Bart Train

We took a ride to San Francisco around St Paddy's day. One of my friends from Colorado was in SF for a conference and I wanted to visit him. We talked and he mentioned that there was going to be a parade. In all of about 30 minutes we decided to take the kids to the parade and were out the door. Spontaneous fun at its best!

We have been meaning to take Bart Downtown and this was a perfect day take the adventure. All was going smoothly until the first stop at Rockridge. Josiah thought that the ride was over and scooted off his seat and ran for the door. He made it all the way down the aisle to the door before I caught him. Truly, he was just too excited to realize that this was a big adventure and not just a short ride.

We got downtown and ate lunch "under the dome" at the SF Centre Mall which is one of my favorite places that we went to a few years back.


Later, we watched fire trucks, marching bands, horse and motorcycles on the parade route. At one point, I think Rebecca was more excited about the parade than the kids were.

We then landed on the train for our journey home. Sleepy but happy.

Good Friday Part II: Potty Training Success

We had a pivotal moment on Friday! If you ask any of the kids what they get if they go potty in the potty chair, they will say an M&M. Little do they know that it is a mini M&M, you know the really small ones that are about 1/10th the size of a real M&M. Then you ask what they get if they go poo poo and they say, "Go for ride in Daddy's new truck." We convinced Josiah to sit on the chair as it appeared that he was getting ready for some business. I left him in the bathroom and checked on him about 10 minutes later. I said, "Are you done?" and he responded, "No, I still trying." After another 10 minutes, I checked and sure enough he had done some Serious business. I have pictures to prove it but will withhold for future blackmail purposes.


Can you tell that he was excited to take a ride!


Three M&M's later he was on cloud nine and after his nap I took him for a ride to the grocery store. It is downright amazing the excitement of a ride in the truck. The girls were completely distraught and we tried to explain that they needed to go poo poo in the potty. Alana looked at Rebecca with the sweetest puppy dog eyes and said, "But, I go pee pee." Later that night we caved and took the whole family out for a ride.

A very Good Friday: Hiking Briones

Since we moved about a year ago we have come to appreciate the vast open space less than a mile away from our house. With the day off on Good Friday, we had no plans which is a good way to guarantee a ton of fun.

We decided to take a hike and do a picnic. The hike entailed hopping across a stream and a climb up a big muddy mountain. Good news was that we were all smiles at one point or another. I didn't get any pictures of the highlight which was getting up close to some ducks in the reservoir.



The view from our picnic site

Mommy with her girls

Josiah after the duck sighting

Josiah and Alexa walking to go and see the ducks