Today, the kids, the Cooper kids, Alan, and I went to the San Francisco Zoo. We took LOTS of pictures. Katy took about half the pictures. She took a lot more pictures of the children than I did. They rode the train. Saw lions, and tigers, and bears (and lots of other stuff). It was a beautiful day in San Francisco and the animals seemed to be out enjoying it as well.
The family as well as some friends walked around the corner for a Easter Egg Hunt today. The Easter Bunny was there to entertain everyone.
Rick stopped by while my parents were out here visiting. So, we took the whole family out to see his plane. It was the first time my parents have seen the plane he is flying these days. Rick, here are the full size images.
Katy took her first snowboarding lesson. She did very well. They went down the little “first-timer” hill a few times, then went and boarded the mountain. At the same time, Margaret and Sam had a group lesson. Margaret is all over it, Sam got tired and spent the rest of the time sitting at the bottom eating chips.
Tonight, we went to the Exploratorium to see the new Reconsidered Materials exhibit. The most popular item by far, was the San Francisco made from Jello. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the lens I needed to photograph it well. You can see where we found out about it, here.
It was a night time open house kind of thing at the Exploratorium. There were a lot of the artists from the Reconsidered Materials show there. The kids had fun doing all of the normal Exploratorium stuff as well. It was interesting being there at night. Not nearly as many kids, most of the adults were just waiting in line for drinks and trying to look at the Jello. Luckily, we were pretty much the first ones in, so we got a good look at the Jello before it became too crowded.
We even saw performance art. Katy and I did not understand it. (That is because it was really BAD performance art – Elizabeth. I really liked a piece called “Constellation” that looked like an illuminated bottle tree. There are some photos of it, too. The piece was supposed to say something about chemistry but I didn’t hear it. But it was beautiful.)
We did just a little bike riding today. Katy did some roller skating. Sam rode many different things. It was good to get out and play. Margaret is getting very fast on her really cool bike. On a slightly different note, Bruce sent us these pictures of our house in the snow.
Check out the mug shots. We got passports for the kids today. It took absolutely forever because we had to do it at the post office, not a bastion of efficiency.
Katy’s class went to The Tech today.
The kids took part in a Bouyancy lab, where they worked in small groups to make underwater exploration devices. Then they ate lunch. saw an IMAX movie, and explored the museum. “Rockets” propelled by water and Alka Seltzer were a big hit.
We finally took the kids to Alcatraz today. Katy has been wanted to go for a while. We rode a Blue & Gold ferry from Pier 41. The island was interesting. We all (except Andy) took the audio tour (even Sam). It was pretty good and it seemed like Katy and Margaret actually got someting out of it. After the visit to the island, we went to a park and played then went to Ghirardelli Square to get some free chocolate. On the way home, we went by Mark’s new place near SBC Park and then to the grandparent’s house in Palo Alto.
The cousins have been visiting while they are out of school because of Katrina. We have been showing them around here. We went to The Tech, the Exploratorium, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, and Aquarium. They were supposed to go back early this morning. Because of Rita, we had to postpone the flight through Houston and they are going back on Tuesday. The younger ones have been going to school each morning with Katy and Margaret as well.