San Fro-disco

Joseph's little sister, Hannah, has been with us a few weeks, helping us out with the kids, among other things. She spent the first half of her life growing up in St. George, and the other half growing up on Maui. There are a lot of things she's never experienced in her short life, so while we've got her, we're going to take her on some fun excursions.

It would be silly of us to live so close to such a neat place as San Francisco and not take her into the city, so we took her there. Some of the people in Joseph's office have also been bugging him to bring in the baby to show him off, so it was killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

There are so many cool things to see and do in SF, that one day is not going to cover them all. We also have four other kids, so I just chose the highlights.

First, we went up to the top of Joseph's building. I would have liked to have gone to Coit Tower, but that would not have been feasible with the stroller and all those stairs.

They've all got Dum-Dums in their mouths and are making funny faces.

What a bunch of goofballs!

Next, we walked over to Chinatown, which is just a couple blocks away.

Asher poses in front of the gate.

Hey look, I do exist! It's nice having someone else to help me take pictures.

I love the atmosphere here. And the architecture.

Window shopping for crowns and tiaras.

The six of us with the stroller took up a lot of room on the crowded sidewalk, so after we got our fill in Chinatown, we backtracked a little way to get to Yerba Buena Gardens. The kids had a ton of fun walking through the financial district. The city can also be a playground.

I like the juxtaposition of the older and newer buildings.

Asher posed for me and gave me this look when I told him to smile.

Playing on some steps.

The kids probably would have been happy just playing here and skipping Yerba Buena.

Cute girl.

I'm not sure what this pose is that Moses gave me. Silly boy.

Walking through the city with the kids, I felt like I was trying to herd cats, especially when it came to Asher. He refused to sit in the stroller and walked everywhere. He would chase dirty pigeons, into the street. He had to touch every parked car. He wouldn't watch where he was going and passersby would suddenly have to swerve out of their way to avoid running into him. He would stop in the middle of the sidewalk, or the street as we were crossing, and sit or lay down when he got tired. I'd try to pick him up, but he'd do that thing, you know, the one where a toddler suddenly becomes a sack of bricks. It was exhausting. But we eventually made it to Yerba Buena.

I love this picture of these two kids.

This is a neat sculpture. Hannah and the kids would sit on the bench and the pressure of their weight would make the statue on the globe sit. When they'd stand, the statue would stand.

Close up of the statue.

These big slides are really fun to slide down.

I like this action shot of Moses running around.

Hannah had to accompany Asher down one of the big slides.

Making music.

You'd think he'd be tired after walking all through the city, but he wasn't.

An Asher sized slide.

"Mommy, take a picture of me up here!"

Hannah and I were thoroughly exhausted from all the walking and herding of small children, so we were excited that all we had left to do was get back in the car and drive. Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. At rush hour. It was rather relaxing.

Akiko and her favorite auntie Hannah.

Apparently, my kids think the GGB is the place to make silly faces...

... and I didn't get the memo.

SF was swathed in sunlight on an otherwise overcast day.

Close up from across the bay.

I love the fog rolling across the top of the bridge. Such a neat effect.

There were tons of things I would have liked to have taken Hannah to see that we didn't have time for or just weren't possible with all the kids and the stroller: Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower, Alcatraz, riding the cable cars, etc. And then on our way out of the city, I forgot that I wanted to take Hannah to see some painted ladies. D'oh!

It was still a fun day and Hannah got to see a lot of neat things in the city.