For my birthday this year I took the day off work and we made the trek up to San Francisco with the girls to see the California Academy of Sciences. This amazing museum, which just completed a multi-million dollar, five-year renovation, is a must see for everyone. The only downside is that everyone knows they need to see it so the lines are very long, and the museum is very crowded. Most days they sell out and unless you arrive early it’s unlikely that you will be able to see any of their shows or get into the centerpiece rain-forest exhibit.
The best part of not having written in a while is that there is so much to talk about. I want to catch up quickly, but think it might be best to talk about current events first and roll back into the older stuff. That way everyone knows what’s going on now as well as having a chance to catch up on what’s been happening.
I’ve aways been a fan of the ocean – and the water in general – so this weekend we decided to take the ferry from San Francisco across to Sausalito to talk around for a bit. It would be a great way for the girls to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather and for us to introduce them to the experience and fun of riding the ferry. Needless to say, it was an awesome day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
It has already been a few weeks since I last posted, but not for lack of want or content. With the beautiful weather, we’ve all just been out enjoying the “winter.” I did want to share, though, so that everyone could see, some of the video that we took on a recent trip to Moss Landing, just south of Watsonville. The weather was awesome -- especially so for the end of January -- and we spent a few hours around the beach enjoying the sun, sand, water, and local wildlife.
The videos below will show off some of what we saw there, with the main attractions being the beautiful (and very friendly looking) sea otters who were both enjoying the sunshine and getting a little lunch to pass their day.
I was totally joking earlier today when Isuggested on Facebook that global-warming might not be such a bad thing, but it’s truly difficult to imagine that a 73 degree day in January could be all that bad. Of course, that was at 4:00 in the afternoon on the beach in Santa Cruz, so I imagine earlier in the day could have been nicer. It almost shattered my happiness to hear that this is the first day in the past eight that hasn’t created a new record high temperature in the Bay Area. I hear that some areas of the country are seeing snow.
So what did we do today… after a brief visit to urgent care to see the doctor for Sofi’s mystery rash, we went to enjoy a walk through Mountain View before heading off to the beach. Both parts were wonderful, but it’s amazing to realize how beautiful the weather has been these past few days. There were hundreds of people at the beach and it looks like -- with the holiday -- it’s going to be a great night down there, too. After an hour or so at the beach we picked up Babi and headed home.
I took another video and even asked the girls to tell Audrey how much they wish that she could be there, too. I figured since she was enjoying the last round of videos so much it might be nice to be mentioned on their site, too! Hope you enjoy it Audrey (and everyone else, too)!
This past week was a blast -- going by way too quickly. I can’t believe that there are only 5 more days until Christmas! This past week we went to see the lights and fun at Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose (pictures coming in a later post). Mike, Lisa and Audrey joined us to enjoy this annual fun-fest. Best of all, this year we got to see Santa!! Check out the video for an idea of how much fun we had.
The Downtown Livermore Christmas Parade was one of last years highlights. So much so that this year we decided to get involved so that we could be a part of the fun. After decorating the J. Rockcliff mobile and trailer – complete with Snoopy and Woodstock – we toured through the parade route in spot 49 and enjoyed the thousands of people that came out to enjoy the festivities. As a wonderful bonus, the girls got to spend a little one-on-one time with Santa!
We’re already looking forward to something bigger and better for next year!
Generally speaking, I don’t like posting items out of order, and I still have a ton of stuff leftover to share from Halloween. That will come, I promise, but I had to share today’s trip to the beach and thought I’d drop in a quick little video to show you how great it was. More pictures, more story, click more…
It was wild – we were at the zoo and there were so many children dressed up. Everyone was looking great, excited as all get out, and if anything like us, having the time of their life. That’s right – we went to the 2008 Boo at the Zoo at the Oakland Zoo. We got there quite early – about ten minutes to 9:00, before they even opened, and we were one of the first to arrive. I’m glad we got through the exciting stuff quickly, because we really did get to see the zoo and the other kids in their costumes – the girls even got their face (Sofi) and arm (Natalie) painted.
Sometimes I wonder, are my children beautiful because of who they are, or are they beautiful because of how they make me feel? I’m not sure that I will ever know the answer, but when I see my girls out having fun and enjoying their life it makes me thankful, every day, for what I am able to share with them and what they give back to me.
This year for pumpkins we went to some “nearly world famous” pumpkin patch that is somewhere between a carnival and a pumpkin patch. They’ve got everything – corn mazes, train rides, pony rides, pumpkin games, hay rides, and of course pumpkin sales. The only thing against them is that they fee the consumer to death – from $3 parking to a ride package that’s basically about $20/person, and that’s before you even get to the pumpkins! Fortunately, in the area of pumpkins they were pretty reasonable. But,… I will try to remember that it’s not about the money – but rather what it provides for you. For this weekend - a little money went a long way – we had a blast!
When people talk about why they love living in California, it’s weekends like this that they’re talking about. The weather was gorgeous, the air was clear, and there was so much going on it was hard to avoid it so that we could simply spend a weekend with our children. This past Saturday we took in a fair share of the Bay Area from San Jose, to Mountain View, to San Francisco and we even spent some time on the beach.
