Gage's Visit

We had no idea that dark-longer-haired Gage was so much fun! The past five days were jam-packed. We've done all the regular things--
Golden Gate Bridge
Palace of Fine Arts
Oakland Temple
Mama's (where despite all our recommendations, Gage did NOT order the Monte Cristo)
and Ghirardelli Square
We also did some first-time things. We've tried several times to go to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, but always came after hours. This time we were lucky enough to make it during on hours, but there was a high-wind advisory so we couldn't cross the death bridge (only two people are allowed to be on it at a time) to go all the way to the lighthouse. But there was still spectacular views making for fabulous pictures.
Gage even did his own research and found another San Francisco POI--Ina Coolbrith Park. This park has some very interesting LDS history. Maybe if Gage ever updated his blog, he could tell you about it. There was a gynormous staircase to the top of the park. Max's climbed the entire way all by himself; his little heart was pounding so hard. But, again, at the top was a spectacular view making for fabulous pictures.
And every night, Gage was a gaming king! We played (and Gage won at least one game of) Settlers, Rummikub, California Games, Tetris, Go Fish, and Red Light-Green Light. But, I think the highlight of Gage's visit was when he got a special guest pass to give himself a self-guided tour of the dental school and the unsolicited help from his big brother registering for pre-dental classes this summer. So, the only thing left unanswered after his visit is, will this be Gage five years from now?

An ENTIRE DAY at Golden Gate Park

We are doing so much and having so much fun with Uncle Gage! To save myself from the longest post ever (I get a headache just thinking about all the pictures we've taken. How am I going to decide which ones to post?) about his visit, I thought I'd break it up a little. Since today has been our best day yet (I was in charge of planning), I thought I'd share. After taking our time getting up and eating some yummy breakfast, we headed over to Golden Gate Park to show Gage the first playground of its kind in the United States, and especially the big cement slide. Max must have known what was in store because when he brought Gage clothes to put on him, Max brought his old holey jeans instead of his new ones to spare me the worrying. (Okay, that sentence was confusing...Max's holey jeans, not Gage's.) At first Gage was a little hesitant, just helping Max up the steep steps. He didn't want to get a hole in his pants!

Gage diverted Max to the other areas of the playground and the boys played and played and played until it was time for lunch!

Then, I don't know what happened after lunch--either Max was pretty persuasive or Gage found the perfect piece of cardboard, but the next thing I knew, Gage was going down the big cement slide. And by the look on his face, I think he liked it.
After the playground we headed over to the Conservatory of Flowers. And if the sheer beauty of the building wasn't enough, they are currently having a fabulous butterfly exhibit. The butterflies are a perfect addition to the conservatory since the rest of the plants don't keep our family interested. I guess we are not plant people, which is evident by the dying plants in our house. And not only do they not keep us interested, we are not allowed to touch them, which is even worse for certain 2-year-old members of our family. So, straight to the butterflies we went. The butterflies loved Blake and Gage. Those beautiful things were crawling all over them. And Jack was the major winner from this. He was fearless, reaching out and trying to grab their wings. But even though Jack was fearless, I think the butterflies were starting to get a little scared.
On the other hand, you would have thought we were asking Max to touch a shark. Silly Max. He was much more content opening and closing the doors.
After the conservatory we stopped by the buffalos (Gage got out and read the sign, then educated the rest of us) and the windmill. A perfect Golden Gate Park day, and there was still so much we could have done. The Japanese Tea Gardens, paddle boats, equestrian fields, Asian Art Museum, AIDS Memorial Grove, archery fields, and much, much more. Plus, we can't wait for the new Academy of Science to open in the park this fall. Yea for Golden Gate Park!

FAMOUS

Look who's on the front page of the Chronicle today? The FRONT PAGE! No, not the prisoners, my two boys!
I know Blake looks very meditative, which he was, but actually this picture was taken during the invocation. The photographer came over and asked Blake some questions about why we were there, trying to prompt him with the "right" answers, like his dad was in Iraq. But since we didn't have those kind of answers we didn't think we'd make the paper. When Blake checked this morning we couldn't believe it. So, if you want a hard copy, just let us know. After Blake showed the man at the corner store that he was on the front page, he gave us a whole stack free. Max can even put stickers on it as a form of autograph, if you want!

Happy Memorial Day!

I felt really sad I couldn't go visit graves with my family this year. When I was young, I always asked to go with Grandpa, Grandma, and Dawna on the long drive to Tooele (maybe it's because we always stopped and got orange ice cream at McDonalds, why don't they have that anymore?) and loved going to the graves and then having Grandma give us a little tour of her town. I want to be able to do that with my little family. Even though we don't have anyone specific to visit here, San Francisco always has something to offer. This morning, we went over to the Presidio's National Cemetery for their Memorial Day ceremonies. First they had a small parade of soldiers dressed in period costumes, old cars (Max liked the green car best), fire engines, and horses (that I can't believe Max dared to touch). Volunteers were handing out flags that we waved and waved and waved while the paraders were marching.

