Barber Bustlings

The kids wearing their souvenirs from San Francisco Bailey turned 9 on Father's Day. We had a small family party that night. I cannot believe she is already 9. We only have 9 more years until she goes to college. That really puts it in perspective. She is getting so tall and losing her little kid face. She is doing so well in swim team. She has lots of friends and is always ready for fun. This has been one of my favorite summers with my kids. With our schedule (that allows for spontaneity, too) we aren't always hearing how bored everyone is. Bailey had a bounce house party (indoor-thanks to Groupon!) with 4 friends last week. She is a fun, beautiful girl and I'm so blessed to have her as my daughter. I'm also grateful for Scott. He is a great father and tries to make the most of his time at home. We don't see him much during the week because of work. Sundays he has a lot of meetings at church that keep him away. Saturdays he does his best to get in all the wrestling...

I was so sad that our last day had arrived. I missed the kids, but not as much as I thought I would and I was not ready to go home. We started our day in Japantown because one of the young men had called Scott the night before telling him of his mission call to Japan. We found some great souvenirs for him and more funny toys for the kids there. We had to take a picture of the YMCA there for the kids. They love that place. We were surprised by Japantown; we were expecting lots of shops like Chinatown. Instead, we found a mall and lots of housing. We saw the Chinese embassy, which we found a little odd. They have an enormous Catholic church as well as the famous Fillmore theater. We had Indian food again and then took the bus to the Golden Gate park. It was beautiful and would have been a perfect place for a run. We enjoyed another day of great weather, though I was cold. The park is massive. If we had had more time we would have gone to the California Museum of Sciences. The park has a...

Day 3 was all about the Golden Gate Bridge. We got up early every morning of our trip because we were so exhausted from all the walking we were going to bed early and getting uninterrupted sleep, a novelty for parents of little children. We started out at the Ferry Station. There was a farmer's market which looked incredible. I've never seen blueberries the size of grapes before. We bought our ferry tickets to Sausalito and enjoyed the little shops. We found a french pastry shop with our niece's name so we took a picture of that. Sausalito is an adorable little town that is considered as close to a coastal town off the Mediterranean Sea as you can get, but in America. I wish we would have had more time there. We had a wonderful lunch-the best salad of my life, which is saying a lot since I'm not a salad lover. We walked around the shops and toured a museum with Dr. Seuss paintings. We looked at the souvenirs but still hadn't found the perfect gifts for our kids. Whe...

Day two was all about Alcatraz. We got to the tour boat early enough that we had time to see the surrounding area. We saw Coit Tower, walked around the Ferry Station, saw some upscale apartments and shops, and enjoyed another beautiful day. We took the ferry to Alcatraz and enjoyed the audio tour there. The history is incredible. There are three prison escapees who were never found, neither were there bodies. We learned about the breakout that led to a few deaths. The prisoners made dummies out of their clothing and fashioned heads out of soap and paint! The gardens on Alcatraz were amazing. After Alcatraz we went to Fisherman's wharf and had some incredible seafood. We had fun at Pier 39 looking at the shops and enjoying the ocean breeze. We saw some seals who were barking up a storm. We walked a lot again all day long. Of course we ventured over to Ghirardelli's, though neither of us were hungry. I thought we would be able to see how the chocolate was made, but they don't...

A few months ago we decided that it was time to celebrate our 10-year-anniversary with a getaway. We hadn't been away from the kids since Bailey was two and Peggy generously watched the three munchkins for us. We celebrated a little early due to school schedules and my starting a preschool. We had four great days together and I miss it already! We left early Tuesday morning and arrived in San Francisco about noon. After dropping off our luggage at our quaint Inn at Union Square, we ate some delicious Indian food. Scott used his Yelp app the entire time we were there to find the best food within our price range. We walked around Union Square quite a bit that day. The weather was perfect; I think it hit 70. We found Yerba Gardens, which was beautiful. We had to find the Apple store so Scott could play with the Ipad 2, which he covets. We enjoyed seeing the enormous shops and hearing the cable cars buzz through. We also walked to Chinatown and searched through the many stores for pote...

Myles turned 5 on Friday and I can hardly believe it. He says he's ready for kindergarten to start now. He definitely is, but I'll still miss him. He had a blast at his two parties, one for friends and one for family. I got a great groupon for Bounce U so the kids had two hours of bouncing, then chicken nuggets and cake. Later that night we had Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Jill over for pizza and cake. He also got to go to the train park with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday. I think this is his best birthday yet. My summer has been going really well. I don't know why I never set up a schedule before, but it has made every day fun. In the mornings we do chores, Bailey goes to swim team and then we do something fun (and run errands). We come home, eat lunch, put Landon down while the kids have an hour of quiet time. From 2-4 they can have media time or friends over. I also decided that we are not having friends over every day. That is too much for me. Around 4:30 we head to the YM...