I've uploaded May's photos to Shutterfly.

 

Enjoy!

 

www.jessicasoash.shutterfly.com 

Last weekend in California

We left for San Francisco Friday afternoon, and went straight to our hotel.

We intended to take the Caltrain to AT&T Park.

It was our first experience with Caltrain.  We ended up waiting for the train for 45 minutes.  Apparently we were to get on the 5:39 Southbound train to go North.  ???  Oh well, we got onto a later Northbound train that stopped and we made it to the park in time.  The stop began to fill up with many dressed in their Giants' attire, so we figured we would be ok if we just followed the crowd.  :)

We had good seats in Right Field, with a great view of the park and the bay.  

Even though they lost that night, it was still a very fun and memorable experience!

Saturday morning we had 11:30 boarding passes to Alcatraz Island.

Our original plan was to wake up at 7:30, eat breakfast, take the hotel shuttle to Pier 39, then walk to Pier 33.

Because the shuttle had no room for us, we ended up waiting for Caltrain again, taking the train to near AT&T park, taking a MUNI bus, crowding into a streetcar, and walking very fast to the pier.

 We barely made it on time.  The boat left just a minute or two after we boarded. 

The cell house had an audio tour that was very informative.

Everyone had their own player and headphones, and able to walk around learning about the prison.

Outside the gardens are beautiful.

After  a late lunch at Boudin's we did a tour of the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine. 

 We spent Sunday in Santa Cruz, getting in one more body board and SUP experience.

It was a fun and beautiful day!

The packers have come and gone today, and tomorrow morning everything will be loaded.

I'm not sure what the kids and I will do Thursday and Friday.  I definitely need to plan something, we already know how fun it isn't sitting in an empty house.  ;)

See you soon!

Jessica

Last weekend

This is the last weekend in California for the kids and I.

 

We're going to a  Giants game tonight; we even have our Giants shirts to wear to the game.  

 

Tomorrow we are touring Alcatraz Island and the USS Pampanito.

Online tour of USS Pampanito 

Then we will spend Sunday in Santa Cruz at the beach.

We are very excited for our weekend, and to be back in Iowa.

 

Please be praying for our family through this transition.  Emotions will be high for various reasons.  We have lived here for 9 months and the kids have connections and friendships.  It has been much of a growing and learning experience while we've been here.

We are very thankful for our MANY adventures,

(Phil even had a guy tell him that we had likely seen more of California in 9 months than he had seen in his 4 years of living here.)

but we are very anxious to be back in Huxley.

 

Our things are being loaded on Wednesday, and we fly out Saturday morning.   Our things will likely be at our home the end of that next week.   Phil is flying back with us on Saturday to make sure everything goes as smooth as possible, but will return to California for the month of June.  

 

Thanks for checking in on us,

hope to see all of you soon!

 

Jessica  

 Here are some of the highlights of our weekend in Monterey.

We enjoyed exploring tide pools at Point Pinos, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a whale watch tour on the Princess Monterey, and relaxing on Seaside Beach.

It was a wonderful adventure!

 On our tour we saw humpback whales, risso's dolphins, and a sea otter with a clean up crew.

Strawberries growing on the hills

Traffic:  one of the things I won't miss.

Fields of lettuce