U.S. Adventure - SF

After the race to get the car returned, we breathed a sigh of relief.  We got cleaned up and went out for sushi for dinner, followed by ice cream.

The next day (Saturday) we went to the ferry building to meet up with our good friend AT (an international man of mystery).  We had some amazingly fresh and yummy peaches before heading off to the America's Cup festivities.  It was quite a well run event with lots of activities.  The girls quite enjoyed the sailing simulator and other events.  FABJ was very good at hoisting the sail (and she really enjoyed it).

Future America's Cup participant?

"Me too!"

LBJ was able to see a bit of the race from the pier, but unfortunately it wasn't much of a race.  Both boats were crippled within 10 minutes of the race's start (although LBJ informs me that one of the boats was able to finish the race).  Still, she enjoyed the atmosphere, amenities, and shopping.  We wore the kids out, but they rallied for one of their favorite meals - pasta.

One of the things the girls really enjoyed about the trip was the amount of pets that our various hosts had.  More than one host pointed out that we need to get a pet (preferably a dog) for the girls.  I'm sorry to say that I'm not a dog person.  I'm happy to be around dogs but not to own them.  I'm a cat person, and so is LBJ.  We plan to get a cat once we own rather than rent (or have a cat-friendly lease.)  Note the happiness with the bunnies (pronounced with the appropriate Dublin accent, of course).

We had a low key final day in SF, visiting with friends and having a home-cooked meal.  Our trip back was more eventful than desired.  FABJ threw up in the taxi on the way to the airport.  Fortunately, LBJ had a ziplock bag with her, and FABJ was able to hit the target so to speak.  Good job to both of them.

Thanks again to the family and friends that hosted us throughout our trip.  We would not have had such a great trip without your generosity.  We only hope that we can return the favor here in Dublin someday.

Here is where the trip all started - waiting for the airport bus to pick us up.

Alas, they weren't always this happy on the trip

 

FABJ's birthday in Yosemite

Before you say it, no, we didn't start the wildfire in Yosemite with FABJ's birthday candles.  We left the candles at home (although we are sorry to read about all the wildfire's damage to places we just visited).

FABJ and ORBJ slept well (one benefit of yesterday's forced march), so they were ready to celebrate.

We had a lazy morning of balloons followed a junior ranger walk.  The girls (particularly FABJ) enjoyed the walk.  We learned about different bird calls, saw a couple different type birds, and the ranger spotted a type of red hawk that is rarely seen in the valley.  The girls got their badges, and then the real excitement occurred.

On the shuttle bus, heading to Yosemite Village for lunch, we saw a mama bear and two baby bears.  They were ambling down the road not too far from the Mirror Lake stop.  We stopped and watched them for a minute or two before they decided to head into the forest.  FABJ was very excited, as was I - first bear sighting for me in four trips to Yosemite.

Frankly, the rest of the day paled in comparison.  We visited the Yosemite museum before heading back for another swim (what else do you do when it's 93 degrees and you don't have A/C!).  FABJ was saying for weeks that she wanted a cheeseburger and chips (i.e. fries - she already talks like an Irishwoman), followed by ice cream.  So we decided that a banana split would be an appropriate birthday dessert for the family to share.

Enjoying a birthday dinner al fresco

REALLY enjoying a birthday dessert

We topped off the day with a ranger-led campfire.  The girls even got to roast marshmallows, although FABJ didn't like the texture.  We had tons of extra marshmallows - they don't seem to sell them in small packages - so we made some friends from Naples, Italy who were ecstatic to roast marshmallows.

Our little fawn enjoying the campfire

 We were very impressed with the kid-based activities at Yosemite.  I'm lobbying for a trip to Acadia next summer as our U.S. summer trip (combined with a visit to my family in Iowa).  LBJ is not objecting (so far).

On the way out of Yosemite the next morning, we stopped off for a hike to the sequoias in Tuolumne grove (as shown below).  It was a tough hike for FABJ - all uphill on the return, but we enjoyed seeing the tall trees.

