San Francisco: The Ending

Our last full day spent playing around in San Francisco was extra fantastic because Buds was through with the Google Conference and hence, could spend much of the day playing with us.

We headed down to the diner so we could show him the place we had eaten and enjoyed for several meals.  We made the soon-to-be-rued decision to let the children have ice cream for breakfast.  We’ve certainly done that before, but it was ice cream at home, where we knew for sure what ingredients were in it.  More on this later.

Then back to the apartment for some much-deserved rest for him:

After breakfast, we headed for the California Academy of Sciences, where we had tried to go on our first day of exploring.  It took us a long time to get there, taking buses all over town, and by the time we got close, we realized we’d be wise to get some food in bellies, so we popped into a random deli we passed on the street.  The people were very nice and willing to sell us hard-boiled eggs and plain sliced meat.  I’ve gotten very comfortable asking for what I need for the children, often things I would not have asked for just for myself.

At the deli, the children were absolutely crazy by our standards.  For someone with tough/extremely active children, they would have seemed mild, but for us, it was insanity.  A little girl at the table next to us said something to her mom, who started laughing, looked at me and said, “She just said, ‘She can sure talk a lot.'”  They were referring to Monkey.  Her tongue seemed hung in the middle so it could move more quickly.  Yessa and the Buster could not sit still, they were bouncing, jumping, climbing, talking…It was crazy!  Either something in the ice cream set them all off, or the excitement of having Buds with us was too much for them.

I was so grateful to have Buddie along for this day, and he got them all involved in racing games while we waited for the bus.

The Academy was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  Zachary fell asleep in the stroller, but the rest of us took a stroll through the Costa Rican Rain Forest, which was a great walk down memory lane.

Yessa did her Blue Whale imitation under the full-size blue whale skeleton, and we all had fun walking under and around this prehistoric beast:

Then down to view the aquarium housed at the Academy, where the Buster finally woke up to join the fun.

The young ones were intrigued by the huge globe, and tickled to figure out where we lived:

And The Buster had to mess with the Big Beast, now that he was awake.

Though it’s very blurry this picture was important to me to include because it was the one part of the museum we didn’t care for.  It’s a replica of a boa constrictor, and you stick your arm in the hole, and get to feel the pressure of a boa squeezing the life out of you.  Yessa stuck her arm in here before I realized what was happening, and there is no “Emergency Stop” button, so I had to stand helplessly by and try to comfort her as she moved quickly into panic mode.  It was really distressing to her, and me.  Being squeezed to death by a boa would be extremely unpleasant…to put it mildly.

The Gem Family form of bonding.  (Buds was given two android phones with his conference registration.  I won’t ever have to worry about a human mistress, but a technological opponent I can easily foresee.  😉 )

Waiting for the Cable Car.

Having Dad along was a sheer joy for all of us.

Last looks out the Trolley window.

And, finally, Yessa, Dora, and I trailing along behind the rest of the family as we make our way through the airport.  Thanks to Virgin Airlines, a fantastic trip.

San Francisco, we love ya’, and we’ll be back.