San Francisco

Seth and celebrated 15 years of matrimonial bliss in August, but scheduling prevented us from getting away until November. So the morning after an exciting night of Halloweening, we woke up at 4:30 and drove south to catch a plane to San Francisco.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1

The commuter traffic on I-15 made us think we might miss our flight, but we made it to the gate just as we were supposed to board. With that taken care of, we enjoyed the flight, landed in California, and I experienced my first Uber ride from the airport to our hotel.

We stayed at Queen Anne Hotel. It was extremely Victorian.

Our rooms weren't ready yet, so we dropped off our luggage and set out on a walk around the area. Our first stop: Japantown. We picked up some origami paper and an origami jewelry book for Analee, ate some delicious ramen, and browsed the various shops.

Then we walked up hills and down hills (San Francisco has many of them) to see the Painted Ladies from Alamo Square.

We listened to the theme song from "Full House" along the way.

Our room was ready by then, so we trekked back to the hotel, dropped everything we didn't need, and picked up some bikes so we could go to the piers. There we bought a few more souvenirs (seashells for Winnie and Seth, seashell jewelry for Andrea and Rebekah, color-changing T-shirts for Winnie and Miri) and picked up some seafood from one of the outdoor vendors while walking around.

A ship at one of the piers. 

Pier 39.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Ever the hopeless romantics, we rented a tandem bike to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. A kindly fellow bicyclist pointed out that the back tire was bent, so we called the rental shop and had them bring a replacement. Suddenly, the bike wasn't nearly as wobbly or difficult to balance. We experienced a bit of a learning curve with the tandem, but by the end of the day our starts were pretty smooth, and I learned how to avoid getting pedals to the shin from my position in the back.

Seth and Andrea on the bridge. 

Our trusty tandem. 

The bridge from the Sausalito side. 

After walking around Sausalito and getting lunch as a tasty burger joint (and watching all the emergency personnel of Marin County gather in one place after reports of a gas leak), we rode the ferry back to San Fran and explored the piers more during daylight hours (and found a hoodie to get for Rebekah).

Sausalito. 

The sea lions at Pier 39. We had heard them the night before, but it was completely dark by that time, so we had to return and shoot some video to send the girls.

Then we headed over to Chinatown to visit more shops, do some more walking around, and get some dinner. (And buy Miriam a happy cat.)

These street musicians offered Seth this thing, so he sat down and jammed with them for a while. Turns out, the thing wasn't tuned.

Saddle sore and exhausted, we went back to the hotel for the night.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3

We dedicated this day to Golden Gate Park, so we rode bikes as far as we could, then docked them and walked through Panhandle Park to the California Academy of Sciences.

Seth checking out a rain forest frog. 

A blue morpho eating.

We tried renting a pedal boat to go around Stow Lake, but it was more than an hour wait, so we opted to walk instead. That turned out to be the better option, because that allowed us to cross the bridge and go to the top of the island in the lake.

 Andrea on the island.

A turtle basking on the rock in the lake.

A wedding prevented us from going to the Conservatory of Flowers, so instead we walked to a tasty Thai restaurant, checked out colorful Haight Ashbury (and were offered some "good bud"), then rode bikes back to the hotel.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4

Church was a 15-minute walk away from our hotel, so we attended sacrament meeting, then went back to hotel for a nap. We caught a ride to Land's End and walked along the beach and the Coastal Trail.

Seth on the beach. 

Couple selfie. 

The Sutro baths.

We went back to Japantown for some delicious sushi, then spent the last night in our hotel.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

A mostly uneventful day of traveling (Uber to airport, SFO to LAX, LAX to SLC, drive to Idaho Falls) with the exception of the unexpected upgrade to first class on the second flight. I balked at the warm towel offered to me, but heartily enjoyed the big cushy seat and extra drinks and snacks.

We called the girls and told them we'd be home an hour after bedtime, then realized we hadn't changed the van's clock after daylight savings, so we surprised them by arriving home at 8 p.m. We were happy to be together again, and the girls were thrilled with their "prizes" (souvenirs) as Winnie calls them.

Halloween

We had plenty to do on Halloween this year, because not only did we go trick-or-treating (except Rebekah, who is old enough to stay home and pass out candy), but we also decided to carve our jack-o'-lanterns on Halloween day this year. (It really wasn't a decision as much as a necessity since we didn't get them done before Halloween.) And because we carved them on Halloween, we were all dressed in our costumes for the mandatory family photo following the carving.

Winnie (as Rapunzel and with a Rapunzel pumpkin ... I helped her carve it), Analee (a coffin with bats), Rebekah (the Cheshire cat), and Miriam (Jack Skellington ... Seth helped her carve).

 Silly photo.

Lit up.

We took our costume pics (some before and some after the pumpkin carving).

 Rebekah as Luna Lovegood. Check out those dirigible plum earrings!

Analee as Pocahontas. 

Winnie as Rapunzel (complete with frying pan!) 

Andrea as Super Grover. 

Seth as a princess (Miriam asked him to dress up as such). 

Miriam as Violet Parr of the Incredibles.

And some silly girls tried to dress up their dog.

The red scarf ("She's Little Red Riding Hood!") didn't last long. 

Neither did the hat.

Seth's work trip and what the rest of us were up to in the meantime

Seth had the illustrious opportunity to attend Geek Week in Ottawa (putting his passport to good use), so while he was doing this:

Posing to prove his location.

Seeing the sights.

Reacting to the architecture. (He also spent most of his time on his computer, but that doesn't make for quite as exciting photo ops.)

and eating things like this:

Delicious ramen.

and winning prizes (he received a medallion as the most valuable player on his team, and his team won best project), we were at home doing fun things like this:

Analee and Rebekah running away from Miriam and Winnie at the corn maze south of Rexburg on Saturday, October 27. 

Going down the giant slide at the corn maze. 

Analee burying Winnie in the corn pit. 

Winnie's reaction to being buried in the corn. 

Analee roping a pink-headed steer.  

 Riding the barrel train.

Miriam and Winnie dancing at neighbors' Halloween Bash (also on October 27). 

Analee and her friends (Samantha as Rapunzel, Lilli as Cinderella, Analee as Pocahontas, Emelia as Shaggy, Claire as Aurora) at the Halloween Bash. 

and work things like this:

The caution tape tied to the guy wires inside Grandpa Scott's shop as it's being erected.

Uncle T's dogs playing while we work. 

Uncle T and Grandpa getting the next rib of the shop situated on the lift (it was my job to crank).