Summertime Stats

• 7,500 kms put on our van
• 7 states & 2 provinces in 10 days
• 30 days total of vacation (only 6 WITHOUT the Husband)
• 30+ degree weather (minus maybe two or three days)
• Palm Trees
• Cabin on the lake
• Splash Park with friends
• Playing with cousins
• Sleeping in until 9 or 10

=

ONE AMAZING SUMMER!

 

We have been so busy coming and going this summer.  I think we were gone more than we were here.  The day school was out, we got in the car for a road trip.  First we headed down to Utah.  We saw the forrest fires in Pocatello, ID along  the way.  We spent a day and a couple nights at my sister's house in Utah.  There we went swimming, watched her kids play their last baseball games, and went out to eat at Wingers.  Then in the car we continued across into Nevada and we stayed a couple nights in Reno.  Why Reno?!?!  Cheap hotels and some outlet malls.  There is not a lot to do in Reno, but Jeff had all these vacation days at the end of June that he had to use up, and we wanted to break up our drive to California.

 

The kids love staying in hotels.  It is a real treat when mom doesn't care when you do this:

On Sunday we decided we better do something churchy.  We went to visit the temple grounds in Reno.  It was gated and and locked so we couldn't get in, so we sat on the sidewalk and read scriptures.  The kids had their swimming suits on because we promised them they could swim in the pool at the hotel but we had to have some sort of spirituality first!  As we were sitting there, a car drove into the parking lot and a couple got out.  They came to talk to us and it was the temple president and his wife.  They unlocked the gates and told us that we could walk around.  Then he let us step inside the temple so the kids could see the foyer.  They thought it was pretty neat.  As we were walking around the temple grounds, the sprinklers turned on so what do the kids do?!?!  Start running through them.  We decided to collect our kids and leave before the temple president came out and saw what they were doing!  So we went back to our hotel to go swimming in the pool!

When you were a kid did you ever visit Circus Circus in Las Vegas?  That was always the BEST hotel to go to with their midway games and the trapeeze performance.  Well, they have a smaller version of Circus Circus in Reno.  Pretty much the same thing!  Kinda old and grungy!  But the kids thought it was the best thing ever.  We let them play a couple games, and watch the trapeeze performance and roller skating performance and they were in heaven!

Then back in the car...on our way to San Francisco.  Jaden had just studied bridges at school and as a project she had to make a model of a famous structure or bridge.  She chose the Golden Gate Bridge.  So of course we had to stop and see the bridge.  That is what she was most looking forward to!

This is a picture of how thick the cables are...and inside that cable are a whole bunch of smaller cables.

It was cooler and really windy in San Francisco.  It was close to 40 degrees in Sacramento (just an hour away) but along the coast there is a cool breeze.  I think that is the only time this summer I wore a sweater.

We saw Alcatraz from a distance (or should I say my camera zoomed in to see Alcatraz).  I  would love to do that tour, but didn't think the kids would find it that interesting.

Then we drove down Lombard Street...the curviest street in the world?!?  The kids were not too fascinated with that one...but still a must-see from when I remember going to San Francisco as a kid.

Then we walked down Fisherman's Warf to Pier 39.

 

There were so many people there trying to make a buck or two.  Statues, a guy dressed up as a bush that would jump out and scare you.  This was the only guy that would pose for us for free!!!  The kids were so confused how his costume worked!

My kids love Shrimp.  I told them a while back that there was a Bubba Gumps in San Francisco, and that's all they wanted to do.

They hula hooped while we waited for our table.

While we were at Bubba Gumps we witnessed an older gentleman choke.  His wife freaked out and crowds crowded around.  Finally a lady sitting next to us got up and pushed her way through the crowd (she must have been a nurse), and pushed the wife out of the way and started the heimlich maneuver on him.  In the meantime waiters and waitresses were panicking and yelling to see if there was a doctor in the restaurant.  Someone called 911 and it was pretty chaotic.  The lady sitting next to us saved the man's life, meanwhile the wife was passing out.  It was pretty crazy to watch.

We spent the night in downtown San Francisco at one of the nicest hotels I have every stayed at.  I use Priceline when booking hotels so you don't know what you are going to end up with.  I just put in a star rating and a price and we scored pretty big.  The only problem...we had a Yakima roof rack on our van.  Cannot park underground with that on.  The only parking they had was Valet...for $60.  No thank you.  So Jeff parked on the street.  It was free until 7am!  I was paranoid all night that someone was going to break in our van.  At 7am Jeff got up to go feed the parking meter, and we got a ticket because on Tuesday's they do street cleaning.  The only day we were there!  Oh well...we won't pay the ticket because we are out of state and I can't think of a time when that van will ever be down there again!

Our final destination was Sacramento, CA (well, actually Roseville, CA).  The whole reason for our trip was for a family reunion on Jeff's side of the family.  You don't want to miss out on these reunions.  The Allen family (Jeff's grandmother's sibling) owns Golfland.  They own several Golflands in Arizona and a few in California.  Golfland has mini golf, arcades, laser tag, go karts, and water slides.  They host the reunion at Golfland (in Roseville, CA) and they put you up in hotels for free.  They give you a magic T-shirt that says Allen Reunion, a wrist band, a magic credit card that gets you unlimited arcades, Golfland money to buy snacks at the concession, and let you run loose and do whatever you want for 2 days.  The first day they closed the water park down at 6pm and kept it open JUST for the reunion.  It was awesome.  And it was on July 4th so after dark when the water slides were closed down we watched fireworks over the wave pool.

Their mini golf courses are pretty amazing:

Mylee thought that was a Princess' castle and thought we were at Disneyland, until we got close and she realized that no one could fit inside it. 

We must have had a blast because I didn't take very many pictures.  Obviously when we were swimming I couldn't bring my camera!  It was worth the LONG drive for 2 days at Golfland.  The Allen's sure know how to throw a GREAT family reunion.  But a word of advice if you live in Roseville, CA and go to Golfland Sunsplash, don't go on July 4th when the Allen's are having a reunion...there were probably close to 250 of us wearing red Allen Reunion T-shirts, and it made the park really crowded!

 

When the reunion was over, our holidays were not over.  We drove up the coast through Oregon and stayed the night in Seattle at Jeff's sister's house.  Then continued the next day into BC and went out to the cabin for a week, home for 2 weeks, then back out to the cabin for 2.5 more weeks.  I will post more of the cabin another day!