Megan Elizabeth

Rain, rain, rain.....and more rain. Of course the weekend we go it rains. People were saying it was the most rain they've had since October. Fortunately it didn't manage to put a damper on things though...ha no pun intended. We flew in Thursday evening and went right to Sean and Julie's where we enjoyed a wonderfully tasty dinner followed by The Office. We then headed to Grandma and Bob's and crashed for the night.
Friday we woke up got ready and had dome wonderful blue berry pancakes, so delicious. We than began our adventure in the city! BART is the most convenient way to get into the city since parking costs a fortune so we hopped on BART. From there we then got on the N Judah...little did we know at the time we got on going the wrong way. Needless to say, we ended up on the exact opposite side we wanted to be on over by the AT&T field by the

water, it made things a lot more exciting though. After we got going the RIGHT way, we ended up over near Golden Gate Park, lucky for us the rain decided to hold up for a while as we walked around. Our first destination was the Academy of Science. The newly renovated building is incredible. Inside there are two domes, one is a planetarium and the other is an atrium full of butterflies and birds and fish. It is really humid inside but really neat. Throughout the rest of the museum they have taxidermy...sorry I just really wanted to use that word...animal exhibits and an aquarium.

We saw the craziest looking animal while we were there...and this antelope too...ba ha ha just kidding Isaac. So many cool things though, it was a bit overwhelming. Oh and let us not forget the one and only...

WAXY MONKEY TREE FROG!

Yes, it is true...it DOES exist, and oh man, if looks could kill, all I have to say is that this frog means business. The fish were pretty cool too...the ones in front of the glass that is...

To say the least, we enjoyed ourselves very much. Did I mention you could go up on the roof?! Well you can! Very neat...but also very windy.

Behind us you can see where the domes are...really cool. After we wanted to go to the De Young Museum but we decided to just hang around the outside of the building...which is really cool because...

THERE IS A GIANT SAFETY PIN OUTSIDE!

How insane is that? Just imagine the fun that could be had with the giant safety pin...your options are endless.

So after we had our fun in Golden Gate Park we began to head down to Fisherman's Warf, with a few pit stops along the way.

Including this one, and along with this...

I guess on St. Patrick's Day they put green dye in the water, oh those Irish characters.

When we arrived at fisherman's wharf it began to rain, and by rain I mean poor. We got some sandwiches and some good chowder and then met up with Isaac's friend Josh and his wife Kirsten. They were so nice and drove with us through China Town. Josh speaks fluent Mandarin and so this made things very easy and convenient. We went to this hole in the wall type place down a dark alley where they make fortune cookies. It was really neat because we got to see how they where made. After China Town, Josh and Kirsten were nice enough to drive us to a BART station.

Despite the rain, we were all happy. Luckily we made it back real easy to Orinda. That night we went to a Thai restaurant in Walnut Creek and Bob practically tried to burn Isaac's tongue off with all the spicy food. He survived, but we were all worried. That night we were all very tired and went right to bed.

The next morning, St. Valentine's Day, we had Bob & Nancy's Famous Eggs Benedict Breakfast...it sounds so official. Isaac got me the most beautiful pair of earings for Valentine's Day, he is so sweet. We then headed of down south to Carmel. The drive is beautiful. We stopped of in Monterey and walked around Cannery Row and got some really good Ghiradeli's Ice Cream.

Oh Cannery Row, just can't get enough of it. I almost forgot to mention the House of Seven Gables. I guess it is a house my great great great great...and i think one more great grandparentss owned. Now it is a bed and breakfast. Beautiful house though, and right on the beach.

After, we continued our trip further south. As we approached Carmel we tried to drive down the 17-mile drive, but unfortunately because of the AT&T golf tournament at Pebble Beach with various stars such as Bill Murray and Kevin Cosner, we were not able to. We got down to the beach nonetheless! It was beautiful! i just absolutely LOVE the ocean.

You can hardly see it but that is supposed to be Pebble Beach Golf Course in the background.

Contemplating...OK so he isn't contemplating, just fixing his camera, still so so cute though.

We tried to make a sand castle, but sadly enough it was taken away by the sea...ocean. After a long day at the beach...or at least what seemed like a long day, we headed back to Orinda to grab some dinner. We went to a little family italian place...

...so the food wasn't that great, but even better, our server was extremely awkward. Words can't give it justice how unbelievably uncomfortable it was for us ha ha. It definitely made some great memories. We then went back to the house and crashed.
Sunday we went to Daily City, just south of the city and met Josh and Kirsten for church. They live in a beautiful area that overlooks the ocean. It was raining real hard while we were at church. The power went out half way into the meeting and they decided to dismiss everyone early. We took advantage of the extra time and went to go see Josh and Kirsten's place. They were so nice to have us over, it was real fun getting to know them both.
After Isaac and I still had some time to burn so we went to the Point Fort underneath Golden Gate bridge. We got some hot chocolate and a muffin at a little cafe near the fort. While we where there we saw the most adorable little British boy. He said the most funny things, I just wanted to take him home with me right then.

So anyways, this fort, it was built in 1851 to keep out foreign powers and protect the bay. It was really neat and Isaac and I had so much fun walking around. We didn't get to spend nearly as much time as we would have liked to, but it was still so interesting. Here are some pictures of the fort...

So under the bridge is where the fort is and if you look closely, the little specs in the water are surfers, yup, that's right, die-hards out in the surf catchin' some pretty sweet waves with the most beautiful backdrop...how lucky are they.

This was a really cool spiral staircase in the fort...which had three levels.

Isaac got really excited about this room

After the Fort, we went back to Lafayette and met Katie, Sean and Julie at the little mexican restaurant out by Trader Joes, Isaac and I split some really good fajitas. We then had a lot of getting ready to do for grandma's big dinner party with the whole fam. It was quite the production but a lot of fun. Isaac mixed his first drink for Sean, to our best knowledge, it was a success.

On our last day, we went to Johny's Dohnuts and got some tasty treats. We then ventured over to Hayte and Ashbury in the city. This is where many hippies and anti-war activists got together in the 60s and either hung out or participated in protests. I am really excited because I bought a history special on iTunes on the 60s, specifically in the city, and i am really excited to watch it after going there...ya i am not wierd at all.

Just a little taste of hippie ville, apparently in Bob's younger years he spent a lot of time down here.

We had lunch real close by at a place called Cha Cha Cha, very excentric and good. After we quickly walked around Ghiradeli Square and somehow made it inside a restricted area...ya, we're kind of a big deal. Oh and let's not forget the palace of fine arts.

Ya, real funny Isaac, we ended the trip with dinner at Skates on the Bay. It is right on the water and there is a beautiful view of Golden Gate Bridge and the city. We had so much fun and crambed so much in just a few days, but I think it was worth it.

How did we manage to fit nine people on one couch you may ask...talent, pure stinkin' talent.

The Bear Lake Trip, oh what an adventure. It all started with the tire tube...ya we had some technical difficulties with the tie downs, but we eventually got it all worked out.

The first night we all kind of vegged and watched movies...three to be exact. Night at the Museum, Meet the Robinsons (which we watched at least once a day after for the rest of the trip) and The Sixth Sense. Day two we headed up Logan Canyon to find the perfect sledding hill...which we did.

Here's an image from the top of the hill...do to the white-out, the extreme-ness of the hill isn't clearly visible.

Isaac, Steve, Spencer and Andy all worked hard on a jump. Here are a few clips of how it worked...

This is Steve...

Andy...

(Do to technical difficulties, I will be posting his (Isaac's) clip separately...so very sorry)...and then there was Isaac...unfortunately the landing on his run was rough which brought an end to the sledding. It's all fun and games until someone lands a jump wrong and messes up their leg...tisk tisk tisk. Poor Isaac could hardly walk after, but I am glad to say he's recovered well and seems to be doing just fine besides the occasional soreness.

That night we watched more movies and some of the crew participated in a little game we like to call Spoons. As you will soon see, it was just as fun, if not more enjoyable to watch.

Day 3 half the gang went up to Beaver mountain to ski and snowboard and the other half of us stayed back. Those of us who stayed back put our time to very good use...