Church, Cousins and the Spinney Thing

One of the reasons we love staying at the Hampton Inn is the soft bed and free breakfast. Brent and I like the egg options but the girls are fans of the waffles. Not the healthiest option, but it's part of what makes traveling fun. Gita made no pretense of anything resembling healthy and just filled a cup with whipped cream, chocolate chips and caramel drizzle.

We packed up and headed to Clovis where we met family for church. As was true the previous night, BJ was tracking us and called a lot to give us tid bits about where we were. One call was about the hospital Brent was born in. "The hospital isn't there anymore..." but he encouraged us to look out the window to our left anyway. 

Our ward is rapidly shrinking and it was nice to sit in a full chapel again. The Wuehlers mentioned it was rather empty due to Spring Break, but to us it was chock full. Everyone was so very nice and I love singing the hymns with many voices. Sydney met and became fast friends with another Sydney.

We changed out of our Sunday best at the church and headed to BJ and Jeanne's home. When we pulled up, there were some cousins standing at the front door- ready to greet their other cousins. I should note that in all, the girls have 36 cousins- with many on my side of the family. The girls see cousins here and there a lot but on Brent's side, they don't have quite so many. The cousins see each other a lot more often accepting us. It's been a hot minute since these kids were around each other and well, you never know how this kind of thing will go. Turns out, it was hugs all around and those kids got along famously. I think the Clovis cousins were pretty excited to reacquaint themselves with the Chicago cousins. For Sunday dinner we had a grilled cheese bar and Jim also made an incredible marinated chicken. I insisted on photos so here are the grandparents with all their grandchildren.

Group hug!

We explored what Uncle Jim looks like with hair (Brigitta is laying over the back of that couch behind him).

Brent and Jim commiserated on the pregnant belly with Aunt Julie. 

There was a lot of energy in that house! To give some adults (and some kids) a little break, a group went to a nearby park. The spinny thing became the thing and suddenly everyone wanted to get photos on it. 

The trick is getting it to go fast enough for a good shot. 

Vera got a lot of love and her mom got a break.

Again, the spinney thing.

Cousin snowflake!

The clouds reflected the setting sun and it was spectacular!

Balancing on the seesaw takes more skill than at first blush.

And again, the spinney thing.

BJ and Jeanne had raided their local Costco for every snack you could think of and all the kids made up their own bag to use at the park. We played games and chatted until the exhaustion started to set in and then our little family set off for the hotel- excited for the Great Wolf Lodge!

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

 By the time Spring Break rolled around, we were really ready for a vacation. It kind of snuck up on me though, and when the plane landed at SFO we still weren't sure what we were going to do for our day in San Francisco. 

Smile!

Now with attitude!

We flew over some really beautiful scenery!

I don't know why but the image of the pregnant woman really cracked me up.

After deplaning, we were separated headed to the tram so Brent had Liesel and Gita while I had Ireland and Sydney. My group made it to the rental car area first- but partly because Brent double backed trying to find us.

Initially we thought we'd climb Coit Tower but a quick Google search told us that was closed. Instead, we figured why not visit the Seven Sisters? It was raining a bit but hey, we knew there was a park across the street. We never could have imagined this would result in a rainbow over the city which was the perfect photo op!

Instead of needing a break from photos to go play at the park, the girls are in their selfie stage and they were so happy to just snap away. Both Liesel and Ireland now have their own cameras and they were having the time of their life capturing this iconic view.

Sydney was still interested in the park and how did I not realize they have replica painted ladies rooftops? This just gave me all the feels.

You know the girls are having a fantastic time when Brigitta and Sydney want to take a sister pic together!

Sydney really wanted to check out Lombard Street which wasn't too far away. Having driven that one many times, I didn't want to maneuver the huge rental minivan down those switchbacks. We agreed to park and walk it instead. Here's how it looked on the GPS:

I'm a fan of walking. The drive is over pretty quickly but you can really take in the homes and the view when you walk (rather than practically standing on the brake and cranking the wheel back and forth). 

We were able to appreciate the flowers and little signs like this one:

Going back up was not quite as enjoyable. That hill is a young man's game! At the top we were met by a cable car and had to quickly snap a photo with another iconic view.

