Preschooler

Noah's first day of preschool.

He was pretty excited. Since we got there a little early I had him wait a little bit before ringing the door bell. I think I dragged him away from the door about three times. 

"Is it time yet??"

Since Kyle was off track he got to see Noah off.  He was pretty sentimental about his old Alma mater. He even asked if we could invite his old teacher over.

All my babies in front of Noah's preschool.

Noah has been in preschool for a little over a month now and seems to be enjoying it. He has learned  

A LOT  (particularly ABC's and even putting his shoes on by himself) and always tells me that he is a good boy in school. I don't doubt it. He even goes so far to tell me that some of the other kids are "mean" (naughty) but that he is not. :)

:)

"Tickle monsters aren't real. They're just daddies."                                                                                                                                                            -Noah

San Fran {Part II}

We decided to break up our San Francisco days because there is so much to do there and plus it was on our way to our next condo/destination. Personally, I was excited to get back there. Big cities are so great. Our plans were to see the Golden Gate Bridge and go to the Exploratorium.

We finally got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and true to SF style it was super foggy.

 We couldn't even see the top of the bridge.

That's us in the van ahead.

For being the end of July it was pretty chilly.

The bridge is there in the background but you can't really see it.

 Darn.

What a gorgeous piece of engineering. 

The fog and mist gave it kind of an eerie feel.

Come on. Get it together men!

 Much better.

The Exploratorium
This place was chalk full of science exhibits.
My boys (particularly Kyle) were in heaven.

Megan and Lyndsee enjoying a nice rest...

...until Megan exploded and squashed Lyndsee. Hee hee.

Bunch a potty drinkers.

Sick.

And they heard from up on high...

Bubbles!

 Awwwww, our eternal family.

 Bobble head boys.

Rock on!

More bubbles! I really enjoyed myself as well :)

Outside the Exploratorium.

We also went to Golden Gate park which is kind of a Central park type of HUGE park. For some weird reason we didn't take any pictures while there.

We had a nice picnic lunch and took a walk around one of many ponds to a children's playground.  I wish we could have spent more time there.

We decided it would be fun to head to our next destination via the coastal highway a.k.a Highway 1.  It was windey and long but there was lots to see. 

Next stop: MONTEREY!

My Megan

I found this on Pinterest and was delighted at how close it resembles MY toddler.

Aaaaand Day #3 has arrived....

...at least she's having fun...right??

{See this post to see Days #1 and #2}

Redwoods and Ross

After a big day in San Fran we thought we'd relax a little (only a little mind you) and take in some natural beauty by going to the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. We went on an easy hike through some very tall trees and were even able to play on a few of them.  My boys love hiking and totally dig this kind of atmosphere. 

Megan didn't tolerate the pack for long. She loved walking around like one of the big kids and we loved watching her.  She's only been walking for a month by this trip.

The kids and Vanna White enjoying some TALL trees.

 Four bumps on a log.

The roots of a great Redwood.

Angel baby.

Be carefee!

A natural playground with a slide and everything.

 Megan had a great time exploring.

We didn't spend too much time in the reserve because, of course, we had other places that had to be seen!
After lunch we headed over to Fort Ross out on the coast.
This was a gorgeous (twisty....uggg) drive as well. I  had a bit of a head cold and all the twisting and winding of the coastal road was doing a number on me.
So really I didn't participate much in the second half of this day.

Stopping for lunch at a local cafe.  

Finding places to eat can be a challenge when 

there are 11 of you and 7 of them are 

obnoxious, rowdy kids. 

Trail to Fort Ross

Fort Ross-
a Russian settlement on the coast

The chapel and the kids defending the fort.

Eric squeezing in some down time. There was very little to be had.

Let's go fly a kite! 

We bought these kites in San Fran knowing that there would be some kite flying opportunities while we were on the coast. 

The Shiflett kite, however, had a hard time remaining air born.

The Schroeder kite had a hard time becoming air born but for different reasons... :)

I love these pictures. 

The contrast of the bright blue sky and yellow grass is so photogenic.