Meanwhile…TSwift

While the rest of us were road tripping Kate was partying it up in Mesa.  She left Wednesday and flew all by her self to Phoenix where grandma picked her up.  She spent all day Thursday hanging out with my parents, seeing the local temples, shopping, hot tubbing with Grandpa and eating out.

Then Friday she got to hang out with the Castleton's and go to the Taylor Swift concert.  She loved it so much.  A huge fan already she is even more in love since the concert.  She sent us tons of videos, loved the time with Sophie, and all the Castletons bonding over their love of Taylor.

She spent the night with them and enjoyed most of Saturday before flying into San Francisco to join the rest of us on our last day in the city.  She didn't complain about anything she missed because she was pretty sure she got the best spring break trip!

Spring Break: Day 2 - Whale Watching

We were all up early Saturday morning, except Fernando apparently since he managed to wake up at 7:12 and shower for a 7:15 departure to Santa Cruz to catch our whale watching boat in Monterey Bay.  Luckily the motion sickness from the winding roads subsided before we climbed on the boat. Kate was not with us but Greg had purchased her a ticket anyway 😂.

We got cozy at the front of the boat and started watching, and watching, and watching and getting colder and colder and nothing.  

At this point Lily had on all the layers she brought plus a few layers belonging to other kids. When suddenly grey whales were spotted.  We were able to follow two different groups with probably a total of 10 whales.  A few whales were feeling playful and let us see their sides and waved at us.  My favorites were when they'd show their tails - then everyone on the boat would cheer.  The cold was quickly forgotten and we enjoyed these amazing creatures.

Then we turned back towards shore.  We were all watching for more wildlife when I saw something off in the distance.  After a minute I was sure that I had seen Orcas.  I pointed them out to the kids and we just kept pointing that direction until the captain followed our arms and turned on the speed to follow the largest members of the dolphin family.

We sped along with the orcas as they clipped by at a fast pace.  I'd guess we saw around 10-15 in the pod, including a little baby being protected in the middle of the group.  While watching these amazing swimmers we also spotted two humpback whales a little ways off.  We didn't get very close to them but just enjoyed the occasional views and focused on the orcas.  At some point a foul smell filled the air - free smells of orca fish breath 🤢.  

This sighting turned our okay boat ride into a fabulous one.  One of the ladies on our boat later posted on instagram that some "guy" spotted the orcas- Andrew had not corrected her when she thought he spotted them so the kids teased me about being a "guy" for the rest of the trip. 

Andrew had guaranteed Lily a sea otter and the fates allowed it as we spotted several of the cute little guys floating in the bay when we returned.  We also got to see a bunch of sea lions filling all the available space on a buoy.  

After finishing the boat ride and being thanked by the captain for spotting the orcas (can you tell I'm a little proud of myself ☺️😉) we got back in the car around 2:00 and we were starving.  

We located a taco place that sold quesobarrillo tacos.  Ric Petersen told us we had to try them and we figured now was a good time.  We got our pile of tacos but there was no where to eat them so I laid out my  car blanket and we had a little picnic in the parking lot.

The tacos were delicious but MESSY.  Most of us had orange hands.  We needed a bathroom and since Lily didn't want tacos we found a McDonalds close by.  She got her meal and the rest of us took turns in the single bathroom washing hands (what McDonalds only has one bathroom😳?) and eating ice cream cones. We may have created some issues for other customers needing to use the facilities - but that had been a long boat ride.  

Greg took the scenic route home down the seashore.  It was beautiful and we had to stop a few times to take in the view.

Unfortunately, to get to the beach you had to walk by two of the stinkiest garbage cans of all time.  They were beyond foul - we were all breathing through our mouths and running past as quickly as possible.  That might have won worst smell of the trip although there was some stiff competition with the orca breath and the stair well by the hotel that smelled strongly of urine.

Back in the city we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge...

and took a little walk.  We didn't go all the way a across but enough to get a good feel.

It was getting dark but we managed to find a parking spot and spend a few minutes roaming around Golden Gate Park.

We obnoxiously sang "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" in our best Clarabelle Cow voices while we enjoyed the tulip garden and dutch windmill.

The kids took turns jumping off the benches doing "Siuuuu boosters" and laughing at each other.  Our silly was definitely shining 😂.

The boys led the littles on a trip through some bushes but managed to find the soccer fields.  Fernando "borrowed"/took a ball from a nearby game and the kids had fun playing around trying to help Nando get a goal in California.  

