SF w/ the Petersens

In July, some friends of ours came to CA for a long visit (her sister was getting married and having an open house here in Sacramento, and his brother was also marrying a week later and having a reception in EG) so they got to take an "extended" vacation, at least compared to how long they usually stay when they come visit, and gave us a whole day! We were SO excited!

These are our same friends I blogged about before that Alana and I met at Leatherby's one night and took pictures of Alana with two of their kids.

Anyway. The original plan was to go to SF and just spend the day walking around and experiencing Pier 39 with our children (none of the 6 kids we have between us had ever been to SF). Well, in true Porter fashion we didn't get out of the house as early as we had hoped and I saw our plans quickly slipping away. I was sad about this because I LOVE being close to the ocean because it makes for such nice cool weather. If it could be 65 degrees all the time I would be a happy camper!

We weighed some other options when we finally met up with Cami and Jer and family. The Jelly Belly Factory? Old Town Sacramento? Find somewhere to swim?

None of those sounded very fun to me. Jelly Belly doesn't take that long, Old Town isn't really "kid friendly" and somewhere to swim...we could do that ANYTIME.

So, even though it was 2 hours there, and 2 hours back we went to SF, I in Cami and Jer's car and Jer in our car. That way we could get some "BFF" time in instead of only spending the time we had left together in SF.

They, and I (of course) brought the camera along and snapped LOTS of pictures. So...here they are:

I always like to go to the store Krazy Kaps when we visit Pier 39. Its just fun, free entertainment trying on fun and silly hats for as long as you want and no one nags you to buy one. I was pretty disappointed because they didn't have nearly as many "fun" hats to try on as usual and the ones they did have were hanging from the ceiling and you couldn't try them on. :( Oh well, we did have some fun in there anyway.
Here's Brayden in a "Paul Bunyon" hat. Alana in a unicorn beanie. I think I am going to show my grandma some character hats like these and ask her to make the kids some in their favorite animal for Christmas. I could make the hats, but I don't know how to knit or crochet to make the eyes or ears or anything else other than the head cover...she'd do a MUCH better job! :)

This is Tim carrying Arianne, Cami and Jer's 3 year old. She took such a liking to Tim. Here they are walking toward the carousel. She was the only one that was too short to ride alone so Tim took her on. It melted my heart. :) Brayden on the sea lion on the second story of the carousel. Tim and Arianne (I don't know what animal she chose). Alana and Aiden rode too. They were never very far from each other the entire day. It really was cute :) (Cami and I are already secretly planning their wedding :) jk) Tim and Arianne after the carousel. Squeezable!

Next we walked to the end of the pier and told the kids about Alcatraz Island. Tim gave all of the kids quarters so they could look through the "binoculars" and see it closer. I thought my kids just looked so darn cute looking thru them. After Brayden looked at Alcatraz he told me he wanted to go on a boat. He said this over and over and over. I finally had to tell him we would have to do it next time because I didn't know if Cami and Jer would want to with all of their kids (that would have been pretty pricey).

Cami spent some time in the candy shop at the end of the pier buying salt water taffy, and came out and shared some with us. Also, we had paired the kids up early on in the day so they would have a buddy with them at all times in case we got separated from them. We called them "exit buddies" (like Nemo) and every time I said, "find your exit buddy" they knew exactly what I meant! :) Alana and Aiden were exit buddies, Brayden and Ashlyne and of course I think Tim and Arianne ended up being exit buddies because they were always together :)

Next we walked around the corner in anticipation of showing the kids the massive amounts of seals that sun bathe along the side of Pier 39. There were 3. We all thought it was kinda strange. So since there were so few, the kids seemed over it really fast and we just sat and took a break for a second deciding what our next move would be. This was the cutest thing EVER! The girls were near each other so I asked them to get together so I could snap a picture. Alana and Ashlyne naturally sat down and crossed one leg over the other (I call this sitting like a lady). Arianne glanced over at them as they were "settling in" for the picture and noticed they were both sitting this way and made a very obvious effort, tongue out and all, to cross her leg like the big girls. I giggled and giggled!

The handsome boys Aiden and Brayden. (I dressed my kids in matching green and denim on purpose so if they got separated from us we would be able to spot them a little easier, Aiden happened to wear the same color.) :) And of course Alana with baby Alivia. If there is ever a baby around Alana turns into a little mommy and wants to hold and care for that baby. It really is sweet.

After the "resting" we decided to walk a couple blocks over to have dinner at The Rain Forest Café. Our kids had never been, and I was jonesing for some clam chowder (Tim had some for lunch along Pier 39 in a bread bowl that I tried that turned out to be better than the chowder at RFC, but RFC is a tradition Tim and I have kept up since we were dating...we go there every time we visit SF). Along the way we ran into this guy and Brayden thought he was so cool! Alana on the other hand was freaked out by him. We let Brayden give him a tip and he talked to Brayden in his "robot voice" a little and then happily posed for a picture.

We got to RFC and got a table right away. Up the stairs we headed and the kids were mesmerized as we waited for our table. They seated us right next to the elephants (hehehehe, my favorite!) The sounds, the atmosphere, EVERYTHING about this place amazed my kids. I snapped this picture right after there was a stampede. My kids laughed and ooh-ed and aahh-ed as it happened and the lights flashed and elephants went wild. They loved it. It freaked Ashlyne out. :(

As I knew this was going to be our last stop for the day I wanted to get the kids a little souvenir from their first time in SF. I talked to Tim about it and we decided to get them the kids cups that you can buy and keep with the kids meals Brayden actually had red icee, but his cup was the monkey one so we had him hold Alana's drink just for the picture and of course we did the same with Alana They were SO excited! (They better be! Those cups weren't cheap!) :)

It was a great day! Sad to say goodbye to our friends, but we ended up seeing them at the wedding open house, the wedding reception and Alivia's birthday party they had while they were still in town.

Love you Jer, Cami, Aiden, Ashlyne, Arianne and Alivia! :)