat that my kids lovingly named Tom, has been at our house morning, noon and night for the better part of summer. So I finally decided that it was time to see if he had an owner. I put a collar on him with a little note attached and hoped for the best. Turns out, he does have an owner. And after talking with the owner on the phone, we were asked to stop feeding him and to bring him back to their house the next time he visits. At first, the call went well, but now I'm afraid I've just made them mad. Oh well. That's what you get when you don't keep your cats inside. Cats will wander. He wasn't here today. I don't think he's coming back. Gotta admit: I missed his furry face. See ya later, Tom.

Book stuff:

*zzzzzz* Oh sorry. I got bored thinking about this for a second and fell asleep. There really isn't much exciting happening with my book. I'm actually deciding that it's probably just another dead end. I might have something worked up with our elementary school, but as of yet, the librarian hasn't approved it for the kids. So we'll see. My sales are way down. Wait. No. That's not right. That would indicate that I have made sales. Which I haven't. So, for now, it's just an over-demanding hobby that has helped aid my insomnia-like tendencies. But I keep truckin' forward. You just never know. Right?

Birthdays:

And last but not least, we had a big birthday month. Josh turned...ahem...not 40 yet. He said that he actually is feeling old due to all the body aches he has thanks to working like a team of mules 25+ days a month. Poor guy. My niece (sort of), Greta, turned five years old. I can't believe she'll be in kindergarten next year. Crazy! And finally, this year marks the first year that my mother-in-law, Cindy, wasn't around to celebrate her birthday. It was harder on Josh than I think he expected it to be. They shared birthdays just one day apart and he was always used to having his annual birthday phone calls with her. I must say that it was hard not making cards for Grandma. The pain of my own Dad's birthday this year was almost too much for me to take. Life. What can you do? So Happy Birthday to all our September family members!

Josh's birthday. He wanted a pudding cake.

Poop

Yep. Poop is the title of my post today. That is precisely the only way to accurately describe the contents of its awesomeness.

I have three kids. That means that I've successfully managed to deal with diapers and the contents of said diapers through three separate occasions. And surprisingly enough, my third and current standing experience with them, is completely different than the prior two times.

Poop is fantastic. It really is. I mean, you can tell a lot by the simpleness of the whole thing. As a parent, poop generally leads to good things. If your baby has a certain number of poopy diapers as an infant, then you're successfully feeding them. As they go onto solids, you get the happiness of knowing that what goes in, comes out nicely later. You can tell a lot from the contents of each diaper - from sickness to water consumption. Then you get toddlers and they learn to hide in a corner when they go. And that's when you realize they are getting ready to potty train. Yet another moment of happiness. Then they learn to poop on the potty and - BAM! Best. Day. Ever.

Yep. Poop is pretty darn fantastic.

Unless your 20 month old toddler is bringing it to you in their hand. Every single day. Several times per day. And smiling saying, "Mommy! I poopied!"

That's when poop suddenly becomes the evil bane of your existence. Guess who is going through this at this current phase in her life? Yep. Evie. Technically though, I'm going to say that Evie isn't the one who is "going through this". It's me. I'm the happy recipient of the poop that she brings. I love my kids. I adore every moment with Evie as she is growing into a little kid. But this whole hand-me-the-contents-of-your-diaper thing is driving...me...insane! It's taken some time, but I finally have discovered the root of her poop-picking obsession.

Washing her hands.

The kid loves to wash her hands. And so she gets uber-excited to show me how dirty they are so that she can go wash them. I try my hardest not to react when she hands me her diaper bombs. But dang it all! There's only so much a mom can take! Alex and Abby both did this when they were little. But only rarely. They realized the disgustingness of the situation and promptly stopped. Evie? Not so much. She is so efficient at this, that she can poop and then have her hand in her diaper to grab the goods within 1 second of finishing. I'm not even joking.

So this time, with miss Evie, I can honestly say that I am dying to start potty training. This past week she's been teething and has had the dreaded diarrhea that accompanies it. I can't express to you the horrors I've seen. *shudder* I just needed to document this phase of her/my life so that one day, when she asks about potty training with her children, I can show her this and laugh and laugh and laugh.

