Weekend in Sausalito & San Francisco

My parents, Ty, Alyssa, and Cass came to see us in San Ramon and it was fun to show them what we had been doing all summer. They came in time for a quick swim before we all headed to a darling house in Sausalito. We quickly decided that we would never want to live there- tiny, curvy roads, super windy all the time, etc but it was the cutest town to spend a few days in. We took a ferry over to San Francisco for a day and saw the traditional tourist spots. The kids didn't love all of the sightseeing and walking but we survived with some good memories. :) 

Trevor thought this pirate was the coolest thing ever.

Riding the trolley was the only thing Trevor really got excited about all day, but when we jumped on it was super packed and we were all grabbing kids and folding strollers so I had Trevor in the front and Paul was in the back. Trevor screamed as loud as possible the whole time because he had wanted to "ride with daddy". And his crying didn't stop til we got home that night- it was a long day, but we did it!

I was very proud that we were able to walk up the crazy hills to get to the top of Lombard street- with three kids weighing down 2 strollers.

We also walked across the Golden Gate bridge on a chilly, foggy morning. We all loved it! 

 On the morning of July 4th we drove to Muir Woods and hiked around a bit in the pretty, huge trees. 

The kids were so exhausted by this point in the trip that the Muir woods time was a bit miserable- to start with we didn't take the advice we read online that we should take a shuttle instead of driving- there was no where to park so finally the men dropped us off and parked so far down the road that they didn't join us for almost an hour. And by that point we were about ready to leave. Paul looked around for a few minutes with us and then left again to get the car. Lyla stayed longer with the others and I pushed the stroller with Kaylie in the seat and Trevor down in the basket. He wanted to be in there but the whole way out of the forest he was screaming...so I'm sure all the weird looks people gave us were because they thought I had forced my poor child into a stroller basket. And don't be fooled by that heart-melting smile. This was the only smile he had all day. I love my sweet, sensitive Trevor who loves snuggles and hugs but he spends a lot of time just screaming and screaming- we're working on getting him to express his frustrations in words.  

And this happy chubs was such a trooper! She was pretty content to just sit in the stroller most of the day- as long as I kept the snacks coming. 

The highlight of the trip at least for our kids was an awesome children's museum we went to. Trevor has been obsessed with sharks lately- this is him roaring the way he thinks a shark would sound. Did I mention this kid has a great set of lungs? 

Lyla loved having attention from "all of Nana's people" 

We loved spending time with family and just being together, especially in the quiet evenings when all of the littles were tucked in bed. Although it wasn't an easy trip, we were happy that we were able to visit so many neat places. 

Summer in San Ramon, CA

We have loved our cool summer in California so far! The kids did fairly well on the drive over- we did it in two days and stayed in my favorite Redlands at the Glauser's house. It was fun to show my family all of my favorite places from growing up, and especially to walk around the gorgeous temple. We also had fun catching up with my Glauser cousins.

When we got to our apartment in San Ramon, we were all excited to see a playground right behind our building! It's small but has rubber on the ground which I love. There is another bigger playground just a block away so we have lots of fun on cool mornings.

Trevor is such a daddy's boy, can't get enough time with him. He has such a tender heart when he isn't throwing a tantrum and says the sweetest things.

Cute Kaylie doing her plank. She's finally mastered the crawl but has been pretty sad for the last month or so because her teeth are trying really hard to poke thru her gums. No fun!

We went to Ardenwood Farms and the kids loved petting animals.

We spent a weekend at the beach in Santa Cruz. We went to the Seymour Marine Center and the kids have been fascinated ever since with sea creatures of any kind.

Lyla and Trev are obsessed with Despicable me graham crackers so we give them a few as their treat sometimes after they eat their good food. For some reason one day when we were packing a picnic, they insisted on saving their crackers by putting them inside their shoes, in the bathroom. No idea...

We love finding these big shopping carts and after we check out, the kids hold hands and "hide" under the seat from the bad guys. I love moments when they are so sweet together instead of fighting and screaming at each other.

A friend here is very talented at carrying her two kids- one in a front pack, one in a backpack. I could never do this but Lyla was very impressed and found a way to tie her favorite two dolls on. She carried them around like this for hours

She has made so sweet friends in her primary class and we've had some fun playdates.

We spent a day at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom- it's an interesting mix of Sea World, zoo, and theme park rides. The kids loved all of the water animals- touching them, seeing them swimming around, and especially the shows. There was a tiger show, walrus, sea lion, dolphin, and cirque du soleil. I was impressed with the quality and they were all just the right length so the kids didn't get bored. We were all exhausted at the end of the day but loved being there together

 Trevor is now obsessed with sharks! Any time he sees any body of water he asks if there are sharks inside