Ashley thinking something critical about the penguins:

This hippo was huge and kept showing off how big it could open it’s mouth. I wasn’t in position to capture it unfortunately.

Hanging out with grandma:

Kinda depressing chimp:

But super cute koalas:

And prarie dogs:

And meerkats:

Surprisingly, the kids were not scared to pet the animals in the Children’s Zoo:

I always like to watch the gorillas:

Ashley isn’t super impressed:

For some reason, Amanda felt like putting her hands in her pockets.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to participate much since I just started the new job, but I have been able to follow along at least through pictures Bonnie sends from her iphone. Here are some of the highlights:

Serra Bowl:

Apparently, the kids were only really interested for the first few frames:

Happiness is The Sticker Factory:

Bay Area Discovery Museum:

Carnival Day:

Also, here are a few other random shots from the last couple weeks.

Amanda with a very mature looking smile:

Not sure why we’re all lying down on the floor:

Amanda’s favorite spot:

2010 06 06 staycation from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

The beach was supposed to be a typical water and sand affair, but the tide was in and the surf was kinda scary at the section of beach we arrived at so we went above the dunes instead and made it a sand only trip. It worked out well actually since we found a spot sheltered from the wind in a valley of sorts.

It was Amanda and Ashley’s first time to the beach and they seemed to love it. Amanda freaked out for a few seconds when I first put her on the sand. I think the warmth and texture scared her and she didn’t want to touch it. That lasted all of three seconds though. Ashley got acclimated quickly as well. You can see she even got sand stuck to her cheek along the way. Needless to say, we went home and immediately got them in the bath.

Today, we finally got rid of the infant carriers and put Ashley and Amanda’s car seats in the Pilot. They were just getting too heavy to carry up and down the stairs while in the infant carriers. So now we have three Recaros across the Pilot. They barely fit.

It’s kinda comical if you ask me.

We got free passes to the Exploratorium through the Check Out SF Family Pass. It’s a little complicated, but the short of it is you go to the library and “check out” a family pass for various attractions throughout the city. We were originally going to go to Zeum, but that was already checked out but I got lucky and the Exploratorium was available so we ended up there. (By the way, this makes the third free activity as the Randall museum is always free and the zoo was free since it was the first Wednesday of the month.)

The Exploratorium was a little too advanced for Alissa but she seemed to enjoy some of the hands on stuff. I’m sure we’ll be back many times in the future when I’ll be able to forcibly imprint my dorkiness on all three of my offspring. Even that sentence sounded uber dorky. (“Uber” inserted for dork-effect.) (Parenthetical comment inserted for dork-effect.) (Call out of parenthetical comment… you get the point.) We didn’t take many pictures, but here are a few random ones:

Yesterday, we tried out Fairyland, which is a small, quaint, somewhat run down amusement park for toddlers.


Basically, they have rides and displays that are all based on traditional fairy tales. Furthermore, scattered throughout the park are these little boxes that tell a short story if you insert and turn a “magic key.” (Available for just $2.)

In total, I think there are only four “rides.” Alissa didn’t want to go on the jolly trolly or the little 15 foot tall ferris wheel. And she was too short for the normal carousel. (I love the expression on her face.)

But we were able to talk her into the little carousel for which she was just barely tall enough. (Much happier in this picture.)

After lunch, we sprung the twins loose and let them walk around the Western Town a little bit.

And by then, we had pretty much seen the entire park. Besides what I already mentioned, there were a couple slides and live animals integrated into some of the attractions. And I think they had some puppet show type stuff that we had missed.

I think we were there for about 2 hours total including a bit of lunch. It felt like just about the right amount of time given the size of the place and the logistics of three kids, nap times, etc. All in all, a worthwhile trip considering tickets were only $7. And although I said it was run down, it’s not really like things are falling apart. But there were things that could use a fresh coat of paint and other sections that probably could use a little modernizing. On one hand, it was nice to have something small and less overwhelming than something like Disney or one of the other major parks. On the other hand, the top of the little carousel was practically rusted through. It’s all good… as long as you have the right expectations.

I had never heard of the Randall Museum but Bonnie found it while looking for activities for the week. It’s tucked near Buena Vista park nearly dead center of the city and is actually run by the Park and Rec department. It’s not a big facility, but it was big enough to occupy us for about 90 minutes or so which is about as long as we like to stay out given both Alissa’s attention span and the twins’ patience.

Downstairs, there’s a section dedicated to trains. Here’s a model caboose:

They also have a little Thomas the Train-like track setup where you can rent battery operated trains to play with. If you have a little boy into trains, this would be a good thing to do.

Afterward, we went to Polly Ann’s for ice cream.

I wonder if this is something that Alissa will remember when she’s older.

The zoo was fun as well since we finally made it to the Children’s Zoo section for the first time. The prairie dogs and meerkats were a big hit.

And the birds of prey were pretty cool too.