P.S. Right now, I'm not laughing.

The Great California Vacation: Part Four (Final)

When I last left off, we had just emerged from the dense redwoods into the open air and spotted before us, the beauty of the vast and amazing ocean. Actually, we had just eaten and I'd gotten some questionable fish and chips. Anyhow, this was to be our last moment of awesomeness on our grand adventure to California and it was the one that Alex was looking forward to the most. Actually, I think it was the one that most of us were looking forward to the most. Seeing the ocean is amazing. I know that people who live next to it can take it for granted. But when you're from smack dab in the middle of the midwest, the ocean is positively spectacular.

Coming out of the redwood forest, this was our view from the car.

We parked the car Alex and Abby were off to the water like crazy kids. Alex, my ocean loving child, was in heaven. By the time I reached him, Abby and Josh at the edge of the ocean, Alex had already managed to fall into the water - fully clothed. Now, I was okay with that, but told him to be more careful. By then, he had only fallen in up to his knees. Keep in mind that it was barely in the 70’s with a cool breeze coming off of the water. We had all kicked our shoes off due to the fine sand entering every pore of bodies and clothes. It was just inspirational seeing the ocean like this. The last time I’d seen the ocean was on our honeymoon to Florida. That was along time ago and it was dusk by the time we got to traverse the beach. Here, it was broad daylight and you could see nothing past the ocean.

Rolling the pants up. A pointless act, apparently.

I think Alex could have stayed here all day long.

Right about the time I told Alex not to get any wetter, he “accidentally” fell into the water again…and rolled around…twice. I could have slaughtered that kid right about then. The problem, continuing on our Clark Griswold-like family vacation, was that I failed to realize that a change of clothes would be beneficial. I brought nothing. And after getting wet, it got much colder. I figured that he was old enough to just suck it up and deal. Abby was smart enough to stay relatively dry. So we managed and went on our merry way exploring the beach and the caves nearby. I was in charge of miss Evie, of course, so didn’t get to explore quite as much. We hunted for shells and hoped to find something living. We saw a few jellyfish that had washed ashore, but other than that, nothing living. We did find a nifty crab on the cliffs though. See how alive I made it look? Wouldn’t know that I posed its dead body for a photo, would you? I’m awful like that.

Poor dead crab. Seagull fodder, I'm afraid.

 

I had Josh write his name in the sand, but for some reason, I didn't take a picture. I think I got distracted by Evie's antics.

So I had originally planned to get this epic family photo with me dressed in my Halloween pirate costume while tying up my family with a mariner’s rope as prisoners on the beach. Yeah…didn’t happen. I couldn’t find room to bring my costume and had no idea where to get a rope. So I cleverly came up with a new plan of the five of us running down the beach, hand in hand. I gathered up the masses and gave my camera to my mom. As I was herding the two reluctant older children up, I failed to realize how close I was to the water while holding Evie's hand. The next thing I knew, Evie got sucked into a wave and went under. Now, don’t worry. It was only for a second so she was fine, but she was also drenched to the core. I was so frustrated with how crappy things were going because of my poor planning that I gave up the picture to get my poor sweet baby to the warmth of the car. She was soaked and shivering and covered in sand. On the way back to the car, Alex decided that he needed to fall into the sand with his soaked clothes and body and make a sand angel. Have you ever tried to get wet beach sand off? Yeah. It’s impossible without a power washer. Looking back, I know I shouldn’t have been upset, but I was not a happy camper at this point. (It had been a stressful trip.) I swallowed hard and marched on, trying not to get too mad at my little sand creatures. Let’s just say that I felt really bad for the people who had to clean out that rental car.

Like my hair? You, too, could have epic hair like me. My hair did NOT agree with humidity in California. Ugh. This was the best way I could document my day at the beach.

Not our best family photo, but not our worst either.

The newly weds!

By the time we got to the car, Evie was a Popsicle. She rode home in a diaper. Poor kid. We headed for the hotel, taking the unscenic way home to get there faster. Most of us were starving, cold, had sand in places that we couldn’t explain, and smelled like we’d just gotten done swabbing the deck of the Jolly Roger. I was thankful for that shower that evening.

