The first Wednesday of the month is free day at the Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum in San Francisco. We took everyone out of school and took a day trip to San Francisco with Jeanette's family. Curt had the day off, so he came, too. We completely filled up the 15 passenger van, and off we went. Here are some pictures of all the fun we had:
Here is the van full up with Ipod toting kids. Those not listening to Ipods watched the in-trip movie!
Before going into the museum, we had our picnic lunch on the lawn behind the building. The kids had a great time feeding the ducks leftover sandwiches and cookies.
Here are Jeanette's Melissa, Adam, Beth, Josh and Jeanette's Ryan feeding the ducks.
Anna, Beth and Daniel in one of the sound-proof music rooms at the Exploratorium.
Adam uses a double mirror to make himself look like he has lots of arms and legs. The museum is full of hands-on science activities. The 11 and under crowd ran from one thing to another for as long as the teenagers would tolerate (and actually even longer than that!)
Adam, Anna, Melissa and Beth at another exhibit.
Julia and Katie watch as Beth uses the huge bubble maker. This was by far Beth's favorite thing to do! You can see by their expressions how excited the teenagers were.
After we left the Exploratorium, we went across the street to the beach where you could see huge ships passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as Alcatraz Island. This picture is of all the kids (except Daniel) with the Golden Gate in the background. Jeanette's Janae and Julia, Katie and Jacob, Josh, Ryan, Melissa, Beth, Jeffrey, Adam, and me holding Anna. It was chilly!
After we walked along the beach, we drove up to the base of the Golden Gate so that we could walk up to an observation point part-way across. This picture is of the flower garden just before you reach the base of the bridge.
Here is Jacob on the way up waving to passing commuters.
The view back to the city from the Golden Gate Bridge on the way up.
Katie and Jacob at the observation point.
Katie, Jacob, Julia, Jeanette, Janae, Daniel, Josh, Ryan, Melissa, and Adam from the bridge
Ryan, Josh and Adam looking over the edge of the bridge. Curt and Daniel are in the background. Those are Jacob's feet sticking out. Josh told me that, although he is scared of heights, he was glad he decided to go up the bridge because it wasn't scary at all.
Jeffrey was sufficiently intimidated by how high up we were, so he didn't try to climb up to look over the bridge. He felt safest sitting right on the ground looking through the bridge to the water below. At one point, we thought we saw a shark, so he got a closer look, but still from the safety of the ground.
Anna slept in the stroller through the whole Golden Gate experience, which made me much more relaxed. Beth was scared to even get close to the edge at first.
But she warmed up after a while.
After we came back down, we took this picture of one piece of the cables that support the bridge. If you look back at my pictures, this is one of the big cables that hold it all up. Here are Beth and Jeffrey standing next to it to help you compare the size.
Here is the van full up with Ipod toting kids. Those not listening to Ipods watched the in-trip movie!
Before going into the museum, we had our picnic lunch on the lawn behind the building. The kids had a great time feeding the ducks leftover sandwiches and cookies.
Here are Jeanette's Melissa, Adam, Beth, Josh and Jeanette's Ryan feeding the ducks.
Anna, Beth and Daniel in one of the sound-proof music rooms at the Exploratorium.
Adam uses a double mirror to make himself look like he has lots of arms and legs. The museum is full of hands-on science activities. The 11 and under crowd ran from one thing to another for as long as the teenagers would tolerate (and actually even longer than that!)
Adam, Anna, Melissa and Beth at another exhibit. 
Julia and Katie watch as Beth uses the huge bubble maker. This was by far Beth's favorite thing to do! You can see by their expressions how excited the teenagers were.
After we left the Exploratorium, we went across the street to the beach where you could see huge ships passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as Alcatraz Island. This picture is of all the kids (except Daniel) with the Golden Gate in the background. Jeanette's Janae and Julia, Katie and Jacob, Josh, Ryan, Melissa, Beth, Jeffrey, Adam, and me holding Anna. It was chilly!
After we walked along the beach, we drove up to the base of the Golden Gate so that we could walk up to an observation point part-way across. This picture is of the flower garden just before you reach the base of the bridge.
Here is Jacob on the way up waving to passing commuters.
The view back to the city from the Golden Gate Bridge on the way up.
Katie and Jacob at the observation point.
Katie, Jacob, Julia, Jeanette, Janae, Daniel, Josh, Ryan, Melissa, and Adam from the bridge
Ryan, Josh and Adam looking over the edge of the bridge. Curt and Daniel are in the background. Those are Jacob's feet sticking out. Josh told me that, although he is scared of heights, he was glad he decided to go up the bridge because it wasn't scary at all.
Jeffrey was sufficiently intimidated by how high up we were, so he didn't try to climb up to look over the bridge. He felt safest sitting right on the ground looking through the bridge to the water below. At one point, we thought we saw a shark, so he got a closer look, but still from the safety of the ground.
Anna slept in the stroller through the whole Golden Gate experience, which made me much more relaxed. Beth was scared to even get close to the edge at first.
But she warmed up after a while.
After we came back down, we took this picture of one piece of the cables that support the bridge. If you look back at my pictures, this is one of the big cables that hold it all up. Here are Beth and Jeffrey standing next to it to help you compare the size.
4 comments:
Great pictures. Looks like everyone had their moment of fun. I love that pedestrian walkway on the bridge.
Fun pictures. I can't believe the two of you handled all those kids in San Francisco--I am such a baby. I love all the electronics in the car--they save us!
What a fun gang. I can't believe how much you were able fit in, in one day. Everything looked so fun. Wished I lived closer to you all.
Hi Khristine! This is Holly Jones's daughter..I saw your blog on Jake and Julies and have just loved reading about your family. You are just incredible and when I see you with your 8 it makes my 2 seem a little more possible =) I know it seems silly to you that 2 could be hard in anyway, and I'm sure I'll look back one day and remember how easy I used to ahve it, but for now it seems hard and you make it seem like I could do it. Anyways, it looks like you're enjoying San Francisco. Oh and we do have a blog but it's private so if you ever want to peek at our family you can email me your email address and I'll add you on. jckay84@yahoo.com
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