Goodbye California!

It's always a bit sad to say goodbye.

Our plans were to leave California on Friday, which turned into Saturday and then Sunday.

Now we are on our way, with our first stop in Vegas.

Parks, freakouts, museums, and family

We'd had several rainy, cool days. So a beautiful day Sunday definitely called for a trip to the park. Ashlyn was trying to pretend that she was pregnant. Somehow, she just looks a bit chesty.

Monday was just about the worst parenting day for me. I was "that mom" at the library. The kids kept running in circles and shrieking while we were waiting in line. I tried to separate them. I put them in time out. I moved them away from each other to sit in time out. I knew that everyone was looking at me, and had just told the kids that we were no longer going to the park after the library. I was also thinking that I would probably just have to leave. Then, a librarian walked up to me. She said,"Can you keep your children quiet? This is a library." Allen suggested that my response should have been along the lines of "this is a library?" Instead, I told her that I was trying. Then, I grabbed the wrists of both kids and left. Christopher started screaming on the way out the door. Ashlyn just kept laughing. I was so embarrassed and mad.

It was free day at both the de Young and SFMOMA on Tuesday. After our day Monday, I just knew that taking these two to museums was going to be difficult. They were great! They had a tendency to want to touch stuff while walking, so I really had to be on top of them. Once they were in the stroller, they were fine.

Ashlyn saw this carousel on the way to the SFMOMA. Of course, during most of the visit, she kept asking if we could leave to go back.

Christopher would not smile for me, but he did have fun.

 

My aunt, uncle, and two cousins also live in the bay area. I emailed my uncle right after we moved here about getting together. I didn't keep reminding him or anything, and now I really regret that. We hadn't seen any of them since Christmas 1996.

Uncle Steve reads

Silly photos with Steve and Donna

I told Ashlyn that my cousin Maya was 17, but had only been 4 the last time I saw her. I think Ashlyn was expecting a 4 year old. As a bonus, Haile was home from college this weekend, too.

My baby cousins are all grown up.

Oh, questions from the last post. We are moving to Tulsa, OK. We do not know about the house yet, but don't really have a second choice. Just waiting...

This week

We were gone on a short visit east this past week for a bit of family visiting.

And some attempted house purchasing.

A baby in the house

Two of our good friends from Alaska have been in California for the past couple of weeks, adopting a baby boy. We couldn't be happier for Laurie and Jason, and were so happy to meet their new baby boy, Josiah.

They came over for dinner last Friday night, then we met them in downtown San Francisco for lunch on Monday. Small bits of site seeing.

Ashlyn felt like posing that day, and kept asking me to take more pictures of her.

This was Christopher's first time on a carousel.

Of course, he loved it!

More posing from Ashlyn.

Getting Christopher in on the action.

Jason and Laurie have hit some bureaucratic issues in their adoption process, which has left them here a bit longer than they expected. Laurie flew home to take care of their girls, but Jason and Josiah are staying with us for a few days.

We certainly don't mind looking at this face.

Tea Garden

On Thursday, we went back into San Francisco to Golden Gate Park. There we visited the beautiful Japanese tea garden.

Ashlyn was all for posing when asked. "Cheese."

After the tea garden, we walked through the park to a playground. Christopher has no fear climbing. His momma does.

We're on our way to Arkansas now. See everyone soon.

Convicts and Sea Lions

On Tuesday, we went to San Francisco, headed to Fisherman's Wharf. The kids always like seeing the sea lions on Pier 39. Recently, the number of sea lions has gone way up, around 1500. They were really piled up.

The kids liked it, but Bob just thought it was gross. They really did stink.

After lunch, we took a boat to Alcatraz.

It was smaller than I expected and not creepy.

Hardened criminals

View of Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz. (Ashlyn slept through the entire tour and return trip.)

Dragon boat Festival

On Saturday we went to a dragon boat festival on Treasure Island.

Dragons

Rock climbing

dragon boats

Ashlyn wanted to get her picture taken with all of the characters

Awkward family photo

Bob