ORBJ enjoyed riding in style  

One large tree and one fairly happy family

Enjoying a trip through the tree

It was a bit of a mad dash to get the rental returned on time.  LBJ dropped all of us in downtown SF before returning the car to Oakland.  Kudos to Enterprise rent-a-car for taking her to drop off the car seats and then dropping her at BART so she could meet up with us at our SF hosts for the weekend: LM, BM, and SM (i.e. the Ms).

U.S. Adventure - Yosemite (part 1)

We had a relatively uneventful drive to Yosemite.  We had a surprisingly good lunch at Café Bliss in Oakdale.  The service was very slow but the food was quite tasty.  FABJ was quite excited about her BBQ beef sandwich.  ORBJ was grumpy and ate little; she was probably tired.

After checking in a bit after 4, we unpacked and went for a swim.  After all, the high was 95 that day.  Fortunately, it cooled off during a stay, only reaching 93 for the highs.  The water was very cold, but it felt good after the road trip from Oakland.

FABJ in a celebratory mood

We had a quick and easy dinner at the cafeteria before discovering Curry Village's best bargain - the ice cream.  A single scoop was huge and only cost $2.  We foolishly got two double scoops, and the kids struggled to finish theirs.  Surprisingly LBJ and I did not.  We finished the day with a kids' program on deer.  Yosemite is a great place for kids with a lot of programs for kids.

The next morning we set off for a hike.  Our goal seemed modest - just the Vernal Falls bridge.  See, it's only 0.8 miles each way.

But ORBJ was not happy, so what we thought would be a reasonable hike in an amazing national park become - in ORBJ's mind - a death march.  She was not happy, so eventually none of us were happy.  But FABJ was a trooper, and the hike was beautiful.  It's hard not to like Yosemite, even in August with the crowds, the heat, and the lack of waterfalls.

Happy girls at the start of the hike

Still, we all survived, so we returned to Curry Village for lunch.  As economists, we decided to build our own sandwiches rather than buying them for $8 each.  And we discovered another bargain - beer by the can/bottle for $2 rather than paying $6 for them at the bar.  After all the complaints, we felt we had earned a (shared) lunch beer.

The rest of the day was low-key: nap, swimming, pizza, and a kids' program.  After the girls went to bed, I snuck back to Curry Village to get an ice cream (single scoop) to share with FABJ.  We sat outside the tent (we borrowed camping chairs from the Bs) and ate, watching people get lost in the dark as they tried to find their tents.  Ok, LBJ also had her iPad and I had my iPod as well.  We went to bed early, as we needed to rest up for the next day - FABJ's birthday!

U.S. Adventure - Oakland

Upon our return to Oakland, our hosts RB and SB (and their dog NB) kindly offered to watch the girls so LBJ and I could go out for dinner.  We had a great dinner at the Ramen Shop in Oakland.  This restaurant has a lot of buzz (articles in the NY Times and elsewhere), and one of LBJs friends knows the owners.  It was indeed a noodle shop, but we love Japanese noodles.

On Sunday, the Bs hosted a BBQ for us.  The weather was great, so a good time was had by all.  It was nice to see everyone and the food (grilled by RB) was excellent.

On Monday, LBJ had a couple of meetings in SF, so I took the girls to the Oakland zoo.  Although not cheap ("you're paying for land" as LBJ put it), it was a wonderful way to spend a few hours with the girls.  We all had a good time.  We particularly liked the chairlift, where we got a bird's eye view of many animals.

Happy to pose for a photo, as always

view from the chairlift

I was quite impressed with the girls' attitudes as well.  They did not complain when I declined their request to go on some of the carousel-type rides, perhaps because there were so many other things to do (and we had just gone on the chairlift).  There was a nice kids' area for them to play, as well as a petting zoo.  FABJ even took ORBJ to the bathroom, and everything went smoothly (unlike the last time I let FABJ take ORBJ to the restroom - FABJ is very eager to be in charge, but ORBJ is not always eager to be bossed around!).  Not surprisingly, they fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up LBJ from BART.

Little bunny FABJ

The goat never had a chance

We finished our visit to Oakland with a trip to the Rockridge area to see LBJs friends again.  The girls had a great time at the (fancy) local playground, and then we had pizza (take out) from Zachary's, a Rockridge institution.

