Oakland Temple
FYI: The place my parents got married.
Very Interesting and Yummy: Dim Sum
China Town
It was fun driving on these hilly streets.
Awesome view of the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by fog.
Lombard Street
At the Roaring Camp Railroad
Getting ready for our train ride.
Resting from walking and walking...
Cool, big tree; not quite a Redwood.
The kids collected sticks along the hike.
Braden surfin', catchin' a wave.
Bridgette
Brianna, Brittany, and Braden climbing to the top
Brittany coming down the Concrete Slides
Breakfast on the Subway
Downtown San Fransisco
Alcatraz in the background
On the train
Four against one and they still can't dunk him!
The jacuzzi where Bridgette says to Brianna, "Hey, Bwianna, you have a booga in your nose!" And as the camera zooms into Bridgette, she has an even bigger one hanging out her nose!
We got a laugh out of that one.
In October of 2008, we were daring and decided to take a road trip up to San Francisco with the kids. Bailey was six months old. We stayed the night in Monterey on our way up, then in a hotel in downtown San Fran for three days. We did a lot of walking, exploring, subway riding, and got a lot of stares. It was a strange feeling passing by weird-looking street performers that didn't even get a second glance from most people, but when they saw us (a family of seven), there was no stopping the staring. We definitely felt out of place, but really enjoyed the sight-seeing. Besides we get stares wherever we are these days. Big families aren't that common here in California. We took a boat tour under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, walked along Pier 39, saw the sea lions, explored Golden Gate park, and downtown San Francisco. We had a really fun time. On our way home, we went on a train ride at the Roaring Camp Railroad through the forest while listening and watching the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. It was fun and the kids loved it! We even got to see my brother, Ryan, while he was in San Fran for a business trip. It was fun to visit and hang out for one night.
We've had our rabbit for five years now. We got her one day when we were at the park and someone there was giving away "free rabbits". I was at the park with all the kids all by myself. My kids had been begging me for a dog for years, mind you. And there was no way I would give in to that one. I'm just not a dog person and just don't have the patience for one more thing to take care of, let alone the whole "picking up poop" issue. I was also without the support of Stu who would've helped me to say "no" to them when they begged me for this cute, adorable pet bunny. I thought to myself, "It's free, so how hard or expensive could it be to really take care of this pet?" Fifty dollars later after getting all the supplies needed to care for this animal, we were set. We made her a home in our backyard under our gazebo where it would be nice and shady. We bought her a cage and even had a baby gate corralled around her cage so she could come out and run around her cage, which she did often. The kids loved her, held her a lot the first year, and let her run around the backyard lots of times chasing her. I made her little cloth "sleeping" bags for her to fit in so the kids could hold her without getting scratched by her claws. Brittany even had a leash for her and would walk her around the yard. It was turning out to be the perfect pet. Really, it wasn't that hard to take care of. Other than moving her cage into the garage on cold, rainy nights or into the house on 100 degree summer days, she only had to be fed every couple days. The kids learned some responsibility. They learned how to clean out her cage and felt horrible when she went days without food, but Jasmine survived. We used to lock her in her cage every night so that she would be protected from predators, but eventually grew lazy of doing that, thinking she would be fine. Well, it happened....one sunny, Friday afternoon, we went out in the backyard to play and she was nowhere to be found. We searched everywhere. The kids pulled out their magnifying glasses looking for clues or signs of a struggle. They even found dandelion white fuzz and thought it was her fur. We posted signs on the gate entrance to our neighborhood, but no one called. We called the Animal Shelter and no one had turned in a rabbit. Brittany was devastated. She took it hard, but after some convincing that Jasmine probably went to find her long lost brothers to live with and was very happy to be free, Brittany got over it. We still have no idea what happened or where she is, but in a way, I am relieved to have my gazebo back where we now have a relaxing hammock to lie in.
