Ian’s Visit, Day 1: Hanging Out

Today we hung out at the campground all day. Bocce ball in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, a walk to the lake, then a campfire cookout.

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Visit from Ian

Ian arrived today for a 4-day visit. He flew by himself from Des Moines. We were excited to pick him up from the airport at around 7 in the evening. 

A cool night, but warm enough to go swimming.

Uncle Jerry & Aunt Sheila

After our hikes this afternoon we went for dinner at my Uncle Jerry & Aunt Sheila’s. Jerry is my mom’s brother. They have always lived far away, but when we were kids they lived in Pennsylvania and we would see each other on vacations and the occasional holiday. More recently they have lived in Phoenix and we have seen them much less. It was great to catch up. 

Their daughter, Nikki, lives in Phoenix so she came over as well. The kids had a blast playing with Sheila and Nikki. Lucia was a little hesitant to go into the house, feeling a little shy. After about 30 minutes she was asking me if Sheila could come back to one of the bedrooms and play with her. 

Nicki & Rose
Lucia & Rose with Sheila

Visit with Ben & Sammy

While we were in the Bay area we really wanted to connect with my friend Ben, from college. He lives in Berkeley with his family. They were kind enough to drive down today to meet us. We decided to have dinner downtown and we stumbled upon some live music in Abbott Square. It was a great place to visit. 

Ben, Susan holding Isaish, and Elliot
Elliot, Mari, Isaiah, Susan, Me, Rose, Andrew, Lucia, Sammy, Ben & Satya
This picture is from a week after Rose was born, in June 2015. Ben was kind enough to wear the same t-shirt.

Monarch Migration

There is a state park in Santa Cruz, Natural Bridges, where thousands of monarchs spend their winter. They are attracted to a stand of Eucalyptus trees in a narrow canyon just off the coast. There is a trail down into the canyon where you can gaze that the clumps of butterflies up in the trees. As the temperature warms up many of them take flight and go from tree to tree.

Butterflies. Photo credit: Andrew.
Those are all clumps of butterflies. Photo credit: Andrew.
Us
Playing in a different stand of Eucalyptus trees.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Santa Cruz has a amusement park on a boardwalk right on the beach. It was a fun place to spend the afternoon.

Andrew and Elliot tried hard to knock the milk bottles off the table, but will have to find a time to give it another try.
Lucia rode the carousel, with Be-Bob as her chaperone.
Mari and I went on a rollercoaster together.
Mari has caught up to Marilyn.
Susan and I, getting ready for surfing.
Elliot trying his hand at popping some balloons.
Rose fell asleep on the walk back to the car.

 

Friday in Santa Cruz

Elliot typing
Mari typing, while Andrew and Susan look at postcards.
Balloon Family
Downtown Santa Cruz
Redwood Tree, at Henry Cowell State Park
Our rag-tag bunch.
The Fremont Tree. All 9 of us fit inside this one, which is still alive.

Mar-Mar & Be-Bob Visit the Mystery Spot

Last night my parents flew into San Francisco and today they made the trip south to join us in Santa Cruz. After getting settled in this morning we went to The Mystery Spot, a gravitational vortex in the Santa Cruz area. We went for a short hike and then got a tour of the place, which centers around a cabin with some strange gravitational anomalies. 

Be-Bob reading to the kids.
The Mystery Spot
On a short hike
Measuring Heights
Measuring Heights
Our Tour Guide, Hope
Standing on a table
Standing
Rose had had enough, so she just decided to stop trying.
Be-Bob being silly.

Dillon Beach

Susan’s parents, Gary & Kathie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past weekend. We all met in San Francisco for lunch on Sunday and then headed up to a house in Dillon Beach for a few days. It was a fun weekend. Erin & Cameron made the trip from Des Moines and Mary flew in from Kansas City. On Sunday we were joined by Kathie’s brother-in-law, Ron, and his son, Andrew. We actually visited Andrew on our honeymoon, dropping by his house outside of Portland.

Our time in Dillon Beach went quick. We spent Sunday getting moved and settled in. Then on Monday we hung out at the beach, enjoying the nice weather. On Tuesday we headed back toward San Francisco for an outing to Muir Woods. 

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Exploring San Francisco

Today we explored San Francisco with Cam & Erin. We started off riding the train from Pacifica into the city.

The girls were glad to see Cam again.

The day started off with a laugh. At the parking garage for the train we got confused about how to get to the trains. We got on the elevator and pressed the 1* button, knowing that we were already on that level. We immediately got off and walked about 10 feet to the station entrance.

Rose was ready for the train ride.
Eventually we made it into the city and were ready to explore.
We waited in line for a long time to take a cable car into the heart of town. These nice folks from Kansas City were behind us and we visited with them a lot.
After maybe 2 hours, we finally reached the very front of the line.
We got great seats on the cable car and the older kids got to hang off the edge. At one point I think they almost collided with some mirrors and they figured out they had to hang close.
We got off the cable car at the bottom of Lombard St and then walked to the top.
After that we headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We loved all of the street performers, including this magician.
Erin planned a visit to this cool antique arcade, where the kids had a lot of fun.
Lucia like to watch the dancers in this old-time automated puppet display. So did I.
This one-man band totally rocked it.
We headed to pier 39 to see the sea lions, and Pier 39.
After that we enjoyed Gelato in the park in Little Italy. It was nice to rest.

After Little Italy we walked to Chinatown, which was just a few blocks away. We were about 5 blocks in when Erin realized that she had lost her wallet. We retraced our steps back to the park. Then Erin received a facebook message from Pedro Jose, our new hero!

Pedro Jose found Erin’s wallet and met us in the park to return it.
We were all smiles on the bus back to the train back to our car.
Even Rose likes the bus.
Rose does not like the train. It was too loud.
The kids were glad to be home in time to get in some swimming before bed.