Trip to visit Grandpa & Grandma

 

Over spring break, I took Tyler and Maleina to visit my parents in Fair Oaks, CA (a suburb of Sacramento). The kids are troopers on long drives like these.  To prepare, I make them their own Road Trip snack bag, and I make Road Trip landmarks.  You can find the links to these here and here.  These really help keep them entertained and stops the, "How much longer until we get there," questions!!  I had a heavy foot this time around, and the construction was quite minimal, so I made the trip in 10 1/2 hours!!

The weather was quite chilly while we were visiting them.  We saw the sun a few times, and rained the rest of the time.  We couldn't complain about it though, because they REALLY needed the moisture.  To occupy our time there a midst the rain, we went to see the movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  We enjoyed the movie and spending time with Grandpa and Grandma.  Afterwards, we went to dinner at Island Burger.  If you ever have a chance to eat there, I highly recommend it!

One of the highlights of our trip was going to Palo Alto and San Francisco.  Maleina had been saving up her money for nine months to buy herself an American Girl Doll.  They have a store in Palo Alto, right across the street from Stanford.  Maleina had a blast choosing her doll.  There were so many choices.  She finally decided to get the doll of the year, Isabelle.  Isabelle looks just like Maleina, minus the freckles, and she loves her.  I have enjoyed making Isabelle a new wardrobe as well.

Tyler's dream car!

The weather was gorgeous in Palo Alto so we decided, with a lot of convincing, to head over to San Francisco and spend the remainder of the day there.  Since we had already driven/ran across the Golden Gate Bridge, we went down to pier this trip.

(Maleina photo bombed this picture of Tyler with Alcatraz in the background.)

Before getting wet up to their heads.

Tyler and Maleina wanted to play in the bay for awhile.  I was completely on board thinking they would get there toes wet and be done.  The sun was out, but it was still chilly.  They definitely got there toes wet, and all the way to their heads!  I need to learn my lesson-when going to the ocean, pack a spare set of clothes!  While they were playing in the bay, I went to souvenir shops to find them some dry clothes.

After playing in the bay, we climbed/hiked up the hills to walk down Lombard street, the most crooked street in the nation.  I tried several times to get a picture to show how crooked it is, unfortunately, I did not succeed. The greenery was beautiful on Lombard street and it was fun watching cars navigating the tight turns.

To finish our day in SF, we ate clam chowder in sour dough bread bowls for dinner.  The soup was delicious!

As with all vacations, they come to an end too quickly.  We had the opportunity to spend 8 full days with grandpa and grandma.  We had a blast!  Our time was spent sewing, Just Dance battles, movies, reading, playing games, and just enjoyed being together.  We cherish these moments and look forward to many more!