Family Vacation

We are home from San Francisco now. We had a wonderful time with the Draper Family.


Day 1: We went down to buy tickets for the Alcatraz tour but it was sold out for the day, so we bought tickets for the next day. It was raining at the time so we all hoofed it back to the hotel to change into some dry clothes. Then we all jumped into the Expedition and we went to the California Academy of Science Museum. This was a really neat place. They had several different areas to explore. The kids thought it was great. It is a really large place and we all got tired after a few hours of walking around. We left the museum and went to Twin Peaks to take a look at the city from afar. We also drove around Melody and Shane's old digs. They reminisced while we all took in the sites. It was great to have Shane and Mel, they really know there way around, and we were able to see the city from a different view. They also took us to Haight and Ashbury and Noe Valley. We stopped and had a burrito for Grandma Hills and Shane and Dax had dougnuts at Happy Dougnuts. They used to do that when Shane was in school. It was neat to be a part of that nastalgia with them.
That day was Valentines Day, John stayed at the hotel with Mel and Shane and Scott and I went out to dinner down at Pier 39. We went to a place at the end of the Pier so we could see all the boats in the bay, it was very pretty.
Day 2: We took the Alcatraz audio tour. It was very wet and cold on the island, but it was really neat to see and experience the island. We went back to the mainland and walked around a bit, had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that evening. The next morning the Draper's had to leave, they were heading into a snow storm and Shane had surgeries to get to the next day. We had such a wonderful time with them, we are looking forward to our next vacation with the Draper Family.
Day 3: With the Draper family gone, we decided to drive down to Monterey Bay to check out the aquarium. This was a great day. We took our time and enjoyed the drive. We spent about three hours at the aquarium. That was a full day as Monterey was over a hundred miles from San Francisco.
Day 4: We woke up and it was STILL raining. We decided to call Aunt Hope to see if she would like some visitors, and then we would go to the Jelly Belly Factory free tour. We headed to Concord to visit with Aunt Hope. She answered the door with a great big smile and couldn't wait to get her hands on John. She had hugs and kisses for all of us. We stayed and visited for a while, looked at some family photos then left to see if we could make it to the Jelly Belly Factory, which was only about 13 miles from Aunt Hopes place. We took the free tour and stocked up on some belly flops and enery jelly beans. That night we stayed in Sacramento as we were flying out the next day.
Day 5: Sunnshine, nothing but... Of course. Our last day in CA and the weather clears and it is warm. Ahhh, oh well. We enjoyed our stay and the company. We are glad to be home and in our own beds. John behaved wonderfully in the city and on the airplane. He loved his backpack and finally learned how to nap while in it. (Thank you Grandma Marsha!)