To All My Friends and Family Whom We Have Neglected...

I am back in the blogger-sphere! I will try my hardest to be better about blogging, especially with all the fun things coming up for us this summer.

Our first adventure was coming to San Francisco, Ca for the blessing our first cousin/niece, Elise Noelle Haynie. We started our drive on Thursday the 16th and arrived the afternoon of the 17th. Our first day here was filled with riding buses, trains, the Farmers Market, Fishermans Wharf, Hyde Harbor, Ghirardelli Square, Little Italy and finally back home for some pizza.

Sunday was a great day for the blessing. Jon Haynie did an excellent job and it was a touching blessing. It was also Fathers Day. So after church we went back to our rental house and had a great lunch with a deli tray, croissants and lots of fruit, brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was a lot of fun and a good day to relax.

Today was the opposite, a very busy day! First the boys (Richard, Nolan and Brennan) took the little girls to ride the cable cars (the moms stayed and got ready). Then we met them at a place called Posh Bagel for lunch. We included Jon, Rischel, Elise and Jon's mom and brother Spencer. Then some of us went to the Academy of Science. That was so cool. Clara was a little skeptical at first but then saw the t-rex in the lobby and we couldnt keep her out! We went into a rainforest butterfly area. A butterfly landed right on my hair bun! It kinda freaked Clara out and when she was about to leave she was surrounded by about 12 butterflies. She was screaming and it was kinda funny. Then we saw their aquarium area, then the planetarium. Clara was very scarred during the movie and kept saying she wanted to get off, not realizing we werent moving, it was a movie. She made it through and thought it was fun in the end. They also had a snakes and lizards exhibit and an African Center.

Then we met up with everyone else at the Childrens Playground at the Golden Gate Park. It was a really fun playground but the thing the girls loved the most was the cement slide. It was down a big hill and you rode cardboard down them. They must have climbed the hill and slid down about 50 times!

After that it was time for dinner. Jon's dad recommended a place on the Wharf. We had to have one meal of clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Well, we sat for about 20 min, then they finally took our order, then told us our appetizer was holding up the meal (shrimp cocktail!) then our food finally came out. It probably took a couple of hours to get our food. Kinda disappointed about the service but the food and company were great. I love being a part of this family :)

On our way home we drove down Lombard St. It is the famous windy road here in San Fran.

We do have quite a few days left of vacation but wanted to get this down before I started to forget.

Elise is adorable and we all love her. On our way here Clara knew that when we passed into California we were in the state Elise lives in. Dont know how she knew that. Also, Elise is a baby who snorts a lot. So we asked Clara what a baby says. She usually replies "goo, goo, ga, ga". But now she replies "snort!". One last funny tidbit, while at the academy of Science today a man was waving to his family and Lexa ran by, jumped up and gave him a high five. It was awesome!

I love my kids and am having great fun hanging out with them and my family. So blessed :)

And sorry about random pics. Uploading on here has not worked out so well for me.