So, that was it for our vacation. We headed back across the Golden Gate Bridge and said our goodbyes to everyone. Even though there were some bumps (my shin still isn’t back to normal from that blasted redwood tree), some mistakes, and a few tears shed, it was easily one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever been on. Seriously though, I refuse to do another plane ride until all my children are officially potty trained. I’m so happy we decided to go and I will treasure those memories forever. I missed my dad during the whole trek, but had a wonderful time with my family. We got home to bitter temperatures and rain. But I was super thankful to be back in my own bed. So were the kiddos. Oddly enough, I just found out that one brother is going to be moving to Colorado soon. Looks like I’d better get ready for another trip. I wonder how crazy the Royal Gorge would be with a three year old?

See ya later San Fran!

The Great California Vacation: Part 3

I want to be a better blogger.

There. I said it.

Now if someone could add about five hours to every day so that I can accomplish more, that would be lovely. Let me know if that ever happens.

The California vacation (you know...the one that we took four months ago) is finally getting part three tonight, with part four (lastly) hopefully shortly after.. I should be using this time to write more in my book. But alas, I am not. I was naughty and watched an entire TV series for the last two weeks and managed to lose my train of thought for the story. Oops. So now I'm procrastinating.

After Aaron and Michelle's wedding, we got to go see the sites. The next morning, even with his hangover...er...I mean random unexplained headache...Aaron managed to drag himself out of bed with his new wifey to join us on a grand adventure to the Drive Through Tree park in the heart of the Redwoods Forest. Let me tell you something. I've driven in Colorado. I remember thinking that those roads were crazy and treacherous with all the curves and mountain passes. Then I was co-pilot to my mom in the Redwood Forest. I stand corrected. Some of those twists and turns on that roadway made my head hurt. I think we traveled 10 miles in two hours. And that's being generous. That being said, the forest was just awesome. I hope we get to go back one day soon. I could make that drive again just for the fun of it. (With a much older Evie.) It was spectacular! Our first destination was the Drive Through Tree Park. There is a giant sequoia that's over 2400 years old that you can drive through. Of course, we witnessed an SUV scrape its mirrors on the inside of the tree as it tried to pass through, then opted out of driving our rental car through it. I'm guessing that the tree was carved out back in the days of station wagons.

 

Now, my goal was to get all of us in this tree and pretend that we were terrified. I was then going to later go in and photoshop a dinosaur into the picture and make this our family picture. Josh wouldn't go along with it. Grrr.

Cousins being boys.

See? Evie just wants to be one of the gang. She holds her own. That's for sure.

Mom was very camera happy. :)

There was a part of my writer's mind here, that was afraid a creature would come out of that tree and eat us.

We explored the paths of the woods nearby. Josh could have walked and explored much more, but having tiny kids makes that a bit complicated. It was awesome, none-the-less. After raiding the gift shop in true tourist fashion, we headed out to a place called Confusion Hill. It's a most peculiar place where the water runs uphill and your equilibrium is thrown out of whack. I think it's just an illusion, but it was pretty darn snazzy, if I do say so myself. We all got quite a kick out of it.

Weird, huh?

This is my favorite picture of Dianne. :)

Jeremy hanging out. It was really strange in that house.

Illusion or not, it was still really impressive.

Now here's where the fun started. Going on a trek into the forested lands of California, we assumed that somewhere along the way that there would be options for food. So, in true Clark Griswold fashion, we epically failed. There was no food. Anywhere. Ever. No McDonald's. No pit stops. Not even the gift shops had food we could use. Having a kid with food allergies makes this infinitely more impossible. I would have even paid good money for a gas station. At one point, I was hopeful that the Confusion Hill gift shop would have snacks. They did. But none of it was safe for Alex - with one exception - two lonely bags of Frito's corn chips. Fifty cents later, I had food for Alex and Abby. Those, combined with the bag of mini Oreos I luckily brought, was the most food I had to offer my starving kids. Talk about the middle of nowhere! We all had a good laugh through our frustration. I was just happy to know that even my brother Jeremy and his wife Dianne failed on this front just as bad as we did. :-) Birds of a feather, ya know?