Right after this picture, Gita almost darted across the street and there was a car coming from the other direction. I berated her and told her to at least wait until the car hit the two people beside us who were also trying to cross. They overheard me and gave me a funny look so I explained we are from Chicago, don't take it personally. The man smiled and said, "Ha, we're from France." We both laughed and it honest to goodness made me like French people!

We figured why not drive over the Golden Gate Bridge but en route passed by the Palace of Fine Arts and decided we absolutely had to stop. It just so happens we turned around at a yacht club with a fantastic view of the Golden Gate bridge. So we snapped some pictures of the bridge...

...then double backed to get photos with the Palace of Fine Arts all lit up as the sky grew dark. It was probably here that the crime in San Francisco was most apparent. Not because it looked particularly dangerous, but because there were a lot of signs warning you not to leave your belongings in plain view in your car. Sydney and Gita were getting tired so they stayed in the car while we snapped more photos. 

Finally we made our way across the Golden Gate Bridge and took in the view of the bay. 

After the sister photo, Sydney and Gita again tapped out. On our way to the hotel, we stopped at Jack in the Box in Castro Valley and tried all kinds of hot sauce which was random, but a lot of fun. Everyone was pretty ravenous by that point and we all slept HARD! We had such a fantastic day in San Francisco and I didn't plan a thing. 

Shrek: The Musical

 This year's musical was really special because Liesel's best friend was cast as the lead- and she blew us all away with her fantastic pipes! It's always a lot of work and I volunteered to help adjust costumes. It was actually a lot of fun interacting with those teens who are so interesting and strong and grateful when I make sure their waist is nice and snatched. 

Liesel at hair and make up

Riley trying on one of the many costume options to become Fiona as an ogre.

Prince Farquaad had to do the whole thing on his knees to appear short- which made it all the more funny.

Liesel was one of the Duloc villagers

She was also the Gretel portion of Hansel and Gretel (with her Germanic name, not too far a stretch)

They were all really wonderful and we truly enjoyed it. 

Liesel's little sisters were so very proud of her. I'm told when they performed it for the elementary school, Sydney rushed up to Riley to give her a hug afterward and so a ton of little kids followed suit. They all wanted to hug the star!

Honestly no surprise. Riley gave her all to that role and we are equally as proud of her. I took extra special care with her costumes.

With two musicals under her belt, I think Liesel is officially a "theater kid."

Ireland is FOURTEEN!

 For her birthday lunch, Ireland requested Chick-fil-a and when Brent went to get it, I decided to tag along. Turns out you can't personally deliver fast food to the school- you are supposed to transfer the food to a regular lunch box or sack. Otherwise parents would just DoorDash lunch for their kids. When Brent explained it was for her birthday, they called Ireland up to the front office and let her eat it in the car. We weren't expecting to sneak her out like that, but it was fun to chat with her a bit while she munched on fries and nuggets.

Rather than have Brent cook her a birthday dinner, she requested we go out to Kyoto as a family. Ireland is a big fan of their naturo and crazy boi so she got her fill of both. Here's the naturo- YUM!

Sydney is rather skeptical of sushi but even she enjoyed the warm edamame.

Ireland is one of the most kind-hearted people I know. She's a sensitive soul and it is not uncommon for big, fat tears to spill down her cheeks because she really feels her feelings. She's definitely a people pleaser when it comes to adults but measures the adulation she seeks from her peers. If an adult is displeased with her, she is undone. Respect for teachers is one of her best traits and they comment often that she is one of their favorites or she is their little buddy or they just have so much fun. Many mothers express to me a desire for their daughters to hang out with Ireland more often- I think hoping the magic she carries will rub off on them somehow. Ireland is incredibly driven and has earned straight A's for years and years. I don't see that stopping any time soon. There's no one else in the world like Ireland and I love her so very very much.

Ireland really wanted to get a facial so we went together. She'd already seen Liesel in Shrek: The Musical so she asked to have her friends over to watch Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour which just dropped on Disney+. In Illinois, kids aren't supposed to be alone until they are 14 and being alone for an evening was a nice nod to growing older. We called during intermission and they were having an absolute blast. 

Happy Fourteenth Ireland Girl!