Academy of the Sciences

Today we were able to go to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park with some of our friends.  We had such a great fun day.  The place is full of things to look at and learn.

This greets you as you first walk in.

Jasper and his friend Nolan looking at some stuffed animals.

In the middle of the place is this huge rain forest dome, with each floor representing a different place like Madagascar and Borneo.  All the plants and animals are from those countries and it's quite a sight.

This frog was like the size of a frozen chicken and would be longer than my forearm when stretched out.

This snake was giant.

Electric eel.  They had a little exhibit you could put your hand on to feel the shock.  It hurt.

The aquarium there is quite amazing.  They have so many different kinds of sea life.

Butterflies like these are just flying around everywhere.  To go in and out of the building you have to go through a double set of doors where they make sure you don't have any butterflies on you before you can leave.

A butterfly landed on our friend Emma's arm.

Spiders like these, which were like bigger than the mouth of a glass, were just hanging out by the walkway on their webs.  EWWW.

Journey's favorite part were all the fish.

This is a butterfly feeding plate.  Apparently they like pineapple and rice.

Journey was not nervous at all the touch anything.  I thought she'd be a little apprehensive, but she dove right in.

Albino alligator.  Super cool.

Their mom is pregnant and craves McDonald's so we had to stop for fries and ice cream on the way home :)



Overall we had a very fun day and we definitely want to go back again.  We're so grateful for good friends.

Lick Observatory

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the Lick Observatory.  It was quite interesting.  To get there, we had to drive on the narrowest, most twisty road this side of India, and Journey did not enjoy that part much.  But it was quite an interesting place.  It was very striking when we first walked in to the building.  To read more about it, click here: http://www.ucolick.org/public/telescopes/36-inch.html and to find out about James Lick, click here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lick.

The kids were bored and were more interested in the vending machines, but Jon and I thought it was very interesting.

The view from the top almost makes the drive worth it.

4th of July/Jon's birthday

This year for Jon's/America's birthday, we went to a really fun place called Gilroy Gardens.  It was not even remotely busy, maybe because of the holiday, and we spent the whole day there.  I didn't get many great pictures, because we were too busy having fun.

 

In 1947, Axel Erlandson opened what he called a Tree Circus.  He would graft Sycamore trees together in intricate shapes to create something really amazing.  To this day, no one is sure quite how he accomplished what he did.  It's quite amazing to see in person.

Give me spinning garlic over spinning teacups any day.

You can't tell, but this is Jasper's 3rd time on his first roller coaster.  He really loved it, which was surprising to all of us.

The Gardens held a BBQ lunch, which was good, especially the ice cream after.  It's been quite some time since we've had Push-Ups.

They also have a water play area for the kids.  It gets very hot in Gilroy, though thankfully the park is quite shady and this water area is a nice place to cool off.

After the Gardens, we ate dinner and headed over to Gilroy High School for fireworks.  It was a really fun day; one of our best 4th's.

We love Santa Cruz!

Santa Cruz is such a fun place for our family.  The food is good, the lines move fast, and the rides are fun.  We had such a good time on the boardwalk this visit, we didn't even make it to the beach and we stayed til 11pm.

 The first time she rode this a previous time we were in Santa Cruz, she cried and they had to stop the ride for her to get off.  This visit, she rode it 3 times in a row.

She's chosen her side, and it's the right one.

Jas got face paint...

...then washed it off on the log ride.

Journey fell asleep...

...then woke up for some late-night gambling.  This was at about 10:45 pm.

We love the $10 ride photos.

 

Water Party

Every year the first graders get a water party to celebrate the end of school.  They all had such a great time

A rare sighting: Jasper and this boy had problems in kindergarten, but were getting along quite well this day.  I guess they're growing up.

A summer tradition was started last year, and this year's mohawk is even better.