San Francisco - Day 6

We started off today with a trip back to the children's museum at Yerba Buena Gardens, since we didn't get a chance to see much of it the other day.

I wasn't too sure of the tone for the day because everyone was super on edge this morning, after no naps yesterday and multiple meltdowns in the afternoon, along with a power outage at dinner time, I was determined to have a good morning!

I wasn't disappointed. The kids had a great time at the museum. Of course, we snacked while we waited for the doors to open at 10am.

Luca enjoyed playing with the 'entirely too within his reach' automatic hand sanitizer dispenser.

Stinker...notice the lather in his hands :)

Sebastian got to play with a mystery box, where he picked a card, and then had to put together what the card said using only the materials from the box. His card was 'a birthday present'.

He wrapped up a DVD that was in the box. I wanted to try to work with him on something more creative, but as you can see from the above picture, I had to keep Luca from re-arranging all the chairs...

...which he did anyway :)

After our museum visit, we took a field trip to the 'City Target', which was just over a walking bridge, mostly because I was curious on what a Target looks like in downtown San Francisco, and we needed goldfish :)

The Target pretty much looks the same (imagine that), an when we were done it was well past normal lunch time and these guys were getting tuckered out, so I decide to take public transit back 'home'.

Fortunately we got on going the correct direction, but unfortunately we got off too early, so it made making our connection to the train more confusing, but I figured it out.

The boys were real troopers, and we had a good time! I was surprised Luca didn't fall asleep while we were out, but as soon as we all laid down, it didn't take him long to pass out.

I love getting to have these adventures with my boys!

San Francisco - Day 5

Today, daddy got his groove back! This morning we packed a lunch and headed off to the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39. The boys did great as we waited for our transfer streetcar, and we accidentally got on the one going the wrong direction. Thankfully we realized it before it left the stop.

Once we got there we went in, and the kids absolutely loved it! We started off seeing the jelly fish, then went in a bunch of glass tubes to see sting rays, star fish and sharks. I have to say, it's a little unnerving being in glass tubes under the water/bay in an earthquake prone region.

You can't tell by the look on his face, but Matteo was really enjoying it.

After the glass tunnels, they had a petting area to pet star fish, sting rays and even baby sharks! Matteo was in heaven, although he was getting a little frustrated not being able to reach the sharks. He finally managed to touch one and we avoided a meltdown...whew! 

After we finished, we sat outside and ate our lunch. Although I didn't pack one for myself :-/

Then we headed over to the seal statue to get a picture. I have the exact same picture of Cristina in front of this statue from when we were dating.

I couldn't pass up Matteo actually posing for a picture.

We then went over to see the real seals, and while we were there, we got a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Checking out the seals.

Getting 3 to look is next to impossible.

After the seals we headed back to the MUNI stop to catch the street car back to Embarcadero station.

We ended our morning with a stop by the grocery store to pick up some essentials (Jell-o), then headed back 'home'. I attempted to implement nap time, but the big boys were having nothing of it. 

San Francisco - Day 4

There was nothing too glamorous about today. Today was Cristina's long day where she was out for almost 12 hours. 

Since we were out so late last night and no one slept in except Luca, I didn't dare do anything too big. Plus we were due to needing laundry done and we were out of some things we needed from the store, so we laid kind of low.

I'm not gonna lie, it was a challenging day. Everyone was a bit tired, and traveling to the laundromat with 3 kids and a giant suitcase of dirty laundry wasn't in my Binder 'O Fun, but it had to get done.

After we dropped off the laundry, we ran to the store. Unfortunately since I was hauling the giant suitcase, I didn't have an extra set of hands for the stroller.

Here we are with our giant suitcase traversing the aisles of Safeway.

The boys were troopers. After we finished the laundry, we came home to nap. Luca does not like napping without Mami. These are some of the looks I got when trying to get him to sleep.

After nap we had a mishap and needed to do another load of laundry :-(

Daddy was feeling a bit guilty about not really having a very fun and exciting day, so this time while we waited for the laundry we went over to the McDonald's for some french fries.

After the final load was done, we played at the park for awhile, which was nice, and then we came back inside and daddy cooked dinner. As soon as we sat down Mami and Ms. Jill got home from training...whew!

Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully we'll be able to cross of another activity from my list. 

San Francisco - Day 3

Today we decided to stay close to home for the morning because it was imperative that we all get naps. 

Since Cristina gets out of training at 5 today, the plan is to get to 5:15 mass and then try to take the trolley to the wharf area and have dinner out.

So this morning I took the boys to the Yerba Buena Garden area and planned to take them to the children's creativity museum.

It was walking distance, so we took out time and played out front for a bit until it opened.

They sure do love this playground!

When we got to the museum, we were still a few minutes early, but they had this great play area with huge slides and lots of room to run.

And of course we can't make it too far without a snack.

We didn't have too much time to check out the museum, but I think we will definitely be back, it was very cool! Thankfully it offers reciprocal membership with our Orlando Science Center passes.

While we were there they had a class for little kids that reminded me a little of Gymboree, except Gymboree is WAY cooler ;-)

Then we came back 'home', had lunch and all managed to take naps! Ahhh, success!

We began our trek to the church, and the temperature was dropping and it was so windy! Poor Luca did not enjoy the walk. 

We finally made it to the church where we met up with Mami and Ms. Jill when their training was done.

After church we took a Trolley up to Ghiradelli Square and had dinner.

After we finished up with dinner we made our journey back 'home'. It was a crazy adventure and we didn't get back until after 10pm local time. Hopefully everyone sleeps in tomorrow!

San Francisco - Day 2

Yesterday was a day filled with settling in and getting groceries. Today Cristina started her first day of training, so the boys and I were on our own.

I decided to take them to Golden Gate Park. I figured I would start a little simple, and according to the forecast was supposed to be one of the warmest days we were going to get (mid-seventies).

After Mami left, we packed up and headed to the MUNI station.

 

We got on the MUNI in front of AT&T ballpark and made the trek to the park.

They were pretty entertained on the train.  We missed the stop we were supposed to get off at (the driver closed the doors too fast!), so we got off one stop past where we needed to be. The boys were troopers though, and when we got there we had a water/snack break.

The playground was amazing and was right next to a giant historic carousel, which everyone was so excited to ride! 

After the carousel we went to the playground, which was massive! A little overwhelming to try and keep track of 3 curious boys when it's crawling with other kids too.

The kids started getting tired, so we had another snack to prepare us for the long trek back to the house.

By the time I got to the MUNI stop, I had both little boys sleeping. Matteo on my back and Luca in the stroller.

 

Sebastian took the picture above for me. He's really in to photography these days.

We had a good time chatting back to our stop.

We walked back to the house from the station with the two little's staying asleep. When we got back Matteo woke up and we had lunch.

Shortly after lunch, we went out to the grocery store again, which seemed like a lot more work then going to the park :)

After we got back and had a snack, we went out to the park that is literally outside our front door.

We played until meltdowns occurred :)

All in all it was a fabulous day with my 3 favorite guys!

Now we are waiting for Mami to get home!