Author: Dad

I think the Academy of Sciences was by far my favorite part of San Francisco.

I loved all the fish.

Mommy helped me find frogs and other things hiding in the cages.

I loved the touch tank. I did great just touching with two fingers.

Ewwwww, slimey!!!

This was one funny looking starfish!!

I learned a lot about animals.

Mommy and I played “Hunt for animals in the tank”.

I could barely hold still. I wanted to explore!!!!

Look Daddy… a TURTLE!

PENGUINS!

They were FUNNY!

I even got to see them eat lunch!

After penguins we wandered around and looked at some of the displays. This one really scared me and bothered me. I didn’t like the dead deer.

Then, with all my stress over the dead deer, Daddy made me pose by the scary gorilla!!! AHHHHHH!

I wanted to take this green frog home. I also wanted to take home the albino alligator, mudskippers and many many many other things I saw.

The roof of the building is a living roof. Very neat to see all the different plants.

Uncle Matt and Mommy showed me around.

This building was HUGE.

Daddy and Uncle Matt went to the planetarium while Emmerson and I hung out with Mommy at the play-area. What a neat place. I hid all the stuffed animals in trees and made lunch for everyone with pretend food.

Afterwards we explored the library portion and saw many more animals, fossils and artifacts.

That is one big gorilla hand.

Matt told me all about the rocks and snakes.

I investigated in the science boxes using a magnifying glass.

We wrapped up with a yummy lunch and called it quits at the museum. Time to stretch our legs and go for another hike. This time to the OCEAN!

We took a long walk down to the water and a CAVE!

This is the place where the old Sutro Baths used to be.

Checking out the CAVE!!

Very neat view.

Daddy got a GREAT shot of it!

After the cave, Uncle Matt, Mommy and I went on a hike over the old bath-house walls. Daddy and Emmerson stayed on solid ground and took the easy way up. Smart move! This was a tough trek because one wrong step and I would tumble down the hill or into the water.

While I was out on the wall Daddy found a spider web in the ruins of Sutro.

Out the wall…

We took a break part was through.

Hiking around almost at the hill

Beautiful view.

UP UP UP!

But worth the effort for that amazing view.

Looking back at what he climbed up.

I found a dandelion. But it wouldn’t work.

Uncle Matt fixed it for me.

We loaded up the car again and headed to the beach (just down PCH across from Golden Gate Park). I had to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean!

I got stripped down to my undies.

I loved the dirt like sand.

A quick toe in the water.

Then back to the sand.

Running back to the sand after Mommy just washed me off…

A sand angel!

We headed back to town for dinner. Uncle Matt felt bad that he encouraged me to drink a lot of water because I threw up all over at the Ethiopian restaurant. Oh well! Mommy got me cleaned up and all was fine. We hit the hotel and I fell asleep nearly instantly. Tomorrow Muir Woods!!!

We packed all of our bags and headed towards Sn Francisco. The first day we went to Pier 39 and walked around.

I LOVED the sea lions!!! A LOT!

They made me laugh when they flopped up on the floating platforms.

One even floated on his back for a while.

I really enjoyed them.

Then we headed to grab some lunch and walk to Ghirardelli Square to get an ice cream.

We poked around town a bit more and headed to the hotel to check in. There was a huge error at the hotel and Uncle Matt quickly found another place for us to stay that was INCREDIBLE!

I got in BIG trouble with Mommy and made her cry. I was tired, hungry and majorly cranky and just being a butt-head towards Mommy and Emmerson when Daddy went to go get us dinner.

Night night early for a BIG day tomorrow at the California Academy of Sciences.

I wanted to play in more snow and after a few miscommunications we headed to Boreal Snow Park to play on the kiddy sled (tube) hill. Uncle Matt was such a sport and took me up and down the hill a zillion times.

We rode together until I was comfortable.

This is so much fun!!

Finally, I was ready to go on my own.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ready to go again!

Okay, I am having a LOT of fun!!!!

Then I discovered there were different colored sleds. I had to try each color!

Wipe-out…again!

I needed a break for some play with the other kids. Mommy said to be careful that the hill was VERY slippery and steep.

Did I listen?? NO!

A few more trips down the hill on the sled.

Uncle Matt joined in on the fun!


Crazy slide.

One last run…

And the BIG WIPE OUT!

Matt going again.

Then I gave up and wanted to play more with the other kids. I helped one boy make a snowman.

He did all the work. I just supervised the construction!! It came out okay!

Mommy tried, to no avail, to get me interested in the snowboarders on the hill.

I just wanted to go play in a puddle and make “soup”.

I made lots of new friends. He hugged good-bye. She was a cutie!

Back to the house to warm up and relax. Uncle Matt won some silly “scary teeth” from the machine at the grocery store. I thought they were pretty neat!

To bed early again on the sofa. We are off to San Francisco in the morning!

After dropping Grandpa John off at the airport Uncle Matt took us for a drive all around Lake Tahoe. We stopped every now and then to see sights and nature. We visited an overlook for Emerald Bay

At the Emerald Bay Overlook:

This was yet another steep hill and I was fearless, as usual!

Mommy and I hiking up a bit.

We are going to hike to the top of this waterfall… not the actual top… but as close as we can get.

On TOP of the world!!

And in BIG trouble for running off and climbing on my own…

At Eagle Falls:

I feel so small today.

We hiked up quite a ways in the cool air.

I needed LOTS of nature breaks. Basically, time to sit and play with sticks and things I found along the way. I had quite a collection that I made Mommy carry with her.

Near the top, what a VIEW!!!

There was a neat bridge we could look off of to see the waterfall below us. Daddy was nervous because his hands were so cold that he didn’t take a picture of the waterfall from the top.

This is the part right before the water rolled off the ledge.

Down we go… I thought it was rather funny to pretend to be a bunny rabbit the entire way down. I WAS holding Mommy’s hand but hopping on cold, wet and slippery rocks nearly ended my day. It was time to head back to the car.

Since there was NO SNOW to be found in town, we headed to the highest peak Uncle Matt could find. We found a TON of snow. It looked like some snowboarders had already been through this roadside snow-pile. They had groomed out a few slopes and jumps. Perfect for a pre-schooler to slide down.

Mommy got me dressed in my snow gear and let me loose on the snow.

I loved the little slide.

That was FUN!

I can do it on my belly too!

Wipe-out!

There was enough snow to throw at Uncle Matt.

Hey come back here Uncle Matt!!!!

Cute and innocent?

Ready, aim…

FIRE!!! (It actually made a huge THUMP when it hit, Sorry Uncle Matt!!!!)

I got stuck a few times in trees and needed rescued. The snow was really deep.

What a winter-wonderland!

Snow angel? (I wouldn’t make one when Daddy was near me with the camera!)

Mommy got stuck nearly knee deep.

I got stuck on another tree.

Mommy to the rescue this time.

HEY NOW! That wasn’t funny!

I licked and ate my share of the fluffy ice goodness!

I think I am done. I am getting cold. Time to go back to the house for a while.

When we got back to Uncle Matt’s place I went on a lizard hunt under his house!! I found a HUGE one…

We called it a day and sat around and played with the “rented toys” for the rest of the night. I watched a few movies on my new portable DVD player. I fell asleep on the sofa watching movies. I was TUCKERED out!