The Happiest Place on Earth

The happiest place on earth doesn’t have to be Disneyland. Last week I took the girls to Happy Hollow in San Jose. It’s a Disneyland-like amusement park and zoo. Happily, we got in for free because of the reciprocal pass we bought in UT. That made me very happy. The park is wonderful. The rides are so sweet and just the right size and scariness level for my girls.  Well, almost. They have a kid sized rollercoaster. There was no way Mally was going to ride it, but Eva was convinced she wanted to try. Eva and I went on it while Mally watched and waited on the platform.  After the first hill and me having to coax Eva to breathe I knew she was NOT enjoying the ride. She was way too scared to scream or even breathe. When the ride was coming to a stop she was waving her hands franticly and yelling “No, No!” I think everyone could see her fear. So, we didn’t go on that ride again. Mally was very happy she stayed and watched. And I don’t think we will have to try another rollercoaster for years to come.

For the rest of the day we went on all the sweet calm rides and we enjoyed the zoo animals which are mingled through out the park. We had a very happy day at Happy Hollow.

He’s Here

By pure luck, Stephen’s brother Marshall was assigned residency for the summer in SF. For years he has been in medical school at Dartmouth in NH and these poor little brothers have been too far away from each other to play. Stephen and Marshall truly are the best of friends.

Marshall flew in this weekend and we drove up to see him Sunday evening. The drive through the city was slow because unknown to us it was the day of the 41st Annual San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. By the look of the crowds it was pretty obvious there was some kind of Gay Rights rallying going on. Luckily the crowds died down once we past City Hall. (Mental note for the future: Do not drive into SF on the last Sunday of the month in June.)

We had a picnic lunch with Marshall in a park. Also unknown to us was the chilliness of SF summer evenings. We weren’t dressed for the chill in the air. (Second mental note: Always dress in layers in SF). We ended up going back to Marshall’s apartment.

Right away the girls made use of the plastic swords in the apartment. I guess every apartment with a bunch of guy students should come with plastic swords. The girls also made use of the open floor plan and ran around and around the place.

Then the boys decided they too had the urge to run around the apartment.

The drive back home through the city was also slow, but not because of the parade. This guy ran his car into a pole and tipped it over. Possibly he was distracted by all the crowds of parade goers.

We are very happy Marshall will be in town to play with us this summer.

Going to Town

Today we drove up to SF to visit my very cool cousin Michelle and her cute little kids. We walked up to Alamo Square Park and had a picnic. Notice the “Full House” row of houses in the background. They have become quite the tourist attraction. There were plenty of double-decker tour buses circling the park. It was a fun and relaxing outing.

Big Basin State Park

Over the weekend we drove south to Big Basin State Park. I was a bit concerned because I heard the drive was very windy and I get car sick very easily. My fears were correct. The drive up was so windy that although the redwood forest was beautiful, I don’t think I will ever plan to go there again. Mally and I were both so car sick. Coming back I volunteered to drive and that made all the difference for me. I wasn’t sick, but poor Mally still was.

The famous Banana Slug. I heard about this marvel of nature.  I heard that they were native to these forests. I really didn’t care to see one. They just sounded gross and slimy to me. But just as we left our car and ventured into the forest we saw three right away. We saw another one just a while later. The ones we saw were about 5 inches long. I read they can grow up to 9 inches. Gross.

Exploring the Exploratorium

Since we’ve been here we haven’t gone into SF. There are so many things to do close by our place I haven’t felt a need to drive into SF. But it would be totally lame to live so close to this amazing city and not see some of its sights. Today I braved the city and took the girls to the Exploratorium. All by myself, mind you! It’s pretty much a straight shot up highway 101 from our place. As we got closer to the big city and traffic got heavier I had to take some deep breaths and give myself a little pep talk that I can to this. I only made one wrong turn after we got off the freeway. I was so focused on watching for street names that I forgot my right from my left. I quickly turned around and got going in the correct direction. When I stopped at a light I wrote “L” and “R” on my hands. I know it sounds lame, but you do what you got to do sometimes. And it worked, I didn’t make that mistake again.

Before leaving UT I bought a membership (only $35) to the Museum of Natural History at the U. That membership gets us in for free at a bunch of museums around here. The Exploratorium is an AMAZING museum and I can’t pass up going for free. The museum is loaded with kid-friendly exhibits. We could spend days there. We’ll definitely go back. Next time with Stephen. I think he would really like all the science exhibits.

This sculpture is made out of toothpicks and it took the artist 35 years to complete. It’s called “Rolling Around the Bay” and it depicts different sights around the Bay. It’s interactive and you can put ping pong balls in it and they roll around. Hence the name “Rolling Around…” It was quite the sight to behold.

 

This was an interesting display about human perception. The toilet had a drinking fountain spigot attached and a caption that read, “The water in this drinking fountain is perfectly clean, and the toilet has never been used. So why do people often hesitate before taking a drink? Strong emotional associations with objects or people can make it difficult to act rationally around them.”

So true. After I read the caption Eva went to take a drink and I unconsciously blurted out “Eva don’t. That’s gross.”

Another plus of the museum is its location. It is located adjacent to an architectural beauty. I felt like I was back in Europe.

A nice guy offered to take our picture. Visual proof that I really did go too.

I Love to see the Temple and the View from it

Sunday afternoon we drove to the temple to tour the visitor center and temple grounds. It’s the first time that any of us have been there. It’s beautiful and the view of the bay and cites below is amazing.

Of course my photo of the view doesn’t do it the least amount of justice. A better camera and the ability to take a decent picture would have helped.

What If I Won This?

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris/