The Second Visit from Brother

My brother John is William's godfather and was able to come out to San Francisco to be a part of William's dedication at church on March 15. He came a few days early and we had a fun-packed time together. I'm thankful William still takes naps as it gave us an excuse to rest too!

Here are some highlights:

On Thursday morning, we headed to Muir Woods to do a little hike. William was along so it was a very little hike indeed! I think we walked a total of a mile. William's favorite sights were the carvings of bears by the restroom. He made sure everyone around us knew that it was a "bear" as he pointed to each of them. He also liked the little creek running near the boardwalk. We stopped several times to "ooh" at the running water. John was a trooper for caring the big hiking pack even though it got very little use.

It was a gorgeous day to be out in nature and a nice treat for me to get out of the city.

On Friday I had to work, but we still made a trip out to the beach. William loves the sand and John showed him some new tricks, like burying our feet in it! John strolled the beach bringing back a few sand dollars and shells to show William who quickly decided they could be used as shovels.

On Saturday morning, John and I headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. He couldn't let my dad be the only one to run it while visiting! It was a gorgeous day for it too and I was glad I got to go (Chris had taken my parents). John ran the whole bridge and back and I walked to the halfway point and back. It had been several years since I walked on the bridge.

That afternoon, I took John and William to the California Academy of Sciences. William had been one other time so I knew this would be a hit. The aquariums thrilled him! He would have been content to stay at watch the sting-rays for hours if I didn't show him the other fish tanks. He "ooh"ed and pointed and exclaimed how exciting the fish were over and over again. The only animal hand sign he knows is "fish" so he was going crazy telling us to look at the "fish."

John got to experience the planetarium and earthquake simulator while William was entertained by the aquarium. We also did a brief walk through of the indoor rainforest which was hot and humid and crowded. But the butterflies were big, beautiful and everywhere so that was a lot of fun, even William could spot them! (but he was getting tired so smiles were a little harder to come by.)

Sunday was the day of William's dedication. I will have a separate post about that later. Afterwards, we headed home and had a nice lunch and played games while William napped. Then we headed to a park where we introduced William to his "bubble snake" or wand. It was really windy so the bubbles flew by really fast and we all had fun watching William chase them. (Okay, I had fun chasing them too!)

When we used up the entire bubble solution, we headed to the basketball court, which is William's favorite place to play "ball."

Monday was John's last day with us. I worked while William and John napped and then we went to the zoo. After our visit to Muir Woods and seeing how excited William was about the wood bears, we thought we'd start with the real ones. And we were thrilled to see both the polar bears and grizzly bear out and moving around!

We had quite the show with the rhino and peacock too! The peacock would fan his feathers, turn around and shake his rear at the rhino. The rhino would look like he was about to charge the bird but just "gently" nudged him with this shaved horn. Definitely a highlight! 

We had such a great time together. I loved having John visit. I'm so glad he could come for the dedication, but also spend so much time with William; I know William had a blast. I liked that he was able to see my day-to-day life but also get us out of usual park-nap-errand-routine. We did a lot of stuff that I wish we did more often. I forget that the ocean is just a 30 minute drive or the zoo is an easy way to spend a couple of hours. I forget that I live in such a beautiful place.

I also like getting face time with my brother. To catch up on his life and hear about his day-to-day. I love hearing about his job, friends, Bible study, church and motivation to do things like Insanity workouts. He is such a fantastic man. I'm lucky to have him for my brother and William's uncle and godfather.

My brother John is William's godfather and was able to come out to San Francisco to be a part of William's dedication at church on March 15. He came a few days early and we had a fun-packed time together. I'm thankful William still takes naps as it gave us an excuse to rest too!

Here are some highlights:

On Thursday morning, we headed to Muir Woods to do a little hike. William was along so it was a very little hike indeed! I think we walked a total of a mile. William's favorite sights were the carvings of bears by the restroom. He made sure everyone around us knew that it was a "bear" as he pointed to each of them. He also liked the little creek running near the boardwalk. We stopped several times to "ooh" at the running water. John was a trooper for caring the big hiking pack even though it got very little use.

It was a gorgeous day to be out in nature and a nice treat for me to get out of the city.

On Friday I had to work, but we still made a trip out to the beach. William loves the sand and John showed him some new tricks, like burying our feet in it! John strolled the beach bringing back a few sand dollars and shells to show William who quickly decided they could be used as shovels.

On Saturday morning, John and I headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. He couldn't let my dad be the only one to run it while visiting! It was a gorgeous day for it too and I was glad I got to go (Chris had taken my parents). John ran the whole bridge and back and I walked to the halfway point and back. It had been several years since I walked on the bridge.

That afternoon, I took John and William to the California Academy of Sciences. William had been one other time so I knew this would be a hit. The aquariums thrilled him! He would have been content to stay at watch the sting-rays for hours if I didn't show him the other fish tanks. He "ooh"ed and pointed and exclaimed how exciting the fish were over and over again. The only animal hand sign he knows is "fish" so he was going crazy telling us to look at the "fish."

John got to experience the planetarium and earthquake simulator while William was entertained by the aquarium. We also did a brief walk through of the indoor rainforest which was hot and humid and crowded. But the butterflies were big, beautiful and everywhere so that was a lot of fun, even William could spot them! (but he was getting tired so smiles were a little harder to come by.)

Sunday was the day of William's dedication. I will have a separate post about that later. Afterwards, we headed home and had a nice lunch and played games while William napped. Then we headed to a park where we introduced William to his "bubble snake" or wand. It was really windy so the bubbles flew by really fast and we all had fun watching William chase them. (Okay, I had fun chasing them too!)

When we used up the entire bubble solution, we headed to the basketball court, which is William's favorite place to play "ball."

Monday was John's last day with us. I worked while William and John napped and then we went to the zoo. After our visit to Muir Woods and seeing how excited William was about the wood bears, we thought we'd start with the real ones. And we were thrilled to see both the polar bears and grizzly bear out and moving around!

We had quite the show with the rhino and peacock too! The peacock would fan his feathers, turn around and shake his rear at the rhino. The rhino would look like he was about to charge the bird but just "gently" nudged him with this shaved horn. Definitely a highlight! 

We had such a great time together. I loved having John visit. I'm so glad he could come for the dedication, but also spend so much time with William; I know William had a blast. I liked that he was able to see my day-to-day life but also get us out of usual park-nap-errand-routine. We did a lot of stuff that I wish we did more often. I forget that the ocean is just a 30 minute drive or the zoo is an easy way to spend a couple of hours. I forget that I live in such a beautiful place.

I also like getting face time with my brother. To catch up on his life and hear about his day-to-day. I love hearing about his job, friends, Bible study, church and motivation to do things like Insanity workouts. He is such a fantastic man. I'm lucky to have him for my brother and William's uncle and godfather.