Most of you are familiar with our very good friends the H family. Since we have moved here from Tucson, it has been so wonderful to have them in our lives! They have a son, Landon, who is 15 months now, and he and Madeline are becoming very close. She hugs and kisses him, and treats him like her baby. At the same time she looks up to him and copies his words and actions. It's very cute to see them play. Cali (Landon's mom) and I have also become great friends. When you have kids, I think it is easier to get to know people, especially women because you have something in common to talk about. Cali is one of those people that I think I would have been friends with regardless of our having had children. However, having our two kiddos, and their being so close in age, really sweetened the deal. It is so nice for us all to get to hang out together and to not have to worry about slowing the other family down because we have to stop to change a diaper or feed our child. It's just relaxing and fun to be around them!
We caravanned out to San Francisco early on April 12th. The babies slept a good part of the way. Our first stop was the Bay Area Discovery Museum. This museum was geared towards young kids, and it had a special area designated for toddlers. Madeline and Landon had so much fun there. I think they could have spent all day splashing and laughing in the water play area. There were man made waterfalls and streams filled with plastic frogs and fish.
Inside the toddler building, there was a forested section that had "water bed" ponds and waterfalls behind glass. Outside Madeline enjoyed playing on the drums and zylophone as she listened to a girl strum sweet songs on her guitar. She played with chalk and ran around like a wild child! The kids had some great free play. We can't wait to go back. I feel like we only saw a fraction of the place, but we had to leave to catch the ferry out to Angel Island.
Cali's second cousin's husband works for the park service for Angel Island. Only people who work on the island live on it. There are no cars, except one shuttle. After the last ferry at 5 pm there are just a handful of people left including some over night campers. It was beautiful, peaceful and a little eery all at once. Since they have a four year old son, their house was outfitted with some great toys. Outside there was a sandbox, rope swing and an old fishing boat for the kids. The first night we settled into our rooms and went down to the beach. Then we put the babies down to bed and enjoyed a little wine, while their very precocious four year old regailed us with stories of "his" island. He, by the way, is the only child that lives on it!
