Swedish Pancakes..Mmmmmmm

We were super lucky to eat breakfast at "Sears Fine Foods". You get a plate of 16 dollar sized Swedish pancakes. They are soooo good and I admit I always secretly want to eat here every time we're in the city. Our Grandma is an expert at eating these and the kids caught on quick. She folds them in half with her fork and pops the entire thing in at once. Kyle enjoyed that he could tell everyone, "I can eat a whole pancake in one bite". Of course Josh being the boy that he is now gets to brag that he can eat two whole pancakes in one bite.

We enjoyed visiting the seal rescue center North of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I cannot believe we saw this deer grazing just outside the rescue center. This is just right above the bridge. I cannot believe wildlife can exist that close to such a big city.

I forgot to mention that the kids got to be in a shoot for a part of a film our Super Cool Grandma was making about Gardening. How lucky are they? I think it was fun for Jeff to remember doing this when he was younger. The kids have always thought it was neat that Dad got to be in Commercials and stuff.

Museum Day

On Thursday we went to the California Academy of Sciences museum. That building was huge and there was soo much to see. The kids had so much fun with their cousins and wore Grandma and me out.
Here are the kids looking at some tide pool animals that they could feel and touch.

We are waiting in line to enter the rain forest exhibit.

We decided to eat lunch early before too many people were in line. It was insane trying to carry enough food for six kids and two adults with six kids trying to "help". I ended up having to shove mouthfuls of food in between taking shifts of kids to the bathroom. This picture is funny because the kids were cold and wanted to go back in but we had ordered 4 lemonades and we had contests to see who could chug the most in ten seconds.

We are so lucky to have a cool Grandma that teaches acting classes in San Francisco. The kids loved performing on the stage with real microphones.

After the tide pools and a yummy lunch we went to Rockaway beach. The sand was a little cleaner and softer which Caleb loved!!!

Here's a pretty shot of the rocks surrounding the beach.

Katherine and JR were not as excited to play in the surf. That was just fine by me because this beach's waves were much bigger!

Josh in dirt heaven!!!

Katherine wanted to see her sunburned "X" from her swimsuit straps so I took a picture while Grandpa held up her pigtails.

Tide Pools

On the same day that we went to the beach we drove a few miles south and got to walk around some Tide Pools. The kids were fascinated at the hermit crabs, anemones and animals. I admit I was hoping to see a jelly fish or starfish but we still had a blast. Even though it was a warm day the wind is so surprising by the ocean. In the last picture you can see the white seals warming themselves in the sun.

It stinks that someone's shadow is covering up this huge green anemone that Josh found. The officials let us touch them and told us they add gravel size rocks to their bodies to protect them from the sun. Josh, Kyle and Katie all touched the spongey ones.

Beach and Park

Our first day in California was spent relaxing at the park with our cousins. They found that if they dug far enough in the sand there was water. It was kind of gross and I controlled my "Eeew Germs" reflex and let them play.

Here we are at Pacifica Beach (Taco Bell beach). It was a rare sunny day with no fog or clouds. The kids were the only ones in suits and playing in the water. The Californian's thought 65 degrees was too cold.

I am going to try to post little parts of the trip a day at a time. Today is the story of our two days travel to California.

Here are the kids wrestling in the back seat. They were soooo good considering our kids are notorious for not traveling well.

FYI.........Do NOT give your three year old soda as a treat unless you look at the label and find out that...SUNKIST HAS CAFFEINE?????

We were frustrated that Katie was awake three times at the hotel. What was going on with her? As I lay awake I realized she did take a big nap in the car which she normally does not and then I had this passing thought. Does Sunkist have Caffeine? That would explain her crazy night behavior. Sure enough, in the morning I instantly grabbed the bottle and read the ingredients. Beware Sunkist!

I made her pose with her bottle for a picture. Is it just me or does she have crazy caffeine eyes?

We stayed at Circus Circus in Reno to break up the drive. It was an okay hotel. It was super cheap and the kids love earning these prizes at the midway. I don't really enjoy staying in casinos though. Too much creepy creepies for me.

So, this is what we woke up to on Monday morning. I know the Sierra's get snow and we were expecting a little but this was not just a little snow. It was quite deep and heavy. The most frustrating thing was not the drive. The roads were very safe/just wet/ however they made every truck stop to put on chains which made us stay in standstill traffic for 1/2 an hour. Not fun when you spent 10 hours in the car yesterday and you're just starting your last leg of 3 1/2 hours. We got to drive on for a few more minutes when they stopped every car to put on chains, unless you had snow tires or 4 wheel drive. Our car instantly gained 4 wheel drive. We lied!!!! We actually had chains in the car and wouldn't have had to pay the ridiculous fee of $30 to have them installed but we have driven in snow so much deeper and scarier than this and thank heavens they road guys believed us. Whew...welcome to California.

Warning!

I'm going to give all my blog readers a warning. Since I use this blog as a sort of family scrapbook I want to post a lot of pictures from our spring break trip visit to Jeff's family in California. I'm hesitant to do this for the following reason. I get quit annoyed when people on Facebook post non-stop about how their last shopping trip went, their latest vacation, newest phone, shoes, car etc. I admit that sometimes I get jealous and then I realize that everyone wants to put their best face forward and are not going to post about the weird hair they found on their face or the latest argument they had with their spouse. Anyway, I hope no one takes this as bragging. I just want to remember all the details from our fun family trip.

There...............I feel better!