Mom, Grammi, and "the bigs" take a BIG trip to San Francisco:: a diary by Mom
2 Days before trip: Gage has a fever. Not cool. I am freaking out.
1 Day before trip: Gage is doing better. Still has a fever, but it goes down when I medicate him. I am confident he will feel good for most of the trip, but am nervous about the travel tomorrow. Song is stuck in my head...(Music Notes)"If you're going to San Fran-cisco, be sure to wear a -"...
wait, what is it again? A ribbon or a bow? Mo-om...
Day 1 of trip: I am up early. Too excited to sleep in. Gage does not have a fever, but he is not smiling, jumping, or eating - so I know he is not feeling well. Driving to Eugene to catch a plane (Grammi thought the take off and return times were a better fit for us). Kids LOVE the tv screens Grammi bought for them and are enjoying a movie. We tell them en route we are going to be flying. Grammi also gives them each $20 for souvenirs. They are more excited about the money than the plane.
Kids.
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| Waiting to board. Gage was super nervous about going through the metal detector since he had a metal zipper on his jeans. |
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| Boarded through the rear of the plane. Mental note to self: do not stop during airplane boarding to take a picture of your kids in front of the plane (even if it is their first time flying)...it makes TSA agents very jumpy and grumpy... |
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***Back at home Allen and "the littles" enjoyed Dairy Queen.
Day 2: My first ride on a Cable Car (oh right, the kids too). I was a little nervous. I held on to Gage tight. He is feeling better finally - I can tell because he won't hold still and he has a hollow leg. We end up hoofing it to the wharf after waiting in vain for an empty(ish) Cable Car. Went to a very tall mall with spiral escalators. Yes, we rode them all the way to the top and back down again. Headed down to Ghiradelli Square. Their sundaes are
amazing! We drag ourselves back into the hotel We are beat. Exactly what we wanted. On the kid's list of "things to do" is explore the hotel. So we do. Found the workout room, meeting rooms, laundry room, offices, and a fire escape that has a beautiful view of the city. I think they were a little disappointed. They thought it would be a little more like "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody."
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| View from hotel room. Kids were very glad we were up so high. |
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| On the first night, Gage got out of bed a number of times through the night and stood at the window just looking out at the view. Oh, and he is a blanket hog and he kicks in his sleep. |
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| Made it! |
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| Rode the Ferris Wheel 3 times. Grammi and I rode it too! |
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| Found a Jamba Juice at the very tall mall...on my list of things to do! Check! |
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| Pillow fight and jumping on the bed were on Gage's "to do" list as well. Check! |
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| Awesome souvenir Grammi bought me to remember our trip to San Francisco. |
***Back at home Allen and "the littles" went to McDonald's to play and have dinner.
Day 3: Get on a bus and head to Golden Gate Bridge. Gage does not want to go because he is afraid he will fall in the water and be eaten by a shark. After we are done, he is disappointed because he did not even
see a shark. Never found the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. China Town was next. Mom offered to buy us dinner there. I graciously (at least I hope I was gracious) declined. I am not sure the health department has made their rounds down there in the last, oh say, 10 years. Long day ended in Abby stomping her foot at me and telling me she was not moving another inch unless we were headed back to the hotel. I laughed. We went to the wharf and ate pizza instead.
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| Getting ready to walk across the Golden gate Bridge. |
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| We walked about a third of the way. |
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| Went to the Palace of Fine Arts. Got into the kids museum for free. Thank you ScienceWorks membership! |
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| Gage super excited to see the sea lions again. Abby...well...is Abby. |
***Back at home Allen and "the littles" ate pizza and stayed up late to watch the stars.
Day 4: Finished up our trip by hitting all the tourist attractions we missed so far. By this time I am an expert at getting us around the city by bus. No longer am I afraid to fall off the Cable Car. Unfortunately the city map we have does not show us elevation. So while the trek to Lombard street from our bus drop off location was only three blocks, they were three
very vertical blocks. When Grammi stopped, she had to rest on a tree for fear of rolling back down the hill. The Fortune Cookie Factory was the best, I think. We were a little nervous to walk down the alley my GPS was telling me to go - but did in faith that the AAA Travel Guide would not steer us wrong. Cable car museum, Coit Tower, Bubba Gumps, and another trip to Ghiradelli for Sundaes rounded out our last day in San Francisco.
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| Made it to the top, and down Lombard Street without incident. It was beautiful. |
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| Old man in the Fortune Cookie Factory posed with kids for a photo. This photo cost me fifty cents, by the way. |
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| Walking past the "Stinking Rose" was on Abby's "to do" list. Check! |
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| Waiting for seats at "Gubble Bumps...I mean, Bubble Gumps...I mean, what is it called again??" |
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***Back at home Allen and "the littles" are swimming at Poppi's house. We were swimming too. It was 95° in Medford. It was 65° in San Francisco. I have pictures from both places...Allen sitting at the bar drinking a cold one. Me in a sweatshirt and ear muffs, trying to stay covered from the wind with the children's towels...but I won't post them because they are a divorce point. LOL!
Day 5: We get up early to head home. The trip was fantastic and many memories have been made.
Check! Thanks Grammi!
