Fun with Uncle Matt

Neil's brother Matt came to visit over Labor Day Weekend so we decided to go have some fun. On Friday we drove down to San Fransisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge, but unfortunately it was too foggy to see it even when we drove across. So we drove out to Pier 39 and saw the sea lions and went to the aquarium. Braeden loved to touch the leopard sharks and the rays. Chloe touched the starfish but didn't think too much of it. We drove to Six Flags on Saturday and then to Fort Bragg and drove up to the Redwoods on Sunday, it was a jam packed weekend with lots of driving, but it was a lot of fun!

Uncle Matt was really excited that we were close to Ghiradelli Square, so we walked down from the Pier and bought yummy chocolates.
Braeden loved Shouka, the killer whale, it was fun to be so close to all of the animals.

The kids were able to go on quite a few rides and everytime Braeden would get off he would say, "that was the funnest ride I've never seen.

Braeden and I got to ride on an elephant, he LOVED IT!!! When I told him Uncle Matt was coming to visit he asked if he was going to get to ride on an elephant, and didn't stop talking about it until we got there and he got his ride. He still tells everyone all about it.

The weather in Fort Bragg was perfect. It was a little windy of course, but it was clear and warm. We went to Glass Beach and found some pretty stones and then went to McKerricher state park and had lunch. Once we got our lunch out the Seagulls started coming out. I've never seen them so agressive before, it was kind of crazy. Neil and Braeden braved the water, it was COLD.

Neil and Matt have never seen Redwood trees so we took a drive up to Legget to the Drive Thru Tree. I was scared our car wouldn't make it through (Isn't our new car pretty! We got a brand new Dodge Grand Caravan about two weeks ago and I love it, it has so much more room the kids can't reach each other! And I know it will get us to Utah, I'm not so sure our old Taurus would have made it). I got out to take some pictures and Matt drove, we had to fold the mirrors in and there was only a couple inches on either side, I was scared! But Matt thought it was pretty cool to drive through a tree. We saw lots of big trees, we went to the World Famous tree house, the one log house the Grandfather tree and the Chimney Tree, it was lots of fun.

I was looking for Salt Water Taffy for my dad (and because you can't go to the coast and not get fresh Salt Water Taffy) in Fort Bragg and I even asked around and some people had no idea where to get it, one person told me if we drove down to Mendocino there was a candy shop that had some.  So we drove down there and...the only place that had taffy wasn't opening until 12:00 and we were on our way home, so we lucked out this time.  But we saw a very cool natural bridge in the rocks and enjoyed the beach and the tide pools a little longer.