Day 1: Alcatraz Island and Ghirardelli Square

 Last week we took an awesome trip to San Francisco.  None of us had ever been there before and we were all impressed with this amazing city.  Let me start by saying that when I was growing up, I heard about things like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island but I never imagined that I would actually see these places in person someday.  As far as I planned, I was happy to live out my days in a small town in New England and California seemed so very far away. 
But, somehow, along the way, God led us to California.  It has been difficult to move from different places (first Connecticut, then Chicago and then Cincinnati) and say good bye to good friends and start over somewhere new!  I feel like I'm still trying to find my way here in CA.  But, in many ways, I feel like I've led such a privileged life, in that I've been able to enjoy so many unique experiences and see so many amazing things.  I am very thankful for the life that God has given me and very thankful for this trip that we were able to take. 
Ken attends a Bible conference every year and it is always held in a different city.  This year, since it was in San Francisco, we drove up together.  As Ken attended the conference, I took the kids out sightseeing.  We bought something called a City Pass which was a very economical way to visit 5 different sites (Alcatraz, CA Museum of Sciences, Exploratorium, Aquarium of the Bay, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art).  It also included unlimited free public transportation. 
Ken really enjoyed his conference and we really enjoyed exploring a new area.  Ken was able to come with us on our adventures on this day so that was extra fun.

 Alcatraz was a truly amazing experience.  Above was the shower room where the inmates would shower.  The building was very cold and the wind seemed to blow right through it.  Each inmate was given clothes, a blanket and a pillow.  Their cells were very small.

 Some of the most notorious criminals stayed here.  It is surprisingly close to the shore of SF.  On the audio tour, it said that the prisoners could often hear the people in SF laughing and having a good time. 

 Much like life at our house, there were a few escape attempts (some successful) and a few prison takeover attempts.  Above you can see some pretty notorious troublemakers.

 The picture above shows the solitary confinement area, otherwise know as "the hole".

 The view of the city from Alcatraz was amazing, especially with the fog moving off the bay. 

 The buildings on Alcatraz are in pretty bad shape but I wonder how much better they were when the prison was in use.

 Brad and Sky finally relaxed once they realized they weren't going to see any real bad guys.

Later that night we rode a cable car to Ghirardelli Square.  Sky lost her coat off of the cable car and when the cable car finally stopped we were too far away to go back and get it.  She also had her American girl doll with her so, thankfully, she didn't go overboard too.
Ever since I worked at the Ghirardelli's in Chicago at the Water Tower, I have wanted to visit the original Ghirardelli's in SF.  I never thought I would actually get to do it though.  This was definitely a great day for crossing things off my bucket list. 

Day 2: CA Acad. of Sciences Museum and Pier 39

 The CA Academy of Sciences Museum is located in Golden Gate Park (which is a huge park!).  We were able to watch the penguins being fed and we learned a lot about their diet and way of life as the feeder talked while she was working with them. 

 They have a pretty nice aquarium here and we had fun looking at all of the different fish.  I never cease to be amazed at how God created everything so spectacularly.

 Sky was thrilled when she was able to handle a real abalone shell and also work a marine microscope.

 Is that a really big starfish or a really small baby??? 

 We went into a preschool play area for a while and Sky did a presentation on sea turtles.  There's always a performance of some kind...

 Meanwhile, Lila comandeered a pirate ship:

 There is a really cool, 4 story, glass ball that contains a rain forest climate and also the levels of a rain forest.

 We walked up through each level, looking at the plants and animals along the way.

 The orbweaver spiders were enormous!  I'm so glad that we had glass between us!

 There were some pretty cool trees at Golden Gate Park! 

 Later that night, we walked over to Pier 39, a shopping and entertainment area.  We stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area which is pretty close to everything.  The kids rode the carousel here.

 And posed for a few pictures...

 A short distance up the road were the Occupy San Francisco people.  This picture doesn't quite capture it.  There were lots of tents and lots of people.  What would a trip to San Francisco be without a protest, right?

Day 3: The Exploratorium

 Our good friends, Jolene and Robert Denham, grew up in the Bay Area and usually come to the Bay area to be with family for holidays.  They came up a little early for Thanksgiving to do some sightseeing with us.  Robert is a music professor at BIOLA and Jolene also homeschools her kids.  They live right down the street from us and are our closest friends here. They have Robby (6), David (5), Benjamin (3), and Kathleen (7 mos.).  It was really fun to be able to explore the Exploratorium with them!

 Everything here is hands-on and the kids had a blast.  Sky designed and built this butterfly.

 There were lots of pulleys and levers to experiment with.

 When you tap this drum, the plate under your feet vibrates.  The girls thought that was pretty cool.

 There was some cool steamy things that Lila really enjoyed.

 Brad LOVED this beach ball in the air thing.  He could have played here all day. 

 He also really enjoyed this peg board with which you can use other materials (funnels, wheels, etc.) to design your own marble track.  Then you can test your track with marbles and make necessary adjustments.  Brad was really into this!

 This was a spinning plate with sand and you could make your own designs and speed up or slow down the spinning.

 Lila and Robby built some marble tracks with these blocks.

 Brad liked this mechanism where you could speed up, slow down, or change direction of the rope on the pulley.

And Sky waited in line to have the chance to do this art project.  She shook the platform in a variety of ways until she was ready to set the marker loose on the paper.  Then the marker would make waves according to how the platform was shaking.  She got to choose her colors and keep her paper when she was done.  The Exploratorium was really fun and quite extensive.  I feel like we could go back tomorrow and spend the day doing things we didn't even have a chance to do.

Day 4:Fort Point and the Golden Gate Bridge

 We met up with our friends the Denhams for this fun-filled day of sight-seeing.  First we went to Fort Point, a Civil War soldier base that was built to protect the bay from attack.  Fort Point is located directly below the Golden Gate Bridge.

 Below is a view of Alcatraz Island from Fort Point.  It was a beautiful day and we also enjoyed watching the surfers riding the waves.

 There were lots of cannons here!  We also got to see the soldier's barracks.

 There was a park ranger on hand to teach the kids how to load and fire a cannon.  Each kid had a job and he tried to get them to do it quickly.  But there were a lot of steps and Brad kept running over to me because he was afraid that they were really firing the cannon.  And the ranger sent Lila back in the first 5 minutes because she was hampering the war efforts. 

 But, in the end, everyone got a certificate (well, not Lila, but everyone else...).

 Brad and David had fun running around in this large, open area.

 And Lila enjoyed the fresh air too. 

 Then we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (we had driven across the Bay Bridge on the way into SF) and walked on the bridge for a while.

 It really is an amazing work and the view from the bridge is breath-taking!  I wish Ken could have been with us as he didn't get the chance to go on the bridge. 

Day 5: San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art

 This day was kind of a wash.  It was raining pretty much all day and we took public transportation to the SFMOMA.  So, we got wet. 

 Once in the museum, it didn't take long to discover that we're not really a cultured, art museum kind of family.  Brad kept touching everything, Lila spilled her water and cried incessantly, and everyone was pretty bored.  Sky did get to make a scratch art masterpiece and we did go on a family tour (although Lila cried through most of it). 

 Brad had his favorite dog, Bolt, with him and this painting resembles him quite well so we couldn't resist a picture.  All told, we spent about 1 hour there and then left before someone kicked us out. 

Thankfully this was a day when Ken was back early and so he took the kids swimming.  It was an outdoor heated pool but still very cold.  The kids had been begging me all week so they were so happy when they finally got to go swimming.  At the end of the trip, after seeing many wondrous sights, when I asked Brad what his favorite part was, he said, "The swimming!"  Kids!