U.S. Adventure - Oakland / Half Moon Bay

Our stay in Oakland started well, for the girls at least.  Our first activity was a visit to Fairyland, a small theme park focused on ... yep, fairy tales.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves for nearly two hours.  However, they seemed to forget this by the time we went to a Thai restaurant for lunch.  FABJ just about survived.

ORBJ enjoying the carousel

FABJ enjoying the carousel (yes, this is her smile - she's not constipated)

The next day, we were off to Half Moon Bay, with a brief stop in SF to see a friend (at a playground, conveniently, as she has two small kids as well) and have lunch.  Although it rained briefly in SF - very unusual for August, the weather in Half Moon Bay was amazing.  So we spent an hour or so at Montara State Beach.  As you can see, everyone had a good time:

Look, a rare family photo!

Another rarity - summer weather! (at Bean Hollow State Beach the next day)

We had a great time in Half Moon Bay.  We stayed with friends of LBJ who have three kids ages 5, 7, and 9.  As LBJ predicted, it was chaos but everyone was happy.  I got a short hike on the coast (from Pebble Beach - not THE Pebble Beach to Bean Hollow State Beach) and the other three got plenty of beach time - 3 trips!  We also explored a few tide pools and saw lots of crabs.  A few more of LBJ's friends joined us at the beach on Saturday for a picnic before we returned to Oakland.

The girls joined by a mysterious host fairy

 

U.S. Adventure - Iowa (part 2)

The cooler than expected weather almost messed up our weekend plans, which had an aquatic theme.  On Saturday, we went to the local water park.  The water was nearly too cold for me (I'm a wimp with respect to water temperatures, having grown up far from any sizable body of water).  I stuck with ORBJ, who was content to splash around in the super shallow area, with only a couple of forays into the toddler water slide.  She explained: "Dada, this is the three-year old pool," pointing to the area where we were wading.  FABJ and LBJ enjoyed marginally deeper areas of the water park, although FABJ was disappointed to find out that she was a couple of inches short of the minimum height to go down the big, fancy water slide.  Next year.

That evening, LBJ and I enjoyed a lovely dinner out while FABJ had a sleepover with PL and UM (my sister and brother in law) and my dad stayed with ORBJ.  Best of all, the restaurant - Cobble Hill - was walking distance from our accommodations in downtown Cedar Rapids.

On Sunday, we spent the morning at the NewBo Market, which I have likely mentioned before (the balloon animals in particular).  Although the balloon man wasn't there, they had a large outdoor sandbox in which the girls happily played for at least an hour.  Then, they got their faces / arms painted, and we had another tasty meal there.

ORBJ enjoying the sandox

FABJ showing off her arm paint (who needs face painting?)

ORBJ and FABJ being super sweet with their "ink"

After lunch, we visited friends of PL and UM.  They have an amazing pool and enjoy sharing it with friends.  The girls had a great time swimming - they did a great job of swimming, as well. We had a BBQ at their house for dinner.  We had bison burgers two times during the trip, which was great.  I think they are way tastier than beef burgers as well as being healthier.  Plus, I can't get them here in Ireland (which reminds me, we also had amazing corn-on-the-cob earlier in the trip).

ORBJ swimming

Our last day did not go nearly as well.  Although ORBJ and FABJ had a sleepover with PL and UM, ORBJ fell out of bed in the middle of the night.  FABJ had a big meltdown at the lunch restaurant, which detracted from another excellent meal.  The meal was at The Class Act, the training restaurant for the local community college.  Alas, we had to skip our planned trip to Chuck E. Cheese, although the girls enjoyed a final afternoon at UM and PL with family and the "puppies".

