Lovin' the Waves

Stuart's last day with us was Tuesday and when asked what he wanted to do he said the beach.  The bay area has so many fun beaches, north and south, but because of time we decided to go to one of the beaches in the city.  

Baker beach is one of my favorites because it is not usually populated and it has an amazing view of the bay.

It's located on the west side of the Golden Gate Bridge and you have to drive through the Presidio in order to access it.

It was the first time that Will had experienced sand and waves.  He was really curious when we first got there, but refused to leave the blanket until we'd been playing in the sand for over an hour.  

Lincoln, Rulon, and Ellis, on the other hand, could not hold in their excitement!  Within a few minutes they were drenched up to their wastes in ocean water. 

Heather finally had them take off their pants to try and dry off their clothes.  Since the boys have been in swim lessons all summer they have some pretty great tan lines!

(I love Rulon's facial expression in this one!)

Of course I had to show them how to take a jumping picture...you can never have enough jumping pictures!

I know this isn't Rulon jumping, it's him landing, but I couldn't help but LOVE his facial expression.  He is so hilarious, I could sit back and watch him all day and not stop laughing!

After the beach we brought pizza back to the house to surprise Erik who was working.  We spent a couple hours relaxing and then I drove Stuart into the airport.  It was so much fun to have him out here, hopefully we can convince him to come back soon...maybe Thanksgiving!?

Love ya Stuart!

Sailing in the Bay

I am the only girl out of six children, probably explains a lot to those that know me, three of which are younger than me.  It's been fun over the years to see my little brothers grow up, especially now that all of them have either served or are serving missions!

My two younger brothers, Stuart and Bradley, just missed seeing each other.  I already blogged about my youngest brother, Bradley, leaving on his mission to Brazil at the beginning of May.  But I don't think I mentioned my other younger brother, Stuart, coming back from his mission at the beginning of June.  

Stuart served two years in the Sydney, North mission and we were all excited to see him at our Adams Family reunion.  While we were all there Erik and I spent a few days convincing Stuart that he needed to come visit us in San Francisco before he went back to school at BYU in the Fall.

He flew into town the day after Janelle and Jason left, so I got a day to rest before the tour guide in me came back out.

One day we spent going to the movies (Eclipse...totally his idea :) eating at the Cheesecake Factory, and playing with our nephews and niece.

The following day I took Stuart into the city to do the basic touristy things, i.e. Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts, Marina, and Pier 39.

We ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe and then exploring Pier 39 and the Sea Lions.  I told him about when Bradley was out visiting he was called out of the audience to help during the magic show...Stuart refused to watch the show if there was any risk in that happening to him...smart man!

Monday we all decided to go sailing in the bay.  We went through the company Adventure Cat, because they had the best deals.  Adults were $30, kids (6-12) were $15, and "Wee-ones" (5 and younger) were free.  That turned out pretty great considering Heather and Erik have three kids that are 5 and younger!

Unfortunately Erik had to work, so Stuart and I became the extra hands needed to make sure none of the kids fell overboard.

We loaded the catamaran at dock J, directly next to the sea lions at pier 39.  The kids were pretty nervous at the beginning, staying mostly inside, but they quickly became more comfortable after awhile out in the bay.

They had a blast crawling all over the netting and looking down at the water.

Sadly, it was overcast and with the wind off the ocean it got pretty chilly.

We sailed for about an hour and a half (the perfect amount of time with four crazy kids!)  We circled around Alcatraz over to Sausalito and then under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lincoln and I laid on our backs on the netting while sailing under the bridge.  It was such a cool view...one MANY never see!

Will was really funny to watch.  He kept trying to reach through the netting and when he couldn't touch the water, he tried to fit his head through the wholes.  It was pretty cute!

I absolutely love being out on the water.  My dream would be to sail off into the sunset with Dallas...I know a bit dramatic :)  Good thing he has his sailing's license!

Capitola

Last Saturday, Dallas and I were invited to spend the day down in Capitola with some of our close friends and neighbors.

Capitola is a small beach town, population 10,500, located just north of Santa Cruz.

It took a couple hours drive for us, but that was mostly due to weekend traffic...gotta love the bay area traffic delays!

We've lucked out with some pretty awesome friends.  Both families have really reached out to us and oddly enough they enjoy our company, so we were super excited to spend the day with them and celebrate their daughter's 4th birthday.

We had a blast spending the entire day chilling at the beach.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, hardly any wind, and the clouds skipped right over us.

Dallas was a hit with the kids, covering each of them in huge sand pits, throwing a football around, and of course his favorite...napping.

There was a really cool pier that we walked out on where you could rent fishing gear and boats.  There was also a restaurant with live blues music playing from their rooftop stage.  What a life!?

I was pretty amazed that I had never heard of Capitola and am already excited about showing it off to future visitors...any takers!?

While walking along the pier we saw this sign...not too reassuring for swimmers.  I just thought it was hilarious that it was printed in simple white paper and barely noticeable.  I mean honestly, who's going to actually notice a sign like this!?

We ended up spending over 8 hours playing in the waves, eating incredible pizza from the boardwalk, digging in the sand, and relaxing in our camping chairs.

Not too bad for a Saturday.

I sure do love California!

Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving...Well maybe just 30

I tend to be a very stubborn person, which makes it nearly impossible for Dallas to surprise me.  I don't mean to be this way; I just like to be efficient and I like to plan, so when Dallas tries to plan something that doesn't make sense I ask A LOT of questions.

Usually he gives up and ends up telling me the surprise he had planned or at least part of it to tide my curiosity over.  I know it's extremely frustrating for him, but I don't realize I've pushed the question barrier until it's too late...

Because of my unfortunate questioning habits, I never expected Saturday night (July 17th) to happen!

Dallas and I spent the morning with Janelle and Jason, while I tried to convince him to catch up on work later.  I hate it when he has to work on Saturdays, but I also realize that with the stress of his job, there is not much he can do about it.

I accepted the sad fact that he would not be able to come to Fort Point with us, but we would meet up with him later for dinner.  

There were several lies mixed up in our conversation, but for the sake of time I will leave it at that.

As we were driving back from the city, I was bragging about how proud Dallas would be of me since we were going to be home before our 6pm reservation.  Janelle and Jason quickly changed that by stalling, needing to use the restroom, etc., which I somehow didn't catch on to.

Of course you all can guess the ending to this story...

Dallas had planned a surprise party, complete with neighbors, nephews and niece, family, friends, and princess balloons, not to mention a whole heck of a lot of junk food.

I sure do love that guy!  And I still can't believe he actually pulled off a surprise :)