The VMs Get Lost in San Francisco

It's our nearest city and one we frequently day trip to, but it still holds a long list of things we wanted to do in it.  A whole week off of school for Thanksgiving gave us the opportunity to take a 5 day vacation in San Francisco.  We're returning with almost everything crossed off that list and a camera full of pictures.  So here goes another series of blog posts...

When we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, we had plans to meet up with good friends Phil, Teri, Beth, Allie and Nathan, who were also making a quick getaway to the city.  We joined our friends in Golden Gate Park and went to the observation deck of the DeYoung museum's tower.  The views of the city from this vantage point were great!  We enjoyed a nice long dinner with them afterwards.  This was such a nice way to kick off our vacation!

We stayed at another Embassy Suites and can't sing this hotel chain's praises enough!  If our vacation was just to this hotel and no where else, the girls would have been happy!  This hotel was located right next to the airport.  Anyone who's ever flown into SFO knows how it seems you're going to touch down right in the bay when you land.  The view from our hotel window offered great views of the bay and the planes constantly taking off and landing right next to it.  Watching this did not get old and did a great deal to help my nerves about flying!

Some things that became a part of our daily routine this week were eating pancakes and omelets for breakfast, visiting the koi in the waterfall ponds and swimming in the indoor pool.  By last night, the girls were each jumping off the pool wall and swimming long distances with their heads under the water!

This Larry Gets Lost in San Francisco book has been a favorite of ours.  When we read it each night, it kind of turned into our guide book.  Each attraction Larry would visit in the city went on our list and over the course of the week, we saw almost all of it!  As time allows, I'll tell you about it.

Bump, Set, Spike!

A goal of Dave's this year was to make it to more of his students' extra curricular school events.  Since the girls are old enough to have a more flexible schedule and totally love hanging out with their high school buddies, we've turned this into weekly family time.  One night a week, we head to school, go out for dinner and watch a soccer, football or volleyball game.  The girls race up and down the bleachers, sit with their older friends on the teams, play on the field/court when the game is over and have fun learning about the sport they are watching.  The girls' and my favorite to watch is volleyball, mostly because I understand it best, but also because our school has an awesome team (they just won the section title!).

 

Besides the perk of sharing fun family time while Dave technically does his job, we love practicing the sports we're getting to know better at home.  The girls (Delia especially) love bumping, setting, spiking and serving the beach ball.  As these fall sports end their seasons, we look forward to some basketball!

Under My Umbrella...Ella, Ella

A Day Celebrating Babies!

Yesterday was Baby Day.  We were blessed to visit two sets of friends who we've been praying for and who have recently grown their families.  In the afternoon, Dave and Ella went to visit our friends Travis and Darla, whose daughter has been residing in the NICU for 2 months.  She finally got to come home and we are praising God!

Then last night we got to deliver dinner to very good friends Sara and Arend and meet sweet little Anja (pronounced "On-Ya") for the first time!  It was fun to hold someone so tiny again and marvel over how much she looks like her dad.  Sara and Arend are doing great and are just bursting with that new parent joy.  We are thanking God for these two new baby girls and for the gift of more friends to travel this parenthood journey with!

Thanksgiving Feast

Last night, Ella and her kindergarten classmates invited all of their parents to a special Thanksgiving Program and Feast.  In class, they've been working hard on this and it was a special night. 

We started the night with their adorable little program. The 3 kindergarten classes joined together and recited Psalm 100 and a couple fall and Thanksgiving poems.  We learned about Pilgrims and Indians and the kids sang songs like "Hi Yo Witzi" and "Where is Plymouth?"

After the program, we all found our places at tables the kids had decorated with personalized name tags, turkey place mats, little tepees and stand-up Pilgrims.  Ella was thrilled that our table included her two good friends, Chloe and Amanda.  Dave and I really enjoyed getting to know some other kindergarten parents at this dinner.

We loaded our plates up with all the traditional Thanksgiving favorites-- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie!

At the top of my list of what I am most thankful for this year is the fantastic experience Ella is having in kindergarten.  She's learning a lot, loving her teacher and making great friends.  This new stage of life has been filled with nothing but blessings!

This Is What It Looks Like...

When the sensitive, dramatic and creative first-born gets in trouble:

First, she goes into the study, closes the door, gets out her pens and paper and refuses to talk to you.

Then, she draws her feelings and writes a few simple sentences.  (Can you see?  It says, "Ella is sad.  I love you."  Don't you love her weeping self-portrait, complete with pink high heels?)

Next, she seals it in an envelope with a fake stamp drawn on it and drops it in the pretend mailbox she's created.  This is her apology.

Then, Daddy writes and dramatically delivers her a letter back saying we love her too and she is a good person.  

Finally, all is forgiven.

Love Fest

Some serious tears were shed today as we bid farewell to our beloved visiting family.  I'm starting to think that the trick to an easier goodbye is to have less fun on the visit.  After a long weekend filled with countless conversations, a giant dance party, fabulous shopping, Christmas card designing, lots of competitive Wii and games, fun outings and exhausting play, it's no wonder we're all ready to hop on a plane and fly back to Chicago to live with Karen and Aidan!  Thank you guys for spoiling us with your company and bringing so much more joy into our everyday with your presence!  Besides the rambling list of our activities, I think the following pictures pretty well sum up the amazing weekend we just had:

Trains, Jelly Beans and Vineyards

Karen and Aidan are here and we've having the best time!  Yesterday was our big outing day and we found the perfect things to do!  We started at the Western Railway Museum, where we checked out hundred year old trains and street cars and even got to take rides on some.

Aidan was very good at helping Delia with her fear of train whistles.

It was a real treat that the conductor let Aidan pull the train cord. Two toots communicated that we were turning around.

This was the interurban train car that we got to ride on.

The train museum was super cool, but so was the Jelly Belly factory right near by. We took the tour, hit the sample bar and loaded up on discounted Belly Flops.

Delia was brave (or crazy?) enough to try the skunk spray flavored jelly bean.  Contrary to the face, she said she liked it!

We got to know this sample bar lady pretty well as we trooped through the line several times.

How can you not leave the Jelly Belly factory anything but happy?  Of course, the kids said this was their favorite part of the day!

A favorite part of the day for us adults was the drive we took through beautiful Napa Valley to get to our lunch destination.  I'd never seen Napa in the fall and was delighted by the stretch of vines in vibrant autumn colors.  With the kids, we didn't stop to do any tasting or touring, but just an open-window drive down the main strip, which has the famous wineries lined up one right after the next, was awesome!

The Last Time

Tomorrow night Karen and Aidan arrive for a long weekend visit.  They are our first of three family visits in one month!  We are soooo excited to see them!  It's been about 6 years since Karen has been here with her second son.  The last time, Aidan helped us break some very important news to the loved ones back home:

We won't be requiring this type of service from Aidan this time around, but we still plan on keeping him plenty busy-- with cousin dance parties, outings, playing, cuddling, reading and laughing!

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