Eleanor and Henry jetted off to the Bay Area to visit their cousins Saul, Alden and Simone. We had a super great time, and the cousins loved exploring and playing together. We explored San Francisco via street car and cable car, rode a ferry across the bay, checked out the sea lions at Pier 39, hit Oakland Zoo, Sausilito, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge (partway – when turning back at the first tower, Henry asked to just “run quick to the other side and back”), played at a carnival and visited Stanford campus. Whew! Plus there was lots of relaxing and playtime back at the house. Eleanor and Saul really liked playing Sleeping Queens, Henry and Simone invented a game where Simone ran and jumped into Henry’s lap, and all the kids played some kind of a tower defense King and Queen game against Lala the dragon. Eleanor and Henry tried out Saul’s roller skates and took turns with Saul and Alden’s skateboards. Both kids were really excited to visit Alcatraz, but it turns out you have to buy tickets months in advance for that – so we’ll have to go back and visit again soon!
Back home, we celebrated Mom’s birthday by cooking her breakfast. Eleanor made a bowl of fruit and presented it to Mom while saying “I love you berry much” (Ha – a direct quote from a Strawberry Shortcake book) and Henry and Eleanor both made the coffee.
