Family Vacation 2011 Day 2- Alcatraz & Fisherman's Wharf

Day 2 of our San Francisco vacation included public transportation. We took the F line down to Pier 39. Now Scott and I worked our arm muscles while holding onto the ceiling straps and got the pleasure of smelling individuals very closely that did not believe in deodorant. The boys, on the other hand, loved this!

Getting ready to board the ferry to go to Alcatraz Island. And William showing off.

On the ferry. The boys were glued to the windows.

This is the first thing you see as you get off of the ferry.

Inside the penitentiary

Trapped! Now if I only could talk the boys into this every once in a while :)

If you don't know the history of Alcatraz, it's a good read. The "Battle of Alcatraz" is very interesting and so is the escape. This is one of the cell where one of the "trios incredible escape" happened. They used spoons to dig their way out of their cells. See the hole under the sink?

What I found very interesting is that Alcatraz island was a small community. People would love to live there because it was cheaper than San Francisco and because it was the safest community to live in. I know, doesn't that sound odd? But true, they knew where all the criminals were.
and people never locked their doors. This is an apartment complex on the island.

Here is a view of San Francisco from Alcatraz Island.

And the view of Alcatraz Island from San Francisco.

The ride back to SF.

Next we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf to Pier 39 to see the seals and to ride the carousel.

Harry talked William into sitting on the seat for once.

The seals.

We did finally ride the trolley back to our hotel. The trolley has a ridiculous wait on the weekends (over two hours) so we waited until Monday.

Then we met up with Meghan Sharp and her boyfriend for dinner. We went to college with Meghan and have not seen her since graduation over 10 years ago! It was so nice to catch up.

Day 2 was fun. Onto day 3.

Update on William's dental work

Well the day after Harry went under for his ears, Will's turn was next for his dental work. Thursday we went back to the "rocketship dentist" to have his work done. Now I know they didn't turn the nitrous oxide at the first dentist because William was out cold when they did here. That is just another complaint I have about the old dentist. They filled the two teeth that needed to and then they got to the filling the other dentist did last month. Well!!!! Well! Well! The other dentist did such a bad job that William needed a baby root canal and crown. The other dentist totally messed up big time. Here is William right before falling asleep. The pink part is now in his sock drawer and it smells like bubble gum! William did great. He came home and slept for a while and unfortunately bit his bottom lip. He got a little sick from the gas and threw up a little but the next day he was almost back to 100%. So glad to have found a good dentist. And our whole family is definitely leaving the other dentist office after now knowing what they are uncapable of.

2011 Family Vacation Day 1 Part 2

After visiting Muir Woods we headed to Yerba Buena Gardens with Scott's 2nd cousin and the boys' 3rd cousin. The last time we saw them was last year. Take a look at how all 3 boys grew so much in just one year. We started off by riding the carousel at Zuem. If you are wondering where Harry is....of-course the seat!

Next we went to play at the playground where all 3 boys got out a lot of energy and loved clowning around.

Next we went to Zuem to explore. We made clay figures and then turned it into a movie.

The boys dressed up.

They clowned around some more :) Will's face cracks me up in this picture. Click on it to see a larger version.

The band: they made a music video. This had to be the highlight of the day as all three boys really got into it. William was the lead vocalist while Harry was back up. DJ was the guitarist and did some back up vocals as well.

Then DJ and William made another dance video. William must of watched some break dancers lately because he loved to roll on the floor.

Then we walked around the MLK Jr Memorial.

This was the only picture of the 3 boys standing still. It didn't last long.

We went to a nice family dinner before heading back to the hotel after a very long but very exciting first day to our vacation. Here are all three boys (DJ, William and Harrison).

And of-course cousins Sara and Scott.

Sara also has a blog and you can find a post about the little reunion here.

1st Day of PreSchool

The boys first day of preschool was on Tuesday. They changed the start date and they moved up the first day one week. They asked to go to the dentist instead of school on Tuesday. Great thing their perception of the dentist changed! They were ok until we got there. In summer school, they were in the same class. We walked into where the 4 year old class was last year and William's name wasn't on the roster. When I asked, they said they have another class in the next building. Well change for Will is not exactly a positive thing. He thought he was going to be in the classroom next to Harry's classroom. So William started crying that he was cold (it was 100 degrees outside!). So the principal heard him and came out to sit with him until school started so I could check Harry in.

Harry was ok until it was time for me to leave and then he started crying. Now Harry doesn't just cry. I don't say this to be mean but it is rather cute. He has the most pathetic little cry. He puts one hand on his forehead and then the other over his eyes and he pouts his bottom lip. It will definitely make you cry.

When I picked them up Harry said, "I only cried for a minute and then I was fine." William said, "Mom lets wait to talk until we get in the car." With that line I was a little nervous. But when we got in the car a huge smile went from ear to ear with excitement and then he said, "Mom, it was great! God created new friends and he sent them to my school!!! And some of those friends have brothers and sisters and they might become my friends too!" I can't tell you how sweet he is and how proud I am of him just for hearing things like that! So I would say the first day of preschool this year was a success!

Family Vacation 2011 Day 1 part 1

So we just took a family vacation last week. The week before Scott was in Utah for work and the week before that he was getting ready for his trip so we hadn't seen him in two weeks. The vacation came at a perfect time. We have lived in California for three years now and there is so much to see. I have never been to San Francisco and Scott has only been there for work so this was on our "to do" list of places to go. We left at 4:30am on Sunday morning and drove up the 5 (the fastest way to get there) and made it to Muir Woods a little after 11:00am. Since we were cooped up in the car, we figured this would be perfect for the start of our vacation. We were a bit shocked to go from triple digit heat to the 60's. We don't even have much of that type of clothing. Ha. Muir Woods is known for having some of the world's tallest trees.

It was absolutely beautiful! It was breathtaking.

My boys on the bridge.

Now we learned a bit of a lesson. Don't wake William up at 4am. Check out his face!

a little later....

Still not having it....

I did finally get a smile when I told him we were going to see our cousins after this.

So off to the next part of our day, visiting our cousins and spending the day at Yerba Beuna Gardens. But first we had to go over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Harry's Bilateral Myringgotomy Tympanostomy with tube placement

Today was Harry's second go at tubes in his ears. We woke up at 5am and he was pretty good until we got to the surgery center. While we were waiting, he told me he was hungry and I told him he could eat after his doctor's appointment. Then he said, "but Mommy, my tummy is telling me that I am hungry too!" Too cute. He had two nurses, the anesthesiologist and his doctor. He would not answer any questions or look at anyone. He buried his head in my chest and would not let go. I think they knew it was going to be a bad hand off so the anesthesiologist recommended that mom get cleaned up and dressed for the O.R. So I did and took Harry into his operating room and laid down on the bed with him. Then the two nurses held down his arms while the anesthesiologist put the mask over his face. That was the hardest part. Seeing him struggle and be completely frightened. I pushed the tears back and just held tight and whispered in his ear how much I loved him and he was doing a great job. It was harder on me than him. And now I am so glad they let me in there because I can't imagine how much more scared he would have been with total strangers holding him down until he fell asleep.

The procedure went really fast and I met him in the recovery room and he was ready for me. He cried for a little bit and then fell back asleep and even started drooling! Ha We were home a little after 9am and I thought he would sleep but he has just been lounging around watching cartoons. I really hope this helps with his ear infections, speech and eating (or lack thereof). Fingers crossed!