San Francisco Day 1

We actually found cheap tickets to Boston for Spring Break! Best of all, the Red Sox would be in town that opening week! But then, the baseball lockout happened. After a delayed Spring Training start, they cancelled the first week of games. So, we cancelled our tickets to Boston. Instead we flew to San Francisco where it all started for Mom and Dad.

The boys are great flyers.

Actually, we didn't fly to San Francisco, we flew to San Jose. We arrived in the early morning of Friday, just after midnight. We missed a day of school, but it was worth it. We stayed at Melanie's house, so we got to see the cousins, and we got to go on some cool adventures.

What are the chances of bumping into Jonny in the bathroom at the airport?

The Webb kids had to go to school on Friday, so Melanie drove us to a few of her favorite adventures. The first was a state park called Henry Cowell State Park. It is a small redwood forest in the middle of the California trees. It reminded us a lot of the Pacific Northwest. We walked quietly under the massive redwoods. The boys enjoyed picking out squirrels, deer, and all kinds of birds. Mark even spotted a chickadee he'd never see before.

Having Melanie along always means lots of family pictures. 

We love exploring the large Redwood trees.

The trail was so peaceful.

There were some really large trees.

You could walk in the roots of one of the trees. 

It was like a cave inside, and had actually been used as a hotel.

It was such a fun place to explore.

This squirrel posed for a picture.

Mom loves exploring with Mel.

This is the tallest tree in this state park, but not in CA.

 We were so happy to be on the road again.

We walked a short trail through this park and then stopped at another California State Park. It was called Natural Bridge State Beach. The boys got excited when they heard "beach," but there was no way we were getting in that water! It was freezing cold! We did enjoy spotting the egrets, more deer, and a few pelicans. There was also a really cool colony of cormorants on the rock formation knows as the bridge. We took quite a few pictures as the tide slapped against the rocky shoreline. We didn't spend too much time, but it was beautiful. 

The natural bridge in the ocean was beautiful.

It was weird to see deer on the beach.

The ocean in northern CA is crazy!

We loved the coastline in Santa Cruz.

Another sister picture!

Dad likes to document Mom always taking pictures.

Mark was excited for all of the birds.

This state park was a fun stop.

The boys are always excited when there are purple flowers for Mom.

Seth was in the sand any time we stopped at the beach.

The boys were getting pretty hungry, so for lunch we drove out on fisherman's wharf in Santa Cruz. There was a really good seafood place there called Woodies. It was not a particularly posh restaurant, but like everything, it was pretty expensive. Still, the boys cleaned their plates, so we didn't feel bad. After we ate, the boys spotted a bunch of seals in the harbor. We watched an entire colony barking and making noise. Then we spotted a few sea lions, too. The harbor was also bubbling with birds, diving after fish. Too soon, we had to hurry back to pick up Melanie's children.

Melanie captured this photo of us. It definitely is how we explore. Always looking for animals.

Santa Cruz was super fun. 

We saw seals and sea lions in this area.

The sea lions were hanging out in a huge group.

We are so grateful for all of these family pictures.

We ate right by the ocean, which was so much fun.

This new bird had the brightest orange feet.

The rest of the day was pretty simple. We spent most of the time at the Webb's house just being with family. Before dinner, we went to Daniel's volleyball game. We had a great time cheering him on! Then we ordered Chinese food, which was born here in the Bay area. 

We had fun watching volleyball. Mom enjoyed thinking about her volleyball days.

It was fun being with cousins.