California Trip: Day 2 -- Muir Woods

Our first full day in San Francisco we were up early and headed in to the city before traffic was to heavy. We found a little corner coffee shop and I had rhubarb pie for breakfast. The perfect way to start your day!



Then we headed to Muir Woods National Monument, a wonderful place to see the magnificent redwoods.





The kids enjoyed the walk, particularly looking for wildlife and reading the signs posted along the trail.



Two notable discoveries were the deer:



and the banana slug:



I found it particularly interesting to learn that the redwood sorrel is so accustomed to low light that it closes if too much direct light filters through the trees.



On the ride home, we took a different path and crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for the first time.

California Trip: Day 1 - San Francisco

I am going to go back to our California trip and try and put down a few thoughts, more likely though it will be a good deal of pictures. Since we have SO many pictures, I'll try and go day by day.

The kids were amazing on the long flight. They played lots of games, the favorite was probably using the old disconnected telephones as boats for their "guys". That took us through the last wiggly hour without any sort of meltdown at all.



Our first afternoon in San Francisco, we went down to Golden Gate Park and had a little walk around, to try and keep the kids awake so they could switch on to California time. They played hide and seek in the very different vegetation, which I couldn't help mentioning over and over.



We also stopped in for a snack and a visit at the de Young Museum's sculpture garden, where Eleanor and Henry made a good impression on the security guard by looking but not touching the sculptures. Eleanor even did a few sculpture impersonations herself.



We checked in to our hotel, which was perfectly situated slightly outside of the city but close enough to walk to Trader Joe's and a few other shops. And, everyone even slept reasonably well.

Quote of the Day

Eleanor and Henry were playing with play dough this morning when this conversation took place.

Eleanor: It's a poop storm!

Henry: What's a poop storm?

Eleanor: Poop, thunder and rain.

Henry: Oh.

Yep, my friends, the potty talk has begun.

Quote of the Day

Update -- I've edited this post based on Vince's comments about how the quote went down.

Vince (as Eleanor is hopping around the living room): You must be at least half rabbit.

Eleanor: Yep.

Vince: What’s your other half?

Eleanor: Cheese.