Robert's Family Visit

Robert's Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Theron, Cousin Susan and her son Caleb came out for a visit. We had a blast and stayed busy the whole time.

Here we are at a local park that has a splash pad. It was pretty chilly but everyone, except Emma Ann and I loved the water! We then grilled hamburgers which were so yummy. What a beautiful evening!

We made our way down to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for the day. The last few times that we went the Lorikeet exhibit was closed. Luckily today we made it! You get to go inside with a little cup of nectar and the birds will land on your hand, shoulder or even your head as Ethan Jay found out. He was amazed and kept asking to go back!

Having some fun in the pool!

It was a beautiful day at the beach. Very hot but still very nice. The kids loved the sand and "surfing the waves!"

Emma Ann ~ 8 months old

I can't believe that sweet baby girl is already 8 months old! She just started sitting up well on her own 2 weeks ago and then she started crawling and pulling up on her 8 month old birthday! Pretty spectacular and amazing how she is growing and changing everyday! She refuses to allow anyone to feed her and baby food is still for the dogs. Actually we gave up on that a while ago. Only real people food for this little princess.

Giant Sequoia's

What an amazing sight. These giant sequoia's were, well GIANT! We had such a blast on the tour through the forest and we actually hiked a portion of it back. This tree was actually carved out so as to be an attration and draw guests to the park. Back in the day, they could drive their buggies right through it!

Yosemite Sugar Pines Railroad

This used to be the working railroad for the Yosemite area. It was so neat to see the mountains from a train ride persepective and Ethan Jay could not have been more thrilled. He loves trains and was esctatic from the moment we drove up in the parking lot.

We took a stop about half way for the train to fill up with more water. We were able to get off and explore a little bit. The log is about 3-4 feet high up over a stream. Momma was just a wee bit scared, obviously Ethan Jay was not!

Half Dome

What an amazing site! Truly spectacular and so crazy to think that people hike over to Half Dome and then climb up it!!!! So we just drove in the car to it and took some pictures at an over-look, but that was good enough for us!



A waterfall right beside Half Dome.

Really great views from where we were.

On our drive up to the over-look, we could not believe that we were yet again seeing snow for the second time on our trip in the middle of June!

Yosemite Museum

One of the really neat exhibits in Yosemite was the museum. We found out a ton of great history and facts and was a nice cool place to walk around. There was also part of an indian village out back that we got to walk through.


Ethan Jay posing in a replica of one of the giant sequoia's. I guess he's pretty cute!

Gotta give Emma Ann the experience too!

Ethan Jay ran up to the picture of this lady and hugged her and said "Oh, G.G.!" Sorry Momma, I can honestly say she really doesn't look like you!

Ethan Jay and Ansel Adams, just hanging out.

Being a boy, I think, or just being dangerous!

Just his size!

Yosemite

Our last stop on our trip was to Yosemite National Forest. The trees are so overwhelmingly large it is really unable to grasp even in pictures. All of the trees reminded me so much of back home on the east coast and I loved every minute of being there. Okay except for the car sickness with all of the curvy mountain roads! There were very few hotels to stay at in our near the park and even less with availability. Mind you we booked this trip months ago and rooms were scarce. So we spent an absolute ridiculous amount of money on our hotel room but it was beautiful and the trip was sooooooo worth it! Here are just a few of the amazing waterfalls that we saw there. So spectacular!

Tommy's Joynt

We heard about this restaurant while watching "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives". It is one of our favorite shows and has even featured quite a few restaurants from South Carolina that we want to try out. So we new that this had to be one of our stops in San Francisco. Boy am I glad that we did! They make these fantastic sandwiches with the meat cut straight from the bone! You walk in and you see a whole chicken, turkey, ham and roast beef. Then you gey to choose from some amazing sides. Such a fantastic meal!

Exploratorium

We went to this really cool hands on science museum called the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was perfect for Ethan Jay's age and older (Robert) but Emma Ann just did a lot of watching. She really enjoyed it though and Ethan Jay could not get enough. He ran from exhibit to exhibit mesmerized by what "He" was able to do. So neat seeing him being able to interact with the exhibits.

Yep, that's a BIG bubble going over Ethan Jay! Doesn't get more fun than that for a two year old!

Alcatraz

What a cool place to visit. We took a ferry over to Alcatraz Island which used to be home to a prison! It is now home to lot's of birds! I had heard horrific stories about the smell, but it wasn't bad at all, thank goodness. It was pretty windy but a really neat experience and Ethan Jay loved running around.



Whose that, Inmate 205, charged with being disobedient to his parents! Just kidding! Notice the headphones on his head. He insisted that he also have his own audio-guided tour and listened to it the whole time!

Freezing, getting ready to blow away but Momma insisted that we get a picture overlooking San Francisco!

A great picture of Ethan Jay on the boat ride back to port looking back at Alcatraz. You don't think he wanted to go back and stay, do you?!?!

Ghirardelli Square

That's right Chocolate lovers, The Ghiradelli Chocolate Square! Yummy! We didn't miss this place 3 years ago and surely didn't miss it this time!

Look at all of that chocolate!

She hand-made each cone by putting batter into a waffle iron and then when it was still really hot and pliable shaped it with a cone dowel and cone cup. Pretty cool to watch, even better to eat once dipped in that delicious chocolate!

Yep, here we are with all of our treats! Notice what Emma Ann is eyeing!

Must be good!

Emma Ann thinks so too! She wouldn't let Robert's ice cream cone go! She started squealing each time we took it!