Finally, after forty hours of driving (really it was only like three. just felt like forty.) we emerged out of the depths of the forest to see the most amazing view - the ocean. It was so vast. I almost couldn't wrap my mind around it. But the fun didn't end with our foodless adventure here. Our first goal was to find the nearest McDonald's and feed the masses. Luckily, at the end of Fort Bragg, we found our feast. Now, this is where it got funny. We fed the kiddos. They hungrily swallowed their food as Josh and Jeremy checked for a local restraunt that served fresh fish and chips. They swore up and down that we couldn't be on the coast and not eat fresh fish and chips. Now, my mom smartly ate a fish sandwich meal from McDonald's. And the two people who actually live in California (Aaron and Michelle) ate at McDonald's. You'd think that would be our sign, right? Wrong. I'm not an adventurous eater. In fact, I'm the opposite. But I agreed to give the local cuisine a try. When in Rome, right? We GPSed a little dive on the docks and a short drive later, we were at Cap'N Flint's Restaurant. I believe they also offered boat tours and whale watching (if that tells you anything). Josh and Jeremy went in to order four orders of fish and chips...fresh caught that day. We then found out that they only accepted cash. Luckily, Josh and I had some we'd saved for the trip. It took them like 20 minutes (at least) to cook up our meal and Dianne and I joked that hopefully it wouldn't cost us more than $50 for four orders of fish and chips. (Because, between all of us, it was all the cash we had.) After waiting forever, I went into the place to find out what was taking Jeremy and Josh so long. That's when they told me it was over $40 for the food. My jaw agape, I went out and shared this moment with Dianne. We about died. It was so stinking funny.

They even had plastic chair inside to sit on. I laughed and laughed. I wonder if Cap'N Flint has all his legs?

I'd like to say that it was the best meal I'd ever eaten. But alas, I didn't get to eat it until it was cold (naturally). Mine was filled with bones and not really that fantastic. Everyone else enjoyed their bone-free fish. This is why I don't experiment with food. Never turns out well for me. It was, however, a great memory. So I'll take it.

Ocean as far as the eye can see. Mom was in awe.

We finally made it to our last destination: The ocean. But that's part four of this blog series. :-)

The Great California Vacation: Part 2

Guess who got the newest Dresden Files book and spent the last week devouring it? This lady did! So that's just one of the reasons I haven't been writing on here. So...the great vacation continues...

The Wedding

I've had the honor of being at all of my brothers' weddings (except my oldest brother who didn't really ever have an official one) and so I couldn't possibly have missed my baby brother's wedding. Even if he did have it half of a country away. When we got there, we spent some time enjoying the local sites of Ukiah, California. It was one heck of a beautiful place. The sequoia trees were just spectacular and they were everywhere! While Aaron (the baby bro) was getting his wedding practice on with the rest of the party, the rest of us out-of-towners went and found a local park for the kids to burn energy. All I can really say is: Best. Park. Ever. Seriously...it was pretty awesome. Despite the cold and gloomy weather, we had to burn the energy of several kids. Parks do that rather well.

Boys climbing on trees. Naturally.

I had a huge bruise on my shin for weeks after this from trying to jump on this monstrosity.

Later on we went to the rehearsal and dinner and spent some time at the wedding location. It was a very nice place. But the big day was upon us and off we went to the wedding! I must admit, it was strange seeing my little bro up there in a tux and all decked out to get married. But I was so happy to get to be there. There were bittersweet moments mixed amongst the happiness. With my dad being gone, it was hard at times. He would have had so much fun being there and being the center of attention (even though he wasn't the one getting married). I would have been okay, but they handed mom a flower in memory/honor of dad. I lost it. Bawled like a baby. I got the honor of wearing it on me.

My new sister-in-law, Michelle, was stunning in her dress and Aaron was looking pretty good himself. My bro, Jeremy, was in the wedding party. I love this picture of him. I know it's just a trick of photography, but he looks like Andre the Giant. He really wasn't that much bigger than everyone.

