California Trip

Well, after Portland we decided to make the extra couple of hours of driving to Palo Alto to visit the California Cousins.  The kids were so excited to see them.   

Sarah had a full schedule while we were there.  So off we went to San Francisco the first day. 

We ended up at the Believe it or Not Museum for the first couple of hours.  

There were so many amazing things to see.  

I really like the Kaleidoscope. 

The kids like the circle thing (Henry and Lizzy's favorite thing) You went in and you couldn't balance really good because the walls were moving.  It was interesting to do.

The mirror maze was fun.  

The crazy fish with fur on it was my favorite.  Annika liked the objects that were made out of toothpicks.    

Next, stopped by the Rainforest Cafe and ate lunch.  The kids enjoyed it.  

Oh-yeah, did I mention it was pouring rain while we were in San Francisco. 

 Sarah says it hadn't rained all winter (was 70 degrees the week before and the week after we went).  

We stopped by this arcade with all these games from different eras.  

There were some pretty fun ones.  The old ones were really hard to actually win.   

Next stop was Alcatraz.  It was also cold and wet but luckily the tour was inside.

It was really pretty on the island.  The flowers smelled really good to me.  It was interesting to listen to the tour and learn about the history of the island.  The island had a lighthouse, there was a fort on it at one point and of-course the famous jail.  

The next day we hung out at home, went to the Build a Bear workshop, Lego store and played Laser tag.

Every chance Eli got, he was attacking the boys.  

There is Goldie, Lizzy new puppy!!!! 

Henry photo bombed the photo... 

The third day we went Gold Panning in Jamestown.

WOW!!!  It is hard work.  

You dig up dirt and then sieve through the dirt gently, moving the big pieces out of the pan until there are very small pieces.   

In the end we ended up with some gold.  If you look at the top of the pan there are some flakes of gold.   All that work of digging for a couple of hours and not much to show for it. 

The cousins divided it up 5 ways and they each got a couple of flakes each.

(YEAH, it did not rain that day.  It was nice and sunny!!!!)

The last day were were there, Sarah told them they could play video games all day.

When asking the kids which was their favorite thing they did while in California, they answered video game day.  Yes, video games are fun but I think it is because they love hanging with their cousins.  

(we also got ice cream that day and played at a park!!!!)

Things we have taken home from the cousins this time.  

My children loved green beans that Sarah made (the steam ones).  We have had green beans every week since then but we have not had seaweed.  We also learned to play Settler and love playing it now.