Jess Mutter's Travels: California: Dec. 2012 -Jan. 2013

We headed to California over winter break to spend the holidays with family.
We had such a good time and it was really great to get caught up with everyone.

We had a special elf who carried messages to Santa.
Here he is with Summer and Grandpa at his house in Martinez, California.

Grandma & Grandpa decorated their house so nicely for Christmas!
Everyone enjoyed their kind and generous hospitality.

On Christmas Eve, we waited for Santa's reindeer to appear.
One of them was a bit early.

We all posed for a family Christmas picture.
This was a test photo... oh boy..

Ah, so nice to have everyone together.

Santa delivered lots of gifts on Christmas Eve.
One-month old baby Callie was the best gift of all for the entire family.

Everyone enjoyed opening gifts from relatives near and far.

Lots of new clothes and toys for everyone!

We stayed busy over our two-week visit.
Hidden Lakes, a lovely park, is less about a mile from the Sodanos'.
The kids enjoyed hiking there.

It was a nice place to meet new friends.

The Hidden Lake has a fountain, ducks...

... and a tree shaped like a butt.
Only my kids would notice (and photograph) this!

Levi enjoyed pushing his cousin for miles through the soggy mud.
I was glad we all brought mud shoes. ;)

On another walk, we saw several Stellar's Jays.
They are friendly and very blue.

At another family get-together after Christmas, first, second, and third cousins got together.

The baby was the biggest hit with all the cousins.

First cousins Charlie and Tom having fun in Dad's kitchen.

On Dec. 26, we took a trip to Monterey with Brian, Kristy and Summer.
We learned about the history of the canneries there first.
Mar liked that the Del Mar Cannery had her name in it.

Next we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium.
You know you are in California when you see quotes like this on the aquarium's walls.

The kids and a friend at Monterey Bay Aquarium. A very hands-on and cool place for kids of all ages.

A live seahorse family in a tank, up-close.

There are lots of cool touch-tanks at Monterey aquarium. The sea cucumber is especially squishy.

There are several huge tanks there, with tons of fish like this school of mackerel.

Monterey aquarium has lots of hands-on exhibits, like this brass crab sculpture in front of the real ones in a tank...
so you can get a "feel" for the creatures, without getting pinched.

Marly enjoyed photographing all the animals at the aquarium, like these jellies.

Monterey is on the coast and there are some spectacular views.

After the aquarium, we went to the Dennis the Menace playground in Monterey.

This park was designed by cartoonist Hank Ketcham in the 1950's.
He wanted to make something that a real-life Dennis the Menaces would love.

It's a huge park with mountains, mazes, bridges and more. It's been modernized but still very well-loved by many.

We headed to Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf for treats before the two-hour drive back to Martinez. Here's the kids by a jolly fisherman.

The moonrise on Monterey Bay as we were leaving was just beautiful!

We also made a trip to the Oakland Zoo Dec. 28; also a kid-friendly place with lots of cool exhibits, like this snake with eggs sculpture.

... and this tiger, who lives with four other tigers in a big enclosure and looks quite comfortable.

The skyride at Oakland Zoo is a great way to see lots of animals.

...some just enjoy hanging around, like this gibbon.

The tropical birds were out...

Simba here had just roared hugely.

There is a herd of four elephants. I love them and their curious trunks.
Oakland zoos' animals looked clean and well-cared for and it was a fun trip.

We were gifted with tickets to a trampoline park in Concord. We all went and bounced our hearts out.
The kids were bouncing off the walls! :)

Trampolining is such good exercise..

And, it just feels good. ☺Thanks, Dara & Jay.

We also made two day trips into San Francisco.
I especially like that they've named a street there after me. ☺

First stop was the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The SF Moma has some well-known work by artists we love, like Matisse.

The kids loved this Japanese artist's work.

There was even some original work by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp there...

... and one of my favorites, Robert Rauschenberg.

Here's a close-up. Amazing!

This was a cool interactive art exhibit at SF MOMA:
Your shadows become radio stations that you "tune" inside a giant radio!

On to Chinatown!
The foo dog sculpture guards the gate, which faces south for good Feng Shui.

We stopped for a variety of Dim Sums at a local shop...

... and ate them as we walked. The steamed pork bun was one of our favorites.
We enjoyed shopping for trinkets in Chinatown too.

We also stopped at one of Chinatown's teahouses for some samples of
excellent Chinese teas, like Iron Goddess.

Walking down through San Francisco,
we stopped for a pic with the Transamerica building.

We made it down to Pier 39 just in time to see the sunset by the famous Sea Lions- there's some on the raft.
They are so noisy and funny to watch.

On New Year's Day, 2013, we headed back to San Francisco to see some more sights. We went to Municipal Pier first to get this great view of the Hyde St. Pier, Coit Tower and the Transamerica building.

We rode the cable car to get down there from the BART train station. ☺

Municipal Pier has some sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, like the Golden Gate Bridge on this side.

Here's a view of Municipal Pier (in the background on the right) from the walkway to Fort Mason.
The island on the left in the background is the infamous Alcatraz.

We walked through Fort Mason, an old Army staging ground for WW2 .
It's used today for various festivals and events but was quiet on New Year's Day.

Next we went to Ghirardelli Square, home of the famous mermaid fountain behind the kids,
and the best, freshest chocolate in the world.
We had some of course, and ice cream with hot fudge...

We saw the machines manufacturing Ghirardelli chocolate. YUMM! Who doesn't love chocolate?

Next we took in Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, by Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco,
where we saw various oddities like these.

We also visited the Musee Mechanique, always a favorite for us in SF.
It's an arcade full of antique game machines.

We all liked how the little figures went into action when you deposited a coin.
This one shows an old execution. What people used to do for fun!

The Musee Mechanique also has several of these old mechanical pianos. Just drop in a quarter and the old-timey music plays. ♥

Another place we like to go in SF is the Boudin Bakery.
It boasts San Francisco's original sourdough bread, and they even bake it into unique shapes, like this crab.