Back from San Francisco

Yup we're back. Did we have fun??? Yes. We were definitely busy and there was a TON to do, almost too much where we felt a little overwhelmed and ended up walking in circles. The weather was cold, but we expected that so it wasn't too bad. The bad part was that we NEVER could have imagined how much food cost there. We spent more in food than the hotel, parking, and Go cards combined. We didn't even eat 1 crab, that was McDonald's!!! So this is what we did, in a nutshell... and a few pictures because I took almost 500.

We took a day cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge, around Alcatraz around Treasure Island, by Angel island and by the Bay bridge.

We went to the Bay Aquarium, where we touched sharks and starfish, balanced paperclips on top of water. (neat trick, ask Jim how, NOT me cause I couldn't get it too work) We learned that if your really good you can put 62 drops of water on top of a penny. (I did that one!) We saw a HUGE sturgeon. Jim liked that, but the one he caught when he went fishing in Portland in the Columbia River, was 11 feet 375lbs, and this one was only 5 feet and we thought it was HUGE!!!

We went aboard the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien ship. We looked at their living quarters and the cannon things.

Alex and Jimi playing Titanic.

We biked, YES BIKED, to see the AT&T Giants ballpark, during the season opener. While we were riding bikes we made stops along the way.

We biked to the Exploratorium, a museum where it's ALL hands on. The kids (and us) learn how power is generated, how the eyes, ears, nose works. We played with all kinds of magnets, there was just A LOT TO TOUCH!!!

We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was neat, if your not afraid of heights which I'm not. I found the funniest sign there, I don't think others think of it as funny as I do but I laughed so hard. We later drove across the bridge into Salsalito. Salsalito is just beautiful!!! Green and hilly and warmer. They told us that San Francisco is so cold all the time because of the ocean breeze, but if you go to Oakland or Salsalito you don't get the cold breeze. That probably explained why it looked so expensive to live there, and you HAVE to pay $6.00 to get back across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Please Don't Jump!! Call NOW!!! (hahah)

We saw the seals at Pier 39. That's how I feel, we even found one that acted like each one of our family. Alex was one that wouldn't let anyone near him, Jimi was the one who kept swimming around causing torment to ALL the others, Sami was the one screaming that wouldn't shut up, and Trever was the one pushing all the others off. We won't say which ones were Jim and I.

We went to the park that had a small beach. Since it was cold we really didn't stay there too long but the kids had fun playing in the sand.

We ate at this really cool restaurant called the Rain forest Cafe'. It has apes and elephants and aquariums, and it rains inside and every half hour they have a thunderstorm and all the animals come to life and go crazy and get loud. YES LOUDER THAN MY KIDS!!!

The wax museum. I thought it would be a lot better, it was OK. There weren't a lot that looked very real, but it was fun anyways.

Ghiradelli Square. All I can say is YUMMY!! I had real rocky road ice cream made with ghiradelli chocolate.

We saw "The Bush Guy". He is a homeless man who hides behind trash cans with a tree branch and waits for people to come by and then scares them! We watched him for so long because it was so funny. You could even see him giggling and then if he got them good he would laugh so hard. We liked him a lot!!! There was a silver robot guy, Trever liked him and Jim put him on a trash can and he danced too. There was a skeleton that caught Trever and I.

Every type of bread there was sourdough. I liked that. They don't have diet Pepsi ANYWHERE! It's all diet coke, I know weird.

All poor Sami wanted to do is ride a bus, or cable car. We never had the chance, we told her she could ride public transportation when we got home, I don't think she thinks it's the same.

The best was definitely Alcatraz Island. We went on a night tour, and it was fun. None of us were really scared, but I took a TON of pictures and if I would have seen my pictures first and then went, I would have been creeped out. It's DEFINITELY haunted! I would have loved to spend more time there, we had a tour guide that took us down in the basement to the old D block cells, and even let us go up to Al Capone's cell which was actually blocked off, but he took us up anyways. I think if we would have had a few more minutes he would have taken us up to the infirmary but as we were walking out they were turning lights off and boarding the boat, I defiantly wouldn't have wanted to be stranded on the island all night. I took pictures up the infirmary stairs and just putting my arm up I felt an ice cold breeze across it. I have some pictures that are so creepy!

This is floating and transparent, when I zoom in to his face you can make out a face... vaiguly.

For the drive home we came all the way down the coast through San Jose, Santa Cruz, Carmel, Monteray. (I probably don't have them in order, but I'm not good with direction, I only got Jim turned around 2 or 3 times, he finally just told me when to turn the map upside down. That's why I HAD navigation) The northern coast is beautiful, I was in Heaven! California is pretty. It took a long time to get home but it was well worth it.



And a few of my favorite pictures!!!

I'm glad to be home!!!