Next on the program was the formal ceremony which included an Army band, a 21-gun salute (apparently they're pretty rare), a reading of the Gettysburg Address, and a tribute to the soldiers who fought in WWI. Did you know that there are only two veterans of WWI alive today? Interesting. The ceremony went a little long for our two kids, but the band's numbers and all the sitting and standing were perfectly placed for Max to wave his flag and get some energy out. And if nothing else, Max learned that the flag is very special and we do not throw it on the ground or put in our mouths. Hey, it's a start. It was the perfect Memorial Day. Being around these military families makes the sacrifice people are making so real. This will definitely be our family's tradition.


My favorite part of the day was when the band played the military medley and the soldiers were asked to stand when their division's song was played. I always get a little teary eyed watching the soldiers and family of soldiers stand so proudly. This year I was lucky that Jack started to get restless so I could walk around and spare the people sitting by us from Max's questions about the water coming out of my eyes. I guess the song reminds me of the last choir concert during my sophomore year of high school. All the choirs sang the same medley as they played today and asked the soldiers to stand. I have a very vivid memory of my grandpa standing. I don't know much about my grandpa's experience in the Army during the Korean War (when I was young he did tell me the big dimple in his chin was where he got hit by a bullet), but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the ten humongous binders full of love letters written between him and my grandma during that time. They are beautiful and I really hope Grandma decides to bequeath them to me (hint, hint). I am a proud granddaughter.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Grandma's only birthday wish this year was to spend her birthday with her two favorite boys in the world. And luckily for us, her wish came true. After Max and I met them at the airport, rode the elevator a gazillion times, took the air train to the get the rental car, and picked out a mini van (Max was in heaven), we met Blake and Jack at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate the kid in Grandma! Grandma quickly bounced Jack right to sleep and Max kept asking for Grandpa to help him climb up the steps to the slides. We had so much fun riding the rides, playing games, eating pizza, and winning tickets. Max even had enough tickets to buy a plastic lizard and spider. Score!

Then we came home for cake and presents. Usually the candles are the biggest hit, but Grandma brought everyone else presents for her birthday. I don't know who was the bigger winner, Max with his Peter Pan book or Blake with his bunny ears (for the tv). :) After Max ate all the strawberries off the cake and we all had a piece of strawberry-less cake, we called it a night.
But don't think after that late night, we slept in at all. Oh no. We woke up at the crack of dawn to be the first one's a Mama's to try to avoid the lines. Oh, it is so good. Seriously. Will we ever get sick of that place?
Then, for the rest of the day, I had the brilliant idea of going up to Rohnert Park to Toob Town. I'd heard SO many other mothers talking about it at the park, that I thought since the weather wasn't that great, it would be a fun thing to do inside. Plus, Max would have been in heaven driving around in the mini van all day. So off we went. After about 50 minutes of driving we arrived at the address of Toob Town. But it was no where to be found. So after asking at a local gas station, we found out that Toob Town burned to the ground about a month ago. How sad...for us and Toob Town. But don't worry. The gas station man told us if we were looking for fun, we should head over to Scandia, Rohnert Park's Family Fun Center. And fun it was. Grandma and Grandpa had no idea they were coming all the way to San Francisco to go to multiple arcades! Lucky them. I think this arcade was a little too old for Max and Jack, but Blake and I sure had fun! You can't see the score on the basketball game, but I beat Blake...twice...just for the record. On our way home, we stopped and got a root beer freeze. Oh so yummy.

After a short, short break at home, we were off again. We went to the park and then out to dinner. Max loved showing Grandma and Grandpa around the park and Jack loved someone constantly pushing him around in his stroller. We ate dinner at Pacific Catch and it was so good. Blake even declared today his best food day EVER. Impressive. It had been a very long, fun-filled day. I think these two pictures of Max explain perfectly how we were all feeling at this point.

But don't think the day was over. Oh no! Grandpa's only San Francisco request was sunset at Mt. Tam and Blake was happy to oblige. The ride up the twisty roads was hardly pleasant for those of us in the back, considering we had all just stuffed our bellies full and Blake was driving like a mad man to make it before the sun set. We had a couple of close calls, but it was worth it for the amazing view. The clouds split just enough for a glimpse of the sun going down between them. It was beautiful.

The next morning Max and Jack took Grandma and Grandpa up to the park and showed them the ropes. Grandpa even taught Max how to sit on a big swing and HOLD ON, something Mommy hasn't been able to do. We all came home and took afternoon naps, then headed down near the airport for a quick dinner at Elephant Bar. Blake and Jack said goodbye there and Max and I went for one last ride in the mini van and rode the train to the airport. It was so sad to see them go, but fun to talk about their next visit sometime later this year to bring us some bottled goods! We love you Grandma and Grandpa! Thank you for visiting us!