My brother: Andre the Giant.

Me and my bros.

 

In honor of Dad.

The kiddos weren't thrilled with having to sit still for the entire thing, but they did well. Josh got to walk Evie around a bit while I watched the whole thing. I was thankful for that. Why, oh why, won't she just sit in a stroller and chillax like my niece, Lexi? That girl is happy to just relax and enjoy life. Evie can't sit still for two seconds, the crazy girl.

I've never been to a wedding with a dance. Actually, I think I have, but I didn't dance because it was more of a bride and groom thing. Anyhow, I had to bust a move with everyone else. What cracked me up was that my mom, the wallflower of all wallflowers, actually went out and danced. Did someone slip her some extra champagne? (Just kidding.) It was nice. Aaron did a back flip (that nut) and I got the pleasure of watching Aaron and Jeremy dance together in the Money Dance. (You pay to dance with the bride or groom. I gave Jeremy a buck to go dance with Aaron.) We all got a kick out of that. Then a little more bittersweetness smacked me in the face. The DJ said, "Time for the father-daughter dance. Dad's, take your daughters on the dance floor for this one." I never ever thought that I'd dance with my dad when he was alive. . It just never came up in life. But when I saw all those dads dancing with their daughters, I lost it. It was the most I missed my dad since I found out he was gone. I couldn't stop crying and was struggling to compose myself. Aaron took me out there and danced with me in dad's place. I think I did more crying than dancing. But dang it all, if that wasn't a big bucket of suck.

Alex has a blast talking Uncle Aaron's ear off.

 

Jeremy pinning the dollar on Aaron to "pay" for a dance.

 When the night was all said and done, I was one more sister-in-law up and had officially seen my last brother married off (not including my brother-from-another-mother. But that's another story. :-) It was a beautiful wedding with beautiful memories. The kids were exhausted and so were our feet. It was time to call it a night. I have no idea how late that dance went, but I was drained and ready to relax in the hotel room. Congratulations to my brother and his new wife! Glad to have you in the family, Michelle!

Next up: Confusion Hill and The Redwoods

The Great California Vacation: Part 1

Sooo...I've blogged seven times this year. Yep. Seven. That is quite possibly the most accurate definition of pathetic I can give. On we go.

When last I blogged, I mentioned the horrific fever-laden virus that we all got to endure. It was pretty horrific, to say the least. It was so bad, that we actually considered not going on our trip to California. And believe me when I say that it would have been pretty awful for several of our party if we didn't make it. Alex, being the ocean obsessed child, would have been devastated. He was the little turkey that brought this bug home. So he got to give us our accurate display of what the symptoms would be. When the fever didn't leave for three days, I knew we were in trouble. Because Abby and Evie both got it on Tuesday and we were to leave for California on Thursday. When I caught it on Wednesday with Josh, I realized that we were not sitting pretty. I went to the doc and found out mine had a sinus infection on top of it all. I got the meds we needed lined up in my monster-sized medicine bag and said 'to heck with it!'. The doc cleared us for traveling and the tickets were bought and paid for. How many opportunites do you get to show your three kids the ocean and Redwood forest? And guess what? Now I can say I got to be at all my brother's weddings (except my brother Russell who didn't have an 'official wedding'.

Off we flew, hacking our lungs out while battling remaining fevers, to the great land of California. I've never been there so I was pretty excited to see the west coast. And I was not disappointed. That state is B-E-A-utiful! The trees alone were enough to impress anyone in their right minds. The Ocean and everything else we got to see simply added to the awesomeness of it all. I am so glad we went, despite our sicknesses. Oh sure, we had to use ibuprofen a lot, but it was totally worth it. The kids didn't seem to mind and they were mostly healed anyways. Josh's fever lingered the longest. I told him to put his man pants on and suck it up. (Should have told him to put some woman pants on though, as men are big babies when they get sick. I was in full fever mode and had to pack an entire family, clean the house, take care of sick kids and several other things while Josh took a sick day and slept the entire day away. See what I mean?)

