We Went to Grandma Da's House Too

The weekend we went to Ray's we also went to my mom's house. And it was a pretty good visit. I always enjoy eating her dinners. So effortlessly makes mussels in pasta, sole, and a little veal just to round out the meal. Of course it isn't a trip to Grandmas with out nightly baths, playing with the gentle giant Bear, and a trip to Nordstroms and Target. Coen quickly figured out that grandma would buy anything he asked for- so we came home with the much begged for pillow pet and a pair of very expensive light up star wars shoes form Nordstroms. I particularly enjoyed watching Coen follow the very gay sales clerk around the store as they looked for a tie to go with his new silk shirt. Yes he is 4- it was so strange.

There was a reason for our foray out of the mountains. You see we are a little dino obsessed at our house and I had looked for a museum that had dinosaurs and the closest was the Academy of Sciences. Which conveniently Mom and Bob are BIG donors too- so free tickets. This was really good because I think I would have been disappointed if I had paid the $70 admission (for me and the boys). Just not worth the price- in my opinion. So if you want to go- go on one of the free days. We didn't do the hall of Africa- we just ran out of gas- but we will pop in later this summer and do that part of the museum. It was a glorious sunny day in the park. I wanted to go to my favorite spot in the park- rhododendron hill- as this is the best time to see it- but Mom was pretty worn out so we skipped it. I love Golden Gate Park and just driving around was so much fun. I did like how little child friendly the museum was. And here are some of the pictures I took.

So the major disappointment was that this was the only dinosaur in the whole building. So we are still on the lookout for a good dinosaur museum with out going to Vernal Utah or Manhattan. Maybe we will get out to visit Uncle Brian like we keep saying a get to go to the Smithsonian. Although- the Dinosaur museum outside of Vernal is one of my favorites. Small but so great how they built the building around the mountain with the exposed fossils soaring to the sky. And some great hikes with lots of fossils nearby. And of course giant paper mache dinos all over the town.

Well chickens are related to dinosaurs I guess.

We did like the aquarium. The boys could sit and look at fish all day long.

They had a great cafeteria. It was wonderful. Coen asked for a Vietnamese salad and the lady said "are you sure?- it has fish sauce." about 5 times before I convinced her that was what he really wanted. Beckett grabbed my pork buns and ate them in about 10 seconds. That is pork sauce all over his face- not chocolate. I now have another food he will eat. We ate outside and the boys ran around like monkeys. It was a great little break before we went into the rainforest. I forgot to mention that Beckett decided he will only wear big boy pants while we were there- and I forgot- so he had an accident during lunch. Which is really amazing that he held it that long. So I thought it was a good sign.

The rainforest had butterflies and was hot and humid. Which is what you would expect of a rainforest.

Then we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens- which were wonderful and would have been more so with out the whiney kids who thought we were going to a playground next. But the azaleas and cherry blossoms were in their full glory and we had a nice time strolling around.

Video of the Wild Ride

Our Weekend in Pictures

We took off on Saturday to head for Papa Ray's house. We come prepared to play. We don't travel with out our Star Wars guys.

When we got there two of our girl cousins were there for the weekend too. It is more fun to play in the grandkids room or the game room when you have cousins. Unfortunately they were girl cousins- who like the movie Tangled. Coen got a little burnt out with Tangled. Beckett still likes it. I got to take a nap. All around a good thing for all of us.

That night I made more hair clips. And the next day the girls had a blast picking out what ones they wanted.

These girls love getting their picture taken. Love it.

We explored the property- it was great.

Papa Ray's has the best play ground. Imagine all the outlawed playground toys from when we were kids- and then put them on stilts. And there you have it. I love it but I picture all kinds of horrible injuries while the kids are playing.

Papa Ray got new hammocks too.

Then we had lunch in the courtyard. Baby Lewis came to visit at this point. He is a chunker. Cute cute cute. No one else may have gotten to hold the baby because Kirtee is a baby hog.

The kids spent a long time trying to catch and save the thousands of pollywogs in the pond.

Then we went for a ride in the back of the pick-up up to the lake Papa Ray is making on the mountain above the house. It was a lot like toads wild ride. I took a video- maybe I will figure out how to put it on the blog.

At the lake some neighbors were out walking with their new puppy. This was a huge highlight.

On the way home the truck spun out and then may have hung over the edge of the road. We evacuated the kids and then walked home. And Papa Ray and Uncle Bron went up and towed it out.

Did I mention these two like their picture taken?

And then malts and milk shakes.

Don't they take your breath away?

Kirtee and I got to have a moment alone in the hammocks. That was a highlight for me.

Playing in the game room. We spend a lot of time in here.

And some one took many pictures of herself on my camera. Ahhh teenagers. But aren't her bangs so dang cute!

I have had several things I have wanted to post- but I have been out of town or in bed coughing up a lung. I am pretty sure Becky gave it to me over the phone. That is how powerful her germs are. They are radioactive super-germs.

But before my lungs started trying to exit my body the sun came out. We had a brief glorious sunny day. And then it has been rainy and cloudy since. But I have hope it will be sunny again. Here are some shots from the sunny day. I so miss the big window at the front of the house in our old house. It used to let in the best light. This house has some good light too. I have been dying for light- this gloomy winter has been hard on me and my picture taking. But at least I got a brief chance for some decent shots.

Here are the fruits of my labors. Which mind you I was so excited I just grabbed the camera and started shooting- only to realize 2/3 of the way through I hadn't set the white balance- so had to adjust a lot- and haven't quite gotten what I wanted. But I am okay with them- for adjusted not natural light.

And here I actually set the white balance right. Good Mommy.

I love this photo.

And the sunny weather made us all a little crazy.