Princesses riding their horse (made by FABJ at pony camp)

The princess' plot for world domination distracted by puppies

The drive back to Chicago was a bit of a challenge.  FABJ had another sizable meltdown in the morning.  Thus, we had the dilemma of whether or not to stick to our promise of only buying a cuddly toy (in its own purse) if she didn't have a meltdown.  To complicate things, ORBJ got the same promise, and she had been an angel during the trip.  So what do we do?  We decided to let ORBJ have her cuddly toy but not FABJ.  FABJ had a colossal meltdown in the World's Largest Truck Stop (where else should we buy such toys?) which lasted well into Illinois (20+ miles away).  It got so bad that we had to pull over so I could climb into the back seat and sit between them.  At one point, the following phrase was uttered by me (and directed at FABJ):  "Stop rubbing your snot on your sister's face!"  Sigh.  With all these stops, we barely had time to get the rental car returned and catch our flight to SFO.  FABJ was very well behaved on the flight until LBJ and I switched seats 30 minutes before landing, so FABJ could sit next to her mama.  She basically had a tantrum for the rest of the flight, refusing to behave all the normal landing procedures (shades open, seat belt on, tray table up, etc).  You know that she knows all these procedures.  Still, we all survived and were happy to be picked up at the airport by my friend from college (RB).

Here is a final picture from the Iowa portion of the trip:

Boots tries to build Legos with the girls and the family expert, Papa

 

U.S. Adventure - Iowa (part 1)

The first few days of the Iowa trip could not have been better.  The weather was amazing - 70s, sunny, and little humidity.  Very little rain aside from Monday morning (our last full day in Iowa).

Day 1 - pony camp and splash pad

FABJ is signed up for 2 days of pony camp (3 hours / day).  She loves it (with LBJ, my sister, and my mom as spectators).  ORBJ, my dad, and I have a leisurely lunch at my sister's house, and then we go to the local playground that has a nice splash pad.  This playground is amazing ("it better be given my property taxes" is how my sister reacts to this comment).  It has everything.  The splash pad is a padded area with a bunch of different sprinklers, fountains, etc. that go off somewhat randomly.  ORBJ was a little skeptical at first, but soon she was happily running around it.

Day 2 is more of the same, except that ORBJ doesn't use the splash pad at the playground.  Instead, we have a picnic.  After she becomes bored, I suggest the local library.  But she says that she is not interested.  I don't believe her, so we go anyway.  She has a great time getting my father and I to read her stories (she LOVES having people read her stories), and she plays with the play kitchen and legos at the library.  I have to drag her away so we can get a snack before meeting up with her sister at the splash pad, although she falls asleep in the car on the way.

FABJ gets to use a saw!

FABJs biggest smile ever occurred during this camp

Look at the confidence!  Is she strutting?

Umm...aren't you supposed to face the other way?

 

U.S. Adventure - Chicago arrival

Our U.S. adventure did not get off to a great start.  We each had a small, pre-packaged pan au chocolat before leaving for airport.  Our plan was to check in around 8am and then have breakfast.  But we were stuck in the check-in line at American Airlines for nearly an hour, thanks in part to an amateur American family who were blocking up one luggage check-in spot because they had too much stuff.  Seriously, they spent 30 minutes (if not more) shuffling stuff from one suitcase to another in order to get them all under 21kg per suitcase.  Ugh!  The girls were hungry and not amused.  So instead of a leisurely sit-down breakfast, we grab a bunch of pastries and a couple of smoothies (which cost the same as the family breakfast plan) and rush off to clear U.S. customs and immigration.  Then, of course, our flight is late boarding so we sit around the terminal for 30 minutes.

FABJ was on pins and needles for much of the flight, requiring frequent negotiation from LBJ to avoid a meltdown.  I seem to get the hiccups every hour.  ORBJ had a good flight, though.  Then, we wait for our friend TK to pick us up at the airport because I forgot about using the international dialing code for text messages, so TK never got my message.  LBJ figures out my mistake, and soon we are greeted by our gracious and generous hosts in Chicago.

We have a pretty lazy two days where we hang out with our friends and attempt to overcome jet lag.  And we eat and drink well.  TK and I, in addition to being roommates for a year in Evanston, have very similar tastes and food and drinks.  Our wives roll their eyes at us, but I suspect that they are pleased that we get this opportunities to share our mutual interests.

The kids enjoy playing together, and we are ready for visiting my family in Iowa.

Just another summer afternoon in Chicagoland

The drive to Iowa goes pretty well, actually.  LBJ tries a positive incentive scheme, offering them each a small gift (fuzzy animal inside its own purse) if they behave during the entire trip to Iowa (5 full days).  We didn't expect them to behave the entire time, but we were hoping for an extra day or two of good behavior...