The kids have been fascinated by the Golden Gate Bridge ever since we took our trip to San Francisco in May for Laura’s wedding (Aubrey’s younger sister). Aubrey and I were fascinated for quite some time by the wedding officiator’s gray dreads that fell to the ground before he wrapped them around his waist twice. All in all, it was a beautiful wedding at an old German retreat on a hillside among old redwoods in Muir Woods, north of San Francisco.
We stayed at a mission style home down at Stinson Beach with all of Aubrey’s family and had a great time. We spent a morning at a wide open beautiful beach playing games in the sand and running around.
Much of the day was spent at Laura’s wedding, where it was fun to see Owen embrace his role as ring bearer and even spend the afternoon dancing with the flower girl. They were quite the cute pair.
Another highlight of the trip was our big excursion out to Alcatraz Island via the ferry. We explored the prison, and the boys even got into one of the cells, which was quite exciting for them. I was lucky enough to get locked into one of the solitary confinement cells, which was entirely pitch black inside. Very eerie, and I couldn’t imagine staying sane in that thing for the week or more that prisoners would spend in there. It was also cool to be out on the prison yard and recognize some of the places from lots of classic movies.
We strolled along the Embarcadero where we watched some street performers and bought a $6 sci-fi looking painting of the SF skyline with several moons and planets floating in the sky. They do the paintings in like 5 minutes using spray paint. I never thought I’d buy one of those, but there I was. The kids love it.
And, of course, we found a sour dough bread shop and had clam chowder in a bread bowl. Delicious, as always.
We had plans to do more stuff in the city, but the kids were pooped so we just headed down to Gilroy and dropped in on our old friends, Dave and Marcie Richards. The next day we went to church at our old ward in Gilroy and saw lots of friends from when we lived there over six years ago. We barbecued in the afternoon with the Hales, the Zollingers, and the Richards. It was great to see everyone and we felt a bit nostalgiac for Gilroy, but all in all it solidified for us that we made the right move in coming to NC.
Here are a few pics:
Great update! I loved looking thru all the SF photos. You look great. Wish I’d stuck with the PFBL like the rest of y’all. I loved Owen and the flower girl pics … he’s gonna be a heartbreaker. All of your boys, for that matter. I suppose it’s the Packham boys, 2nd generation.