California Vacation, Volume 2

The next day, while Chuck was at his conference…

We started off our day at the beach, kite flying.

This was their first time to be near a beach that wasn’t warm.  It was a bit confusing.

For lunch, we met up with some family that I had not seen since I was a kid.  My mom’s cousin Linda, and her grown son and daughter and the grandkids all greeted us. It was nice to be in someone’s home, getting away from the touristy places.  I could’ve stayed all day, just visiting with them.

But we were on a schedule. Chance had been saying that he wanted to be a scientist when he grows up.  A nearby museum (Bay Area Discovery Museum) was having a science day, with scientists from a nearby laboratory there giving demonstrations!  This was the view from the parking lot.

We rushed in, bought our tickets, and ran to meet the scientists.

Another microscope for Chance to explore.

The boys built creations outside before the rain started. Chance gave his bunny ears.

Charlie built a truck.

Chandler could’ve spent all day in the painting room.  They paint on the glass, then spray water and squigee it off. Such a neat center!

 

Charlie sat in the craft section, making Star Wars creations.  We had considered seeing the Star Wars  Museum but didn’t have the time.

Yet another flounder. Not sure why they intrigue me so.

A break in the storm for a group shot.

Isn’t this house so cool?!

And as we marveled at the Golden Gate Bridge, I couldn’t help but wonder about this dilapidated old house just under it…

From there, we proceeded to a little pizzeria in Sausalito.  As I came to the register I realized my wallet was missing.  I retraced my steps and realized it had to have gone missing at the museum, which had been packed with people. It had all our vacation money, my id, etc.  The pizzeria was so sweet and told me that I could just take the receipt and mail them the payment later, but to please feed my boys.  After we ate, I went back to the (closed) museum and asked the janitor if I could look around.  No luck.  It costs $6 to get back over the Golden Gate to the hotel and I had no money. Thankfully, the boys had each earned $2 from me that day, so we literally scraped together the exact change to get back through. 

The next morning I called and discovered that I had left the wallet at the cashier when I first paid for our tickets (in a rush to see the scientists).  Amazingly, I was able to retrieve it, with no money missing!