I think "Bleacher Butt" is a real problem

Another night at the ball field. Jimi played her first game of the season last night, against the much hated/envied team the Wolverines. Dana was Jimi's coach last year and is really tough, and really good. Her daughter Ashley pitches and WOW, she has some heat. She pitched great, mostly strikes and REALLY fast. (I don't think the pitchers in high school pitched that fast) Jimi plays shortstop and did great. She had a REALLY hard grounder come her way and she scooped it up and made a perfect throw to first and got the out! Then she got up to bat, I had known she was nervous to hit off of Ashley but I kept reminding her that she had hit off of her in practice last year. (I don't know if she did, but she didn't either.) She got up, watched a strike go by. The next one she swung... hit it out to right field!!! She was the first to hit off of Ashley, their first at-bats were 3 up 3 down. I could see how happy she was! The next, and last, time she got up she hit it again. This time the first baseman picked it up and got her out, but she got an RBI so she should be proud of that. She did a great job and the score doesn't reflect that but it really is all about the pitcher and ours just wasn't thowin it. (besides she had a bad attitude) Jimi is a great athlete and I really enjoy watching her play, she is intense ALL THE TIME! Dana was impressed and when she told Jimi good job, Jimi told her she learned it all from her. I bet Dana wishes she had her again this year!

Sami didn't go because she had achievement days, Alex and Jim went to "process" a pig. Alex threw a fit and refused to go, and swore he wouldn't eat pork ever again if we made him. He went and we're having pork chops for dinner. That means I only had Trever, should be easy huh? WRONG!!! He drove me nuts, chatting and being bored, and almost getting us kicked out of the park for throwing a ball on the field in the middle of the game. He is DEFINITELY his dad's kid! Two games in a row... my butt hurt so bad last night, I wonder how long it will take to get it conditioned for this?

Vacation Stress

I don't know about anyone else but planning a vacation stresses me out so bad! Laundry, packing, cleaning house, all of it just stresses me out. I have been planning our trip to San Francisco for next week and now I just want it over with. Once we're there it should be fun, we're going on a night tour of Alcatraz, and the Winchester house, the Aquarium at the Bay, Ghiradelli square, The Golden Gate Bridge, and staying on Fisherman's Wharf. But it will be the death of me until we actually get there and check in.

Softball has begun

Sami doesn't like cheerleading, so that means we do softball just for her. And since we did it for her we let Jimi do it too. Opening day was last Saturday and Sami has had 2 games since then. Jimi has one tonight. Sami's team has been accused of being "stacked" I think it's just an intense coach, most of the girls on her team are first year players. Well they won their first game and last nights game will continue later because it got dark before they could finish. Sami is playing 2nd center. They pull the center field into the field and play 2nd. She wants to pitch but coaches daughter pitches so good luck with that. She does great pitching at home, but I don't know how she'll do in a game. I've talked to the coach and hopefully he will let her show her stuff soon. Last night she hit a double. I thought I was more excited than she was, but then I saw her jumping up and down on second base, she was pretty excited herself. She blows me away when she's out there, she's not my little Sami. She's aggressive and so fast and it doesn't even look like her, she has gotten so tall. She is doing a great job, I'm even thinking about coaching next season. Ask me again when the seasons over. Notice Sami still has a black eye in the picture above. It's not gone yet, but looks MUCH better. And she doesn't seem afraid of the ball anymore.

Alex likes going to her games because one of his old/new girlfriends goes to watch her sister. Trever likes going because his best friend goes. I really do love softball, I played for years and years and kind of miss it. I'm glad the girls enjoy it

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The 10 Virgins are no longer virgins

The play is over. This is where I thought I would say how happy I was, but really I'm not. I miss the fun time with the girls and it was really really good for me to step outside my comfort zone and face this fear I have had for so long. I don't know if it was the EMDR, or that I saw Trever sleeping in a chair (not subtly at all either) but after about the first line of my song I got over most of my nerves and actually really impressed myself. Now, that's not saying I did great and could be the next American Idol, but I didn't puke or pass out or run off stage crying like I thought I might. Everyone did great and sounded beautiful. I questioned Ed when he said my song would be a duet with the Holy Ghost, but I think he was right. So first, this is what I learned and miss about by doing the play...


1. The fun time backstage being the bad virgins


2. Angie. All the help with my song, and trying to help with my nerves, and going to her house to practice and not actually getting any practice done.


3. Teasing all the girls about something or other, and learning so much about the ones I didn't know very well. Who knew Lynn was such a crack up with her one liners?


4. The costumes, they really were sexy, it's all on how you wore them and a bad virgin like me could really pull off some great looks.


5. My lamp isn't full and I actually have a long way to go before it is and I better get to work.


6. I learned that I really can do anything I set my mind to, I just have to remember that myself.


7. Jim still has the romantic side, he left roses on my chair at the rehearsal the night before, just letting me know he believed in me. It helped so much.





I'm really glad I did it, and I need to actually thank Ed for twisting my arm and letting me be a part of this really touching production. I really do feel honored, now that it's over.