I’ve been doing some work in downtown San Francisco and this time Elena flew down on Friday night and we spent the weekend, flying back late on Sunday.  It was good to be without the kids for a couple of days, a nice break.  And there is always plenty to do in San Francisco.

We were busy going everywhere we could.  We did a lot of walking.  In recalling the places we visited I’m amazed at how much we were able to see in only two days: Union Square, trolley ride, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Boudin Bakery, Ghirardelli Square, Ferry Building, Embarcadero, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a movie, Chinatown, de Young Museum, Japanese Tea Garden, Dutch Windmill, Golden Gate Bridge, plenty of shopping/browsing, and of course… the airport

Whew!  That’s a lot!  Makes my feet hurt just thinking about it.  We had a great time, and it always goes by so fast.  A big thanks goes out to Angie, Ashley, and Elena’s parents for watching kids while we were gone.  I posted all the pictures up on Flickr as usual.  Some of my favorite highlights from the trip:

• Unknown to us, Sunday was the annual San Francisco Pride Parade.  There were interesting people everywhere.  We didn’t attend the parade because we wanted to get out to Golden Gate Park, but looking back, maybe we should have.  The stories would have been awesome!
• The Chihuly Exhibit at the de Young Museum was awesome.  Amazing work.
• There are always panhandlers in SF, but one stood out.  Guy had his donation can on the ground and was doing jumping jacks while smoking a cigarette.  Made me laugh, and unfortunately I didn’t have any cash.
• The SFMOMA always has interesting art.  Some pieces were awesome, and some just made me go “huh?”.  But it’s still neat to walk around.
• Friday night view from the top floor of our hotel and from our room.  Awe inspiring.
• Bus ride back from Golden Gate Bridge; the bus stops and a man gets on, smelling of alcohol, carrying a mop and a 5 gallon bucket that is half full of soapy water.  Only in San Francisco.
• Clam Chowder in a sourdough bread bowl from Boudin bakery.  Mmmmm…

We just got back from our vacation to Southern California. This time we drove, and to make it more interesting, we took two extra teenagers. That’s right, me, Elena, the two girls, and four teenage boys. We had the room in the timeshare so we figured it would be good for the boys so they wouldn’t be bored doing “little kid stuff”.

It was a tight fit into the car with all eight of us and all our gear. The car was very heavy and Tim’s friend is six foot six, he had to scrunch up in ball in the back. But we made it without any real problems, and the car did great.

We of course did Disneyland, but we also went to SeaWorld and Universal Studios this time around. Haven’t been to either of those places for quite a while. Then we spent a day at the beach. Elena and I agreed that it was a little too much for a week. Next time we need more “down” days, more beach and swim time.

And the best part was on the way back. We stopped over in St. George so we didn’t have drive the whole way in one day. We stayed at a nice hotel there, and the four boys got stuck in the elevator. They were trapped in there for about 30 minutes. Great vacation memory and I got it all on video tape!

We had a great time, and as usual it was too short and went by too fast. I’ve been back to work this week and I’m already starting to count down the days to the next one.

All the photos have been posted up on Flickr.

A few weeks ago we took a family vacation to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. A lot of people asked us why we chose to go there. It’s because we had a timeshare exchange. A number of months back we were looking for places to exchange during the week that the kids would be out of school in October. We found an exchange for Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and decided we would check it out.

I think it was one of the best vacations we have had in a while. It was really relaxing. No real schedule. We just played on the beach, swam, ate a lot of seafood, and soaked in the beautiful surroundings and sights. The resort was fantastic. It had a lot of character and charm. And all of the staff were really helpful and entertaining with all of the activities they had.

We went out to the beach almost every day. We took the kids costumes for Halloween and took advantage of trick-or-treat at the nearby mall. We spent an entire day on bikes just riding around the streets and down to the beach. And we took a day trip into Savannah, Georgia to look around.

All around a really great trip. I think we will go back at some point in the future. When we do, we might try the Marriott out on the beach, but I don’t know. The Disney resort was really great and it had a lot of atmosphere. And next time we’ll rent bikes for the entire week.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who goes, especially for a family. We posted the full photo set on Flickr, if you’re interested.