San Francisco Day 2

We began the day by attending church services. Ironically, the preacher and his wife were visiting Mississippi while we were there in California! We were sorry to miss seeing them.

After lunch, we visited a windmill. The gardens surrounding the windmill bloomed beautifully!

All of us at the windmill garden

Clay climbing in the hole

Julie in the hole

Sweet Olivia

Sam in the hole

Next we travelled to Baker Beach. The water was freezing, and the wind blew strongly! It seems strange to shiver at the beach in June.

We instructed the children to NOT get their clothes wet......Sam must not have heard! He got soaked, and then he rolled in the sand! Thankfully I carried an extra set of clothes for him.

Thinking about putting our feet in...

Wow! This water is cold!

I'm trying to stay dry!

Should we go in farther?

I am still dry!

Everyone dried off and put their shoes back on. Our next stop was the Sutro Baths. Years ago this was some sort of "water park". They rented 20,000 bathing suits a day to the visitors! It included several different pools and even a water slide!

The children enjoyed visiting the ruins of Sutro Baths. They also climbed all over the rocks and shoreline surrounding the bath ruins. After exploring this area, we hiked a nearby trail.

Rock climbing is so much fun!

Me, Russ, and Megan

No one was injured!

Take my picture!

Russ and Julie standing on the precarious edge of the Sutro Bath ruins

Please don't fall in the ocean!

Tight squeeze

Interesting trees on the trail

It thrilled Sam everytime he spotted the Golden Gate Bridge!

taking a rest

Playing in the rocks

enjoying the rocky seashore

more rock climbing

We ended the day with a trip into downtown San Francisco. At Fisherman's Wharf we enjoyed hot clam chowder.

another group photo

yummy clam chowder

Dessert was hot fudge sundaes at Ghirardelli!

Russ and Megan--yummy!

After we were thoroughly exhausted (the time change proved difficult to adjust to), we ended the day. Sam fell asleep on the way to the hotel, and I just put him straight to bed---dirt and all! In fact, every single night of our trip he fell asleep on the trip to the hotel, and every single night I put pajamas on him without waking him up and tucked him into bed.

San Francisco Day 1

We left our house at 5:30 A.M. to catch an 8:40 flight direct to San Francisco. We actually should have left earlier.....it took longer than expected to check in and wade through security. I ran to gate 43 just in time to be the last one to board the plane!

After the 4 hour flight (during which Sam did not sleep one bit!), we picked up our 12 passenger rental van......the big white bus. Jimmy expertly drove us up and down the steep hills of downtown San Francisco, across winding mountain roads, and even down Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the country, twice!

We visited the Presidio area, Chrissy Field, the Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Beach and Lombard Street.

Julie and the Golden Gate Bridge

Clay and the Golden Gate Bridge

Russ and Megan and the Golden Gate Bridge

Sam smelling my hair beside the Golden Gate Bridge

Sam sitting on one of the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge

Olivia, Julie, Clay, Leah, and Sam

All of us except Jimmy--he is taking the picture!

We walked about halfway across the bridge and then back.

Leah, Sam, and Clay climbing on the rocks on the shore of Muir Beach

Olivia and Julie at Muir Beach

Clay on a rock at Muir Beach

Olivia and Sam at Muir Beach

Clay at Muir Beach

Julie at Muir Beach

Menu Monday

Swiss Chicken Noodles (from Meal Planning with Connie)

corn on cob

salad

grilled pork tenderloin

baked sweet potatoes

Asian slaw

chicken enchiladas

tortilla chips and salsa

salad

Italian Roast

twice baked potatoes

green beans

poppyseed chicken

brown rice

crunchy green salad

Please visit OrgJunkie.com for more tasty menus.

Spartan Field Trip

A couple of days before out vacation, our family joined some of the other Spartan (our homeschool cross country team) families for a field trip to Memphis. The first stop was Fleet Feet, where the children (and some of the parents) were fitted for new running shoes. The expert employees at Fleet Feet had each customer try on numerous pairs of shoes and run up and down the sidewalk to test them out.

Group photo at Fleet Feet

Sam took a nap while I tried on shoes. Jared had fun just watching everyone!

After everyone had their new shoes, we enjoyed lunch together at Chick-Fil-A. The Spartans have so much fun together!

The final stop was Shelby Farms, which is a collection of running/walking trails that are both paved and grassy. The children and parents were divided into groups, and we all went for a run. The weather was pleasant for running.

Some of the Spartans before their run

The other mothers with small children and I took turns running and watching the non-runners on the playground.

Leah

Sam

It was a fun day!

Elvis Presley 5K

This morning most of our family ran the Elvis Presley 5K race. Olivia currently has a hip injury, so she happily watched Leah and Sam while the rest of us ran. Russ and Megan stayed one more night in our area before returning home and ran the race too!
I posted our race times in the Race Results side bar.
Here are some highlights of the morning:

Clay with his friends--John Parker and Ryan

Notice that Clay always wears his red "Race Shirt" to every race!

Overall Female Winner!!

Go Julie!

Jimmy won 2nd place in the Male 40-44 age division!

Spartans who participated in the race

Pop and Olivia
Pop kept Olivia company during the race.

Russ won 3rd place in the Male 25-29 age division!

Stephen and Me
I think this was Stephen's very first 5K. He won 3rd place in the Male 30-34 age division! Go Stephen! (Stephen is a friend from church.)

Megan and Russ
Megan did her best time in a 5K! Go Megan!

Real life blogging friends...Lynn, Emily, and Kim
Someone asked me if we met through our blogs......no, we have all been friends for many years! All three of these ladies had an excellent race! Go girls!