San Francisco

Monday morning we got ourselves going in record time so we could have a quick breakfast at McD (I'm surprised my kids allowed this since Ella frequently tells people that eating there makes people fat and stupid--our propaganda has been too effective) before driving into the city. We had 10am tickets to Alcatraz, so we dropped the kids off at the pier (I need to get photos from Shauna of all the fun things they did while we parked and hiked back). Kev and Randy bought some yummy mini donuts (can't remember the name of them, grr) to make the time in line pass cheerfully. The kids LOVED the boat ride across the bay to the island. Leah is still talking about it. The Johnson boys were so sweet in each taking one of our girls under their wing so we could enjoy the trip without chasing after kids.


It was actually a really beautiful day.  We'd prepared for cold after our beach adventure on Saturday and actually had to unzip coats to be comfortable.



Alcatraz was really interesting.  The kids had all read "Al Capone does my Shirts" and so they were already prepared and engaged in the history.  We listend to a park ranger tell about the various escape attempts and then had a few minutes to wander around the cell block before catching the ferry back to the city.  The rest of the group stayed on the island longer to do the audio tour, but we had an earlier flight and needed to get back to make it to the airport in time.

 



We loved watching the little kids boss each other around.  So funny!



The girls decided that maybe they do like their rooms at home after all.



We got to stop at the Boudin Bakery Cafe for some delicious soup and sandwiches on our way back to the car.  We love Sourdough!



Ella, Kate & Leah all fell asleep in the car on the way from SF to the airport.  Kind of tired them out I guess.



The whole trip home was smooth as silk despite the fact that even with pre-boarding we didn't get seats all together on the plane -- Sarah and Ella sat next to our friend Emily who randomly was on the same plane.  Such a fun trip!