Tourist Trap Excursion

A few weeks ago, I saw a commercial about the Aquarium by the Bay in SF. Since Sam is into all things sea-like, I thought this would be a nice excursion into the city. After all, their website boasts about their underwater tunnels, their large exhibit halls and thier remarkable jellyfish collection. Having read all that, I was starting to feel kinda bad that I hadn't taken the kids to this joint before. What kind of mother was I if I didn't take my kids to our local aquarium?

Well, $118 later, I decided I was better off NEVER having gone to this aquarium because it took us exactly 20 minutes to go through their entire set up. That 20 minutes included coaxing my children to "look at the fish" in the tunnels as well as a visit to the bathroom and gift shop. Oh, and for those of you wondering why a 20 minute visit to the aquarium cost so much, let me break it down for you:

$26 = tickets
$24 = parking
$18 = gift shop visit (FYI: These toys broke at lunch)
$40 = lunch at Hard Rock Cafe (FYI: This was the only respectable place)
$10 = chocolate treats (FYI: This cost was incurred as bribery for good behavior)

And here's what I learned about our trip:

1. When I think something might totally suck, it will. I should listen to myself more often.
2. Pier 39 is a tourist trap in every sense of the word.
3. I will NEVER, EVER go by myself to tourist traps for fear of my children being kidnapped.

Despite the cost and the constant arm pulling done on my behalf because I feared my kids would be taken from me and my pregnant status would slow me down from kicking the perpetrator's ass, we still had a good time. The evidence is below...














Sidenote: I have no idea why an aquarium would have a display on bees but, alas, I took this cool shot of the little guys working on their honeycomb. I thought this was mighty "artsy" of me.



And, no visit is complete without having your children pose with shark teeth:

Perfunctory Summer Swim Lessons

In an effort to make up for my slacker mom status when it comes to swim lessons, I signed Sam up for lessons last week. Despite our lack of swim lessons since (cough, cough) last year, he looked surprisingly accomplished. I mean, his strokes look awful and all but he really digs swimming now and his confidence in the water is killer. Kudos to moi. I may have the next Michael Phelps on my hands. And, if that's the case, I better stock up on speedos and goggles....and money for food.

Cousin Joe!

We had a surprise visit from my cousin Joe last Friday. It was the first time he was meeting the kids and, as you can tell from the pictures, they all got along really well. Apparently, cousin Joe is unfazed by a loud child using a lightsabers during the entire visit or a sweet little girl asking to have books read to her in between her brother's lightsaber battles.

Identity Crisis?

Recently, Izzy started to go pee in the potty. I haven't started any serious training but I do let her run around the house naked and ask her every five minutes if she needs to pee. She doesn't seem annoyed by this but Sam is definitely getting irritated. Today, he decided she needed underwear. So, he brought her some of his....he told her not to worry about the camoflouge on the underpants because he's the jedi and the disappearing stuff only works when he wears them.

Izzy was more than pleased with her new underwear and the personal assistance she gets to help pull them up:

Happy 4th of July

My piping skills turned out significantly better this year....

Healdsburg Antics

Last weekend, Uncle Rob and his fiance, Alicja, came over for the weekend. Since the house is being painted and things are just an overall mess, we high-tailed it over to wine country. Before I tell of our antics in Healdsburg, however, enjoy the picture below...It's what Izzy and Sam have been watching for two consecutive weeks-our painters doing random jobs around the house.



Healdsburg is about thirty-five minutes away from our house. It was gorgeous day. We traversed the downtown area, played by the fountain, and bought some books at a local bookstore. We decided to picnic at one of the wineries and so we picked up lunch. We ventured into deep wine country and settled ourselves at Preston Wineries. While we were there, Sam and Isabella made friends with lots of people entering the tasting room. Sam wore his jedi outfit the entire time and no one seemed bothered by it. In fact, I think they all felt protected. Izzy, on the other hand, ran around everywhere and made a very old lady feel very special by calling her grandma, taking her on walks around the grounds, and helping her out of her chair. Rob, Alicja, and Brad enjoyed their wine and I got to drink lots of water. Boo.

Below are shots of our day...You'll note that Rob looks particulary sexy in some of these shots (obviously its the camera and shades) and Sam and Izzy got to pick some strawberries, explore a small farm, and make Rob and Alicja do whatever they desired.








Unlce Rob, looking sexy:










Sidenote: Here Alicja and Uncle Rob practice being parents by performing the standard "run and lift" move.





After the day concluded, I had to drive the drunkards home. This is what I look liked:




This is what they looked like: