Downtown San Francisco

Today we headed into the city to do some tourist things.  There were lots of interesting things to see for the hour journey and the kids enjoyed pointing everything out.  There was a Cars 2 Billboard sign that David loved and he also pointed out a large Coca-Cola sign and said, "Doug would love to see that!" Doug is my sister's boyfriend and he works for Coca-Cola.

The picture does not give the hill justice

Our plan when we headed into San Francisco was to get a picture of the five of us at the Golden Gate bridge.  As we drove toward the city we could see it was overcast and very foggy.  The temperature gauge on our van said it was 14 degrees - this was certainly no sunny California day.   We crossed the bridge hoping perhaps the fog would lift and maybe the sun would burn it off, but it just got thicker.  We attempted to get to the lookout as we were told it was a great spot to take a family picture with the bridge in the background, but the road was closed.  So we decided to head back across the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco.  Francois had rolled down the window to pay the toll bridge - $6 to cross the bridge on the week-ends - and as we were pulling away David asked him to roll the window back up.  Instead of concentrating on the road, he rolled the window back up and incorrectly took an exit we weren't suppose to take.  After reviewing the map and determining where we needed to go to get back on track Francois starting cutting across the city and well let's just say the drive was interesting.   After turning onto several streets we turned onto this street with a steep incline, at least 1000 feet with a downhill view all the way to the water.  I closed my eyes for a portion of the drive down the hill and listened to the kids talking in the backseat.  They were saying, "I wish this was a toboggan hill and can we do go back to the top and do this drive again?  I said to Francois I loved to see my father's reaction if he would have turned onto this hill and needed to make the journey down.  My father dislikes heights as much as I do.

In front of the Golden Gate Bridge

Mommy and Andrea

Alcatraz

We finally got on track and found a parking spot near Fisherman's Wharf.  We walked towards the Golden Gate Bridge and got a family picture.  The fog was still rolling in, but you can see the outline of the bridge.  We also got a picture with Alcatraz in the background too.  Natalie was quick to give us the background information about Alcatraz and how the only person escaped from the prison.  She provided a lot of detail in regards to what the person actually did and when I asked her how she got the information - she said, "I read it in school sometime when I needed to read something non-fiction."

Shopping in the gift shops

Afterwards we headed to the hustle and bustle of Fisherman's Wharf where everyone was trying to sell their merchandise to the thousands of tourists all at great deals.  The kids loved stopping in at the stores and looking at all the trinkets.  They are still purchasing presents for other people and rarely look at something for themselves.  


We made our way home where we discovered Uncle Pierre broke his pinkie finger while playing recreation basketball.  He has his finger in a brace and wrapped really well.  It is on his left hand, so other than being inconvenienced for six weeks - he seems fine.  He still managed to cook up a delicious supper with oven baked ribs - they were so tasty!!

Natalie entertains Vander

Natalie and Pierre with his finger brace

Vander and Auntie Paige

Everett in the pool

The California Carons and the PEI Carons managed to take a visit to the community outdoor pool just before supper.  The weather had warmed up considerably and we thought this was a great way to wind down for the end of the evening.  Vander and Everett played in the children's pool and Natalie, Andrea, and David spent their time between the children's pool and the large pool with the diving board.  


Just before bed Natalie and Andrea also had manicures and pedicures using the large supply of nail polish that Auntie Paige had at her place.  The girls enjoyed using as many different colors on their hands and feet as possible.

David and his new haircut.

David was a little put out because there was no black nail polish to put on his nails, like when he was at Auntie Joyce's.  David did manage to get a hair cut - Daddy used Uncle Pierre's clippers and gave him a buzz cut.  I hope this hair cut will do until we return to PEI.


Tomorrow is a big day for the Caron Crew as Everett turns three and we are heading to the Oakland Zoo to celebrate his birthday.  Our time is going by so quickly - there was so much we wanted to do and so hard to believe tomorrow will be our last full day in Walnut Creek before we began our journey back to Canada.  I hope the forecast is warm and sunny!!


Take Care
Tanya