Once again, we were excited to join the SF Library and their Summer Reading Program. William has been participating every summer of his whole life, making this his 4th one. We took it slow in filling up our reading chart with stickers but that's just because I wanted to drag it out as long as I could. Otherwise it would have only taken a few weeks to read 20 hours to this one. Aunt Shannon spent a week with us and spent
hours and hours reading too! It helps that William likes longer books now.
He turned in his reading chart and took home a really nice canvas bag, reading-ranger badge and the biggest smile. We read so many great books this summer. My favorites included "My Father's Dragon "and "Elmer and the Dragon." Chris has been reading the Chronicles of Narnia at bedtime and William loves that too. We read the Mercy Watson series and a lot of Fly Guy books. It was also the summer of discovering "Tiny Titans," a comic books series of kid-sized side-kicks.
Mid-way through the program William's name was drawn and he won a ticket to the Aquarium at the Bay! It was just one adult pass but both kids got in free. I'd been waiting until the school year started in hopes of not having to deal with crowds.
We finally got to use the pass the last week. We all had colds and runny noses and couldn't be with our friends. It was a chilly day and not a great one to be outdoors so we packed up the car and drove across town in the morning commuter traffic and got there right as they opened. Not a crowd to speak of!
It's a pretty small aquarium (if you compare it to something like Monterey Bay!) but had an amazing tunnel below the tank to walk through and see tons of sharks, large fish and even schools of tiny ones. The boys also really enjoyed the otters. I should say, William enjoyed the otters a lot. Stephen preferred to play with the emergency exit, the handicap door opener and the opening to the otter habitat. I
was able to watch the otters for a few seconds!
Outside the aquarium are the famous sea lions of Pier 39 which of course we had to stop and watch for a while. I haven't seen them in nearly 5 years I think. (I never make it over to the pier obviously!) The boys loved them and it might have been the highlight of the whole morning.
One the way back to the car, we stopped for one last photo with the sea lion statue. Of course, neither child looks like they had any fun at all but honestly, William was crying that very moment about leaving. All he wanted was to go back! "Can we come back after naps?" "Can we come back tomorrow?" "When will we come back?" It was really enough to make me say "Never!" But I knew the morning would be challenging and tried to calm him down with reassurance that we will come back some day. (Is that ever a reassuring thing for a child?!)
What about Stephen's reading chart you ask? Well, Stephen is very different from his brother and not interested in books very much. I tried all summer to get him to sit with me for even the shortest books and it just didn't happen. I'm happy to say he is more interested now than he was in June but we weren't able to complete the program with Stephen. Hopefully next summer he will be ready--and excite--for it! Stephen's favorite books right now are all about trucks! Actually, just pictures of trucks.
Once again, we were excited to join the SF Library and their Summer Reading Program. William has been participating every summer of his whole life, making this his 4th one. We took it slow in filling up our reading chart with stickers but that's just because I wanted to drag it out as long as I could. Otherwise it would have only taken a few weeks to read 20 hours to this one. Aunt Shannon spent a week with us and spent
hours and hours reading too! It helps that William likes longer books now.
He turned in his reading chart and took home a really nice canvas bag, reading-ranger badge and the biggest smile. We read so many great books this summer. My favorites included "My Father's Dragon "and "Elmer and the Dragon." Chris has been reading the Chronicles of Narnia at bedtime and William loves that too. We read the Mercy Watson series and a lot of Fly Guy books. It was also the summer of discovering "Tiny Titans," a comic books series of kid-sized side-kicks.
Mid-way through the program William's name was drawn and he won a ticket to the Aquarium at the Bay! It was just one adult pass but both kids got in free. I'd been waiting until the school year started in hopes of not having to deal with crowds.
We finally got to use the pass the last week. We all had colds and runny noses and couldn't be with our friends. It was a chilly day and not a great one to be outdoors so we packed up the car and drove across town in the morning commuter traffic and got there right as they opened. Not a crowd to speak of!
It's a pretty small aquarium (if you compare it to something like Monterey Bay!) but had an amazing tunnel below the tank to walk through and see tons of sharks, large fish and even schools of tiny ones. The boys also really enjoyed the otters. I should say, William enjoyed the otters a lot. Stephen preferred to play with the emergency exit, the handicap door opener and the opening to the otter habitat. I
was able to watch the otters for a few seconds!
Outside the aquarium are the famous sea lions of Pier 39 which of course we had to stop and watch for a while. I haven't seen them in nearly 5 years I think. (I never make it over to the pier obviously!) The boys loved them and it might have been the highlight of the whole morning.
One the way back to the car, we stopped for one last photo with the sea lion statue. Of course, neither child looks like they had any fun at all but honestly, William was crying that very moment about leaving. All he wanted was to go back! "Can we come back after naps?" "Can we come back tomorrow?" "When will we come back?" It was really enough to make me say "Never!" But I knew the morning would be challenging and tried to calm him down with reassurance that we will come back some day. (Is that ever a reassuring thing for a child?!)
What about Stephen's reading chart you ask? Well, Stephen is very different from his brother and not interested in books very much. I tried all summer to get him to sit with me for even the shortest books and it just didn't happen. I'm happy to say he is more interested now than he was in June but we weren't able to complete the program with Stephen. Hopefully next summer he will be ready--and excite--for it! Stephen's favorite books right now are all about trucks! Actually, just pictures of trucks.
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