Vacation

Last week we returned from a wonderful vacation. We went to Arizona to visit Barb and Bob for a couple of days. We went swimming in Auntie Mary & Uncle Dick's pool. We also went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was so much fun. We wish we could have stayed longer. Then we were off to the Bay area. We went to the Muir woods which is a Redwood forest. Those trees are gigantic. There was a redwood tree that had fallen and for some reason swarms of lady bugs had migrated there onto that tree. It was so cool, there must have been many thousands of ladybugs there. It was beautiful. On the way to the hotel we stopped at a pumpkin patch that had inflatables. The kids got to jump and slide and had a great time. The next day we went to the California academy of Sciences Museum. It has just opened after 4 long years of rebuilding. It was incredible. They have a beautiful aquarium, a swamp, a hall of Africa, play places for the kids and a planetarium. The roof is also made of living things. It was so cool and fun. The next day it was off to San Jose. We went to the children's museum there and the kids had so much fun. They have face painting, a room for the kids to just dance in, all kinds of activities for the kids. They had a water room that had different ways to get balls from one place to another. My kids loved this especially Jaxie. They had so many play areas for the kids that actually taught them things. It was such a hands on place for the kids that they really enjoyed it. I even made a corn husk doll there. It was a hit. We even found a Chevy's restaurant there. We so miss it here. On our last day we had tickets to Alcatraz. We left early and went down to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions. The kids loved that and then off to the boat to Alcatraz. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun there. There was a man named Darwin Coon there and he is one of the last 5 surviving men who served time at Alcatraz. He was there to tell his story. The kids got to ask him questions. Brittan asked what he did to get there, he was a bank robber. Zac asked how long he was there and he said 4 years. We thought we were done and then Brittan said she had one more question. He said OK and she asked, How bad were you? Luckily he laughed and said he really was a good guy just made some mistakes but he never hurt anyone. It is so good to have inquiring minds. Then we drove up to the Oakland temple. What a beautiful place. I met a sister serving that was from Hong Kong and one from Spanish Fork. What a small world. It was great! We had a great time and are so blessed to be able to spend time together in such fun places!!