Flying with the kids was...well...for lack of a better word, horrible. Okay. Not really. Alex and Abby were just fine. Flying with a 17 month old, on the other hand, was terrible! We tried to refund Evie's seat and change her to a lap child, but it didn't work so she got her own seat. But that didn't work either. She had to sit on my lap for take-off and landing. Have you ever tried to hold a squirmy toddler for more than 1 minute? If not, then I don't recommend it. It's almost impossible. But I managed. Josh, my mom and the other two kiddos just enjoyed the trip with headphones and books. When we finally landed in San Francisco, I looked like I had just finished wrestling a bear.

She looks so peaceful, right? Yeah. Not really.

My brother and his soon-to-be wife met us there with car seats for the kids and a new stroller for Evie. Turns out, Evie doesn't agree that she should sit in a stroller. She must walk with the big kids. Go figure. We also met another of my brothers, Jeremy, and his family there. The kids were pumped to have cousins to share the trip with. Once we were ready to hit the road, we piled in our snazzy new rental car (a little too high-tech for me, of course) and began our awesome trip. First stop: Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.

Naturally, we go to sunny California and are rewarded with pretty horrific weather. It was darn cold and rainy to boot. But we managed. Our first stop was McDonald's for some grub. It's one of two safe restaurants with safe food for Alex and his allergies. We got really tired of that place by the end of the trip. But you do what you have to do, you know? From there, we scurried off to the Wharf and saw the sites. First, we went to the Aquarium of the Bay. Alex could not have been more excited. His goal is to see every aquarium in the world. It was a pretty nice one and I'm glad we went. Their shark tunnel was very impressive. There is a little walkway where you can either ride the flat moving track or walk beside it. It was stunning! We saw many creatures of the deep and Alex was all smiles. Abby was pretty happy too. Evie said more ooooh's and aaaah's than I've ever heard from her. She walked ran along with the rest of the kiddos and fit in perfectly.

Jellyfish.

Family photo plus one. My nephew Zach was the only one really smiling. Go figure.

They had these fun bubbles the kids could get in and see the tanks from an inside view. Very neat.

Daddy and Evie. Sharks!

Crazy cousins on the shark tunnel "ride".

Petting the sharks and rays with Shelly and Aaron.

We got to ride the famous carousel at the Wharf. Guess what? Alex rode the dolphin. Only because there wasn't a shark. Abby could have stayed on that thing all day. Evie was just happy to be on one of her own. It was Grandma's treat. She wanted her grandkids to have fun.

Then we were off to see the stores and go to the Pier 39 and see Alcatraz and a whole lot of sea lions hanging out on the docks. Josh's favorite? Alcatraz. Naturally. My favorite? Watching my kids and my mom smile ear to ear as they saw these things for the first time. Or in my mom's case, the first time since she was a girl. My mom, who was really missing my dad the whole time, had the time of her life. It was bitter-sweet for her, but she genuinely enjoyed it. Especially being with three of four of her children for a whole week.

98% of my photos of the kids don lovely goofy faces.

Josh's favorite: Alcatraz. The Rock!

Do you see Evie trying to climb over the rails in the background? I almost had a heart attack.

Pier 39. Look at those lazy bums!

Mom was really happy to be there. But I think you can see the sorrow touching her face...even if it is just a little bit.

After several hours at San Francisco, we packed up and got ready to cross the famous Golden Gate Bridge. I must say, that was a sight to see! Impressed, I was. The Bay Bridge was pretty cool too. It was the first bridge we saw before the Aquarium. The only problem with seeing the bridges was that it was foggy and so the photos weren't so impressive. The kiddos enjoyed watching the ocean and desperately seeking a tail or something interesting jumping out of the water. Several times I could hear them tell me they saw something. Who knows, right? I swore up and down that I saw a strangely serpentine shape of massive proportions in the ocean when I was flying out of Florida. You never know. Our great adventure in San Francisco had come to an end. It was a wonderful day and I'll treasure those memories forever. Next stop: Ukiah, California - Wedding time!

The foggy Golden Gate Bridge