Spring Break

 I wanted to make sure that we didn't just let Spring Break go by without doing anything.  It is always so hard every year because I feel like I have these big plans for things to do and then life gets in the way and we never end up doing anything.  So I had a few small things planned and then a small overnight trip. 

I had been told about this ice cream counter inside one of the drug stores that had really good ice cream, so we went there. I am the last person in the world that will do a selfie, but it just seemed appropriate in this instance. 

One thing about my kids is that for the most part they are amazing at entertaining themselves.  They usually play really well together and are so creative at thinking of fun things to do.  They played ballerinas and even made up some dances that they performed for some guest that we had for dinner. It was seriously so cute.  I had to give them some sock buns in their hair because Dancers have to have sock buns!  The funny thing was that Annie decided for the rest of the week that she wanted a sock bun in her hair everyday.

I had told the girls that we could make some cake pops out of some cakes that I had in the freezer back at valentines and then it didn't work out because things got too busy.  Of course the girls acted like I had just neglected them by not doing it, but I promised them that we could do them for Easter.  They of course did not forget what I said so we had to do it.  I have never made cake pops before and they were certainly not as easy as I thought, so it ended up being a giant fiasco.  Oh well the girls were really happy that we made them.

 A few years back we decided to get Season passes to Six Flags because they are actually pretty cheap and not much more than buying a one day pass.  We really liked being able to go with the kids.  We had a couple more kids in between so we haven't done it, but we decided this year would be a good time to do it again.  So we bought them and decided to make our inaugural trip. 

Russy was so excited to ride this ride with the little jeeps that we went completely by himself because I couldn't go with him because of Clara.  It was really funny because he didn't care, he just wanted to go drive the truck.

 One thing I really love about this six flags is that there are quite a few shows too, it isn't just rides. Annie really loved the dolphin show and was really cute waving to the dolphins when they waved.

I love this picture because I love how Annie has her baby, and Russy and his silly face.  Clara was absolutely exhausted by that point and I spent the next almost 45 minutes walking in a circle back in a quiet area just to get her to fall asleep.  I really don't know how it is going to work out having a baby that doesn't like to sleep away from her bed for all the next trips we take there!

Russy and Annie had a good time playing in the fountain and getting drenched.  I stayed with the little ones so that Kevy could take the big girls on some of the bigger rides.  Having little kids is so fun but for things like this I am so very excited for the time when my kids are all bigger.

 We decided to stay down in the Bay Area that night so we could go and hang out in San Francisco the next day.  Its embarrassing to admit that having lived her almost six years, we had never gone to San Francisco besides a couple of Giants games.  We decided to stay outside the city because it is so expensive,  I got a hotel on hotwire and thought I got this great deal.  We drove a very tired group to the hotel that night and I couldn't wait to just relax  That's when it all went downhill.  We walked into our room and instead of a couch and tv there was a giant conference table.  I was so stressed out because I had been the one to make the mistake when I booked the room.  We tried to go to the front desk and they pretty much laughed in our face and said they were all booked up. I tried calling hotwire and the did the exact same thing and told me sorry that i made a mistake but they couldn't help me.  It stunk.  We moved the conference table over to the side and laid out a bunch of blankets for the kids.  It ended up being just fine.  Kevin and I laid down with the little kids and they went to sleep very quickly.  Even Clara who really freaks out about being in another bed just laid there and went right to sleep.  If nothing else it is a memory that we will always remember.

The next day we drove into the city and since we stayed in San Rafael we got to drive in over the Golden Gate bridge which the kids thought was pretty cool.

We decided to go to Golden Gate Park because my friend Amy and a few others highly recommended it. We went into the art museum so that we could see the view of the city.  We were going to try and walk to a fun Childrens play area, but then realized walking might take really long so we decided to just drive over instead. Of course there was some kind of carnival going on that day and there was nowhere to park.  We deciedd that we needed to just try for that another day so that we had time to head down to the pier.

Oh how I wish that we didnt do the pier.  That is where everything went downhill.  It took so dang long to drive there, then once we were there it took FOREVER to find a parking spot.  I was getting really crabby and stressed as was everyone else.  When we got there we tried to get lunch but while I was waiting in line with Annie and Clara, they both started crying uncontrollably, Kevin was trying to get food too, andt hen multiple kids needed to go to the bathroom at the same time, and oh yeah there was a million people there on the pier.  It was crazy!  I guess I am glad that we went to the pier so that we could say we went, but I dont have plans to go back anytime soon.

It was really cool to see the sea lions sunning themselves on the pier too.  We had a very memorable trip if nothing else.  I am hoping next time that we have a little better idea of where things are and what we want to do so that it will go a lot smoother.  I think just staying away from the Pier might make things a lot better.