Wednesday, January 30, 2019

San Francisco, day 1!



Alison came over super early in the morning while the girls were still
snoozing so we could leave for the airport!
Bless her.
Sadly, this would be her last overnight babysitting gig for us since
she is getting married in February.
Sniff, sniff.
SO happy she found her perfect man, though!

We invited Casey's parents to come along a week before the trip!
I am happy it worked out that they could come so last minute.

Walking to the air tram to get to the terminal.



Love that big smile on his face.
So excited, but a little nervous for his first flight.
He caught wind that you get free soda. AND permission to get Dr. Pepper. 
We could have ended the trip right there and he would have been happy!




Our Lyft driver to our hotel said we were super lucky to be staying in Union Square during the workers strike.
We didn't quite realize what a big deal it was until we pulled up to
mega phone chanting and drum banging chaos ALL DAY AND NIGHT. 

Our hotel was right across the street from the fancy schmancy Westin St. Francis, 
which they were majorly targeting. 
Luckily our room was towards the back so we couldn't hear them at night.
We stayed at the Handlery and it was AMAZING!
I would stay there again in a heart beat.
Super nice with great rates rates in the heart of Union Square.




We dropped our bags and headed out to start check marking off our long to do list!
We were famished but didn't have a lot of time to eat before our ferry left for Alcatraz.
We turned the corner and voila, food trucks!



These were the best philly cheesesteaks of our lives. 
No joke.
 Philadelphia needs to take notes.


Papa opted for sliders.



We went into a Walgreens to buy our city transit passes (that we used the whole trip and worth every penny) and got on the closest cable car to Pier 33!




The weather couldn't have been more beautiful.
I over packed on weather gear. 
Rain was scheduled for the following day and you hear how cold
 San Fran is so we had layers of clothing on. 
We were stripping down because we were getting too hot!






The boys were so excited to see the prison.
I am really happy they had a general knowledge of the history of it from
 watching that movie before hand.


B-Block corridor known as "Broadway"



The courtyard where they spent free time.






Papier mache heads with hair clippings from the barber shop.
Those prisoners were crafty! Haha.





They had the most gorgeous succulents on the grounds.


Heading back to the main land.


Golden Gate Bridge in the golden sunset.


Pier 33 is right next to Pier 39 so we walked over to check it out!
I loved all the Christmas décor that was out.
It made it more magical.





It is so hard to visualize what it will be like in person.
My mind was way off, lol!
What a crazy fun place.
We were starving, once again. 
And once the sun went down we started to freeze.
So we quickly ran to see the famous seals before heading to dinner.
I wish we could have explored a bit more, but oh well. We got the gist of it.


These seals, what a crack up!
I think we sat and stared at them for 20 minutes.
They were so noisy!
Just big fat blobs trying to soak up as much sun as they could.
Kind of reminded me of … me,  ha!




Get in my belly!
Boudin Bakery was a must on my list.
The atmosphere was also fun.





This is hard to post about because it makes me want to jump in my screen and devour the
most delicious ice cream creations from Ghirardelli Square!


We originally planned on sharing a couple of things.
Once we looked at the menu we ended up ordering our own sundaes 
PLUS hot chocolate and candy bars!
Pretty sure nothing went to waste, either.







We threw in the towel and called it a day.
This funny little elevator had us laughing pretty good trying to get back to our rooms.
Papa and Lane were the only ones brave enough to try it. 
The rest took the safe looking stairs!




Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Birthday Boys



I blinked and its boy birthday week AGAIN!
They are growing up too quickly.
Last year they got a big, fun party.
Low key it was.

Lane getting ready to bust into his super exciting sweater, socks
and flaming Cheetos!
He was a good sport and was completely content with what he got.
Little did he know, the other part of his gift was coming the following week
after Rusty opened his presents.


While I was wrapping his present, "birthday" looked a little odd.
How did I get Happy Hanukkah paper?
It must have been a late night shopping trip.
Oops!!
I guess Mazel tov is in order, lol!


It was a big year in that he turned 12 and received the Aaronic priesthood and was
ordained a deacon.

Everyone that helped set him apart.
From left to right:
Matt Dixon (bishopric), Martin, Justin, Stephen, Papa, Dad/Lane, Bishop Doug DeWitt, 
Travis, Grandpa, Craig.






He was excited to make his own birthday cake.
It was more candy than cake.




Then Rusty turned 9 the following week!
I feel like they are twins. 
Poor Rusty already has an idea of what his birthday presents will be when Lane opens his.
Non the less, his happy face before opening his sweater, socks and flaming hot Cheetos.


 Do you want any cake with those cookies? lol!





They both received a surprise present to open together, 
and gosh darn it I didn't take any pictures of it.

Inside they opened a toy airplane, and a picture of a bridge.
I let them guess for a while what it could mean.

They weren't catching on, so Casey and I helped them out a little....
a trip to SAN FRANCISCO the following week!

I don't think it was registering with them.
 I was waiting for screams and jumping up and down!
Nope, just blank stares.

How will we get there?
An airplane.


Will the boat sink to Alcatraz?
Palm to face.

The idea sparked when I had no idea what to get them for their birthdays.
They do NOT need more toys, etc. 

They have never been on an airplane before, 
and it was an excuse for me to get to go somewhere fun:)
  I originally was thinking we would
take them to Six Flags or Disneyland.
Flights weren't super cheap.
On a whim I looked up San Francisco because that was on MY bucket list.
They ended being a really good price!
I ran the idea by Casey and he was on board.
I booked the tickets 2 weeks before we left .

Once we started hyping it up, they couldn't wait to leave!
I casually had them watch the movie, Escape From Alcatraz, before their birthdays 
so they would have a better idea of what we would be seeing once there.
So that was helpful for them to picturize. 

The 5 day countdown was on!!!