San Francisco and Jelly Belly Factory

OK so I said I was going to TRY and keep up...I am now a day...or two behind but I finally found a minute to update the good times we are having with 6 of my nephews here for the last week of summer fun!

Friday morning we got up early and decided to hop on a ferry to San Francisco for an adventure. The boys loved the ferry and loved seeing the Golden Gate bridge and San Quentin Prison along the way. We decided to jump on a street car and take it to Pier 39 for lunch.
We enjoyed a deeeelicious meal at Wipe Out where the boys got a little frisky with a surfer girl and J snuggled up to a surfer dude.

We then walked down to check out the sea lions sunbathing. Of course we had to get some cotton candy to share then we jumped back on the street car and headed back to the ferry building to catch a ride back.

The kids were SUPER excited that we arrived at the ferry in time to score a seat outside...until the boat started and a huge wave came up and splashed us...it was a nice sunny day and the back of the boat was crowded until all the splashing started then people cleared out...but not us we braved the waves and snuggled up laughing all the way!
When we got back to my in laws we loaded up the Durango and hit the road. Our next stop was to be the Jelly Belly Factory, but as we got over the hill we hit parking lot traffic...we knew the last tour was at 4pm and it did not look like we were going to make it. We let the kids know it probably wasn't going to happen and they insisted that it was OK and that San Francisco was fun and we could just go home and go swimming. Such GREAT kids! By the time we were approaching the exit for the JBF it was 4:30. We knew they closed at 5 and decided at the very least we would get a picture with the big jelly bean and grab a treat from the store there. As we were walking in a worker asked me if we wanted to go on a tour. I said, "Oh my goodness yes, we thought the last one was at 4!" She said it was but thought they could do one more for us! Next thing I knew she was handing out hats and sending us upstairs for the tour...the kids were ecstatic!! I felt like crying, I know that sounds lame but the kids had been looking forward to it so much and I hate breaking promises, even when it is beyond my control. So we had our tour and they added a few more groups...so awesome!

We got home around 7pm and fed the kids dinner and let them take a night swim...everyone CRASHED at 9:30 and I mean EVERYONE...Big Daddy and myself included!

I am going to feature a "Camper" in each of the next posts...

THIS is Parker...he is my sister Amy's oldest boy. He looks just like his big goofus of a daddy. Parker is 9 years old...he turns 10 in November. He likes to skateboard and play baseball and soccer. Parker loves to swim and play sports. His favorite food is "something healthy, so probably an orange, that is why I am so skinny, I always eat oranges." When asked what his favorite thing we have done at Camp Vasquez is he answered, "That would be the powerboats" (we made those at Lowe's yesterday...post coming soon) He is looking forward to "the skate park on Wed, the Happy UN-Birthday Party (today) and the Baseball Game on Monday."

More to come... OH I have been getting lots of questions about the format I use for my picture collages...I use picnik.com LOVE it! You can clickety on any of my collages to biggefy.