Sailing in San Fransisco Bay

While in California we went sailing in San Fransisco Bay. My dad is a member of a sailing club so we took one of their boats out and had a blast. It started out super calm with no wind, not good for sailing. When we came back a storm was coming in and we had lots of gusty wind and large swells, also not good for sailing. Somewhere in the middle we did some real sailing and had lots of fun. No one got sea sick and Aaron and Talmage (my super nervous in deep water boys) were brave and both think they'd like to try it again someday.

Talmage loved driving and was the first to try it. He made very large, cautious circles when he was assured it was fine to do so. He watched out for other boats, even when they were way way off and he wasn't driving. He was just fine motoring around when we couldn't catch a breeze. It was the calm life for him. This is Grandma Tina standing by Talmage. We had a blast with her. Life is an adventure when she's around.

Anya also liked driving the boat and had no problem doing tight circles when ever the mood struck her, which was about anytime she was driving. We have a few pictures of her driving with Grandpa making this "whoa" face-- the other time she got behind a wheel was a little golf cart. Watch out for Anya, she drives like Cruela Devil!

She looks sweet an innocent but don't believe it!

Aaron, oh so cautious, loved learning all about sailing. He just absorbed everything my dad taught him. Soon after this we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and my dad asked if we wanted to go out on the bow to get a picture. Aaron was not ok with that but I started climbing out on the bow and he (ever the competitive one) couldn't let me out brave him. So he climbed out with me. Don't you just love the stupid orange life vest!

Here we are out on the front. The sails are still down because we don't have enough wind but
Aaron has a death grip on my arm and the mast behind us, as well a good grip on the ropes in front of us. You can see the Golden Gate behind us.


We were laughing so hard because Aaron was so scared and I am trying to pull rope out of my face and he thinks I'm trying to tease him and pull the rope away. He did get more comfortable on the boat and later after Anya announced that "Grandpa is way braver than Dad" (Grandpa was climbing all over the bow getting the sails set) Aaron went out on the bow to help with stuff.

The kids enjoying the leisurely ride out under the bridge before we turned around and headed toward the city.

Here you can see the underside of the bridge. No pretty red paint here. (Gotta love the bright orange vests)

After a big lunch and some sightseeing at Pier 39 we headed back to the other side of the bay to the marina we started at. Finally the wind picked up and we really started to sail. That's when I drove and Aaron hung on too the kids and the boat so we wouldn't lose anyone. In fact after this picture we don't have anymore of this adventure because things got too crazy. We had the sails up and were trying to catch the wind when it really started coming in a we caught too much of it. It's a good thing sail boats can't tip all the way over, because I would have done it. The swells were huge and the wind was blasting. Aaron now knows were Anya gets her crazy driving from. All the boys were safe driver but Tina, Anya, and I had to much fun making a roller coaster out of it. We survived though so it makes it a great adventure.

China Town

Blogging about a whole super fun week of vacation is such a huge task. So to make it easy on myself I'm going to do it in bits, all out of order, and mostly based on pictures.

The quick overview is we went to Northern California for Spring break and had a super fun week with my Dad and his wife Tina seeing the sights and having lots of adventures.

Here are a few pictures from China Town in San Fransisco.

Anya and I at the entrance to China Town.

The Boys at the entrance to China Town.

You can't tell from the pictures, but it was pretty crowded and busy even though we were here on a Tuesday and there were almost no tourists around. We're not fond of crowds or tourists, even when we are the ones "touring".

We saw these huge bronze giraffe statues and had to take a picture by them for the Aunt Stephie and Aunt Lindsey because they both collect giraffes.

Anya liked these monkeys on a bench and wanted to sit by them and be a monkey too.

Talmage thought he could do a better monkey face.

Other highlights from China town were going to the fortune cookie factory and watching the ladies hand fold the cookies. They are super quick at it. We also tried a few different flavors of flat fortune cookies like chocolate and strawberry. I like original best. The kids loved seeing the whole roasted ducks and chickens hanging (and dripping) in the window of some restaurants. But Anya probably wont be asking me to cook a chicken with the beak on anytime soon. It was probably funnier in her mind but seeing it for real was kinda creepy. It's funny how kids like to be creeped out. We also enjoyed Grandpa parallel parking an extended cab, dually truck perfectly on the first try-- a sight to behold. I obviously didn't get the parallel parking gene, or even the backing up safely one.

Trousers

Anya picked out the pattern and fabric for these "trousers". She has it in her head that overalls are called trousers and that Mario (from Super Mario Brothers) wears trousers. So she thinks that this outfit looks like Mario's trousers. I don't see it but she's very happy with her creation and I got the fun of sewing something for her that she loves.

Stress

Sometimes you just need to turn the heater on and eat ice cream.

Congratulations Aaron!

Aaron has been accepted into the Computer Science Ph.D. program at USU!!! We are very excited for him. He will start in the Fall and it will probably take about 7 years. Yep, 7 years is a long time. Talmage will be in high school by the time he finishes. Aaron will continue to work full time for USAA while attending school. With exception to a semester at Ricks before his mission, he has always worked while attending school so he's well practiced.

Also this week Aaron worked with lawyers to start the patent process on two more of his "crazy ideas". Like the previous patents, these are intellectual property stuff and to hard for me to explain accurately, though I get the general gist of what it's about.

We have been so blessed in our move to Logan and having everything work out so well for us. We can see the Lord's hand in our lives. I am grateful Aaron has the mind and work ethic to follow this path. We can see many more blessings and opportunities awaiting us.