As the sun set I used my phone to order us some takeout in Little Italy while Greg drove us down Lombard Street to the kids oohs and ahhs.  He couldn't find parking so we made several trips around Tony's before Natali and I finally got in with the food.

The big kids loved their pasta, I loved having a salad, and Lily had a piece of cheese pizza bigger than her face.  It was a perfect end to a great day.  I left the teens in their room and Lily fell asleep in about 5 minutes.  I climbed into bed while Greg drove to the airport to pick Kate up for her 10:30 arrival.

Spring Break in San Francisco- Day 1

 Well Thursday after school we said goodbye to Mack who was home working for a week for his spring break 😞 and headed to Reno.  Fernando, an exchange student from Spain, had permission to come with us because his host family was going to ND to pick up their son from his mission.  We were thrilled to have him.  He was up for anything and after a week with us and over 30 hours in the van he was like family.

We had to stop and document his travel to three new states.

We all stayed in the same room that night with the girls on a pull out mattress.  But with that many people in one room it was hard to all change in the bathroom so Lily, noticing the closet was rather large and well lit, climbed right in and changed her clothes.  Seeing her wisdom I took advantage of the closet as well. This trick would end up being used in several hotel rooms on the trip and by multiple children. 

The next morning we headed to the Jelly Belly factory.

These portraits are made from jelly beans - crazy right?!

We enjoyed the factory tour- especially the hats😜

There was a phone challenge with prizes that the kids worked on - in the end the prizes were pretty lame but Nando did get a cool California sticker for his water bottle.

But the best part was the bag of jelly bellys you got to take home.  We learned that Fernando really doesn't like black licorice, or spicy food (spicy cinnamon).

After a quick meal at McDonalds we headed to San Fransisco where we met Natali at the hotel, quickly parked the van and headed to the ward for our trip to Alcatraz.

Greg unintentionally bought a ticket for Kate, lucky Alcatraz.

Andrew spotted harbor porpoise on our way - a good omen.

Once their Emmy got a Jr. Ranger packet, and we got our headphones for the tour.  Nando also grabbed a pamphlet where the display asked for a $1 we figured Kate's ticket more than covered the cost of the pamphlet Fernando "stole".

The tour was well done although Lily was a little shocked by some of the language- a few "h and d words".

The boys took a tour break to play baseball in the yard where the inmates had recreation time.  Apparently, Fernando hit a home run.  Then then Andrew spotted harbor seals off the shore of the island so when everyone was done with the tour we had to go check them out.

The original "sheeee" face.

As we stood in line for the ferry Emily ran to the information booth.  She wasn't quite done with her packet but the nice ranger gave her the badge anyway.  Lucky girl finished the packet on the boat ride back.

Andrew spotted a whale on the way back to shore - man let the animals start coming.

From there we wondered to China Town - well Andrew found some step stairs and since Andrew is the stair king from Italy we had to take the stairs.  We ended up all the way at  Coit Tower.  It was a nice leg work out for me and the boys got cardio by running up the whole thing.  

We started heading back in the right direction but we might have ended up in the sketchy part of China but we eventually arrived miraculously free of poopy shoes thanks to Fernando.  Andrew was talking and walking right into a pile of fresh poo, Fernando tried to warn him but he wasn't listening so Fernando just shoved him.  Once Andrew saw the poop he was very grateful for the save.  We also had a feel close calls with some crouch height poles on the sidewalk - luckily no one was injured. 

Greg felt like Chinese noodles for dinner and no one said otherwise, a silence they would regret.  Let's just say the kids didn't love the noodle soups but the one non soup noddle dish was well received so that plus pot stickers, onion pancakes, mango yogurt dessert and dumplings everyone got full.  However their appetites were probably thrown off on their visit to the bathroom through the kitchen.  Fernando and Andrew took a look in the freezer outside the bathrooms and were not impressed.  

We wondered into an ice cream sandwich place and since Greg rarely says no to ice cream sandwiches we indulged.  A fitting reward for the kids sus meal.

That night after the littles were in bed in the hotel room with dad and I the big kids went out on the town.  Somehow Natali captured this amazing ghost photo of Fernando who kept messing with his hair - so cool.

They enjoyed their In and Out shakes and just being goofy together.  But we had an early morning to get to Monterey Bay to see whales.