Anna flew twice before, but she can't remember, so this seemed like a first for her. She loved the planes. We had delays both ways so the trips were long. I was praising the heavens I brought Anna instead of Brayden. She was SO good and Brayden would have been miserable!
We stayed with my Aunt Bec. The first day (Thursday) we just hung out most of the day at her house. Anna built this fort for the airplane she got at Burger King in the airport. She made it in the shape of an airplane (you can sort of see it).
Anna watching a movie.
Above are pictures of my Grandma's backyard. We visited her on Thursday evening and spend about 3 hours with her. Anna drew her pictures and I loved visiting with her. She has a beautiful back porch that over looks a river. Her neighbor has a lemon tree that we got to take lemons from. Anna thought it was like hunting for treasure. We went out on the dock. It's been updated since I last visited. The old one was dangerous and my brother used to try to shake it so we'd fall off. I was glad to see it was steady.
Ryan with a sleepy Darek. They stayed at our cousin Heather's house.
On Friday we went back into Napa to see Grandma. It turned out she was having a bad day and slept most of the day, so we visited this park. We used to play here all the time as kids. It was SO great taking my own daughter there.
There is new equipment of course, but we all still played on it.
Anna with Beth.
Enjoying the swings.
Dang CUTE!
Saturday we all went into San Francisco. Chad had never been over the Golden Gate, so Beth drove around the back way and over the bridge. It was beautiful as always.
It was foggy in the morning and this shot is from on th bridge.
We got lost and so I took this picture as we drove around the city trying to find the Exploratorium.
WE FOUND IT! Another place from my childhood! It's like a HUGE children's museum. The kids had a ton of fun and so did we. There are hands on activites for everything you can think of. It's all about the science of how things work.
This was hanging from the cealing and I thought it looked cool.
Beth with Darek.
Anna loved this tool. The red stuff is sand that you scoop up and dump in.
Look at the reflection of the chair in the mirror.
This is the dome outside the Exporatorium. I love it here.
After the Exploratorium we went to Pier 39. I found out King Tut was in town at a museum. I was SO sad I couldn't go! I've been amazed by that history forever, and I would have loved to go. This was as close as I got.
On the Pier.
Anna riding the 2 decker carosoul. She was on the upper deck.
You can't go to California without chasing some birds......
......and you can't go to Pier 39 without visiting the seals.
The one thing Mike wanted was some chocolate from the square. Not just any square.....THIS square. We walked about a mile to get him his Dark Chocoate Mint candy bar. It was worth it (I ate half)!
We stopped at a pizzaria on the way back to the Pier.
It started getting cold so Anna wore my sweater and had cotton candy (not that THAT kept her warm but it was yummy). My sisters were at Alcatraz, so we just hung out for about 30 min while we waited for a ferry.
There it is....the ferry to Vallejo.
Anna instantly made a friend. They played the whole ferry ride.
The city from the ferry.
On Sunday Anna and I went to church with my cousin Hannah and Uncle Hiromi. This is the church I grew up going to with my mom's parents. Brought back a lot of memories.
After church, we met up with my sisters and went back to Grandma's house. I was so glad to see her again with my family there. She was asleep when we got there but was so glad to wake up to family.
Grandma with Darek and Mandi.
Anna, Grandma, and me. I sure love her. It was a good visit. It will be a memory that I will cherish. I wish I had more pictures, but I didn't want to have my camera out the whole time. I'm so glad she's been part of my life. She really is one of the sweetest women.
We had a family dinner Sunday night at Aunt Bec's house. She is my mom's sister. My Aunt Jana and Uncle Hiromi came over with their kids (Kenji, Sara, and Hannah). My sisters were there and we had fun laughing and talking. It brought back a lot of memories. I wish we could do it more often, but the times we do have are just that much more improtant.
Jana, Chad, and Beth.
Sara, Alex, Anna, Paul (a friend), Spencer, and Andrew.
Hiromi
Early Monday morning we left for home. We took Uncle Bill (Bec's husband) to work in the city. He filled up my rental car with gas (BIG THANKS) and then we went to the airport. We took a shuttle to the rental car center and then an air train to the airport.
It was a fun ride. It was raining though which equals MORE DELAYS!!
Anna was a trooper. She was so good during the LONG wait. We woke up at 5:30 and because of delays, we didn't leave until almost 12!
Anna playing.
Look, still no plane! We missed our connecting flight in SLC, and were put on another flight that was boarding as we got off the first flight. I looked like a moron running with Anna in the stroller, her backpack and my purse on me, and trying to balance her booster seat on the stroller. We made it in time. After all that travel, she fell asleep the last ten minutes of the second flight. The flight attendants were so great to her. They gave her free ear phones and a princess crown. She felt so special. We were both glad to see daddy waiting for us in Vegas. We ate some dinner and then drove another two hours home. Ahhh.....home. I miss my family though. I'll have to go again soon......
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