California Trip Part 3: The End

Part of conversation with my Uncle prior to Thursday's eventful day was where some Redwood trees were located. We had hoped that maybe we could have gone Tuesday, but the drive time was too much, and so was the Golden Gate Bridge.  But after the Beach on Thursday, my Uncle led us to Muir Woods, then surprised Brandon by traveling to the Golden Gate Bridge!

Muir Woods is a beautiful place. And the trees are huge! It is amazing to think that those trees are just babies compared to those at the Avenue of the Giants! I am so happy that Brandon got to see some Redwoods! We had discussed that sometime eventually we would get to go see them! I am so glad my Uncle John led the way to go visit those trees! 

The weather was cold! I am thankful for the Stinson Beach sweater my mom got me at Walgreen's on the way up to the beach! I knew when we were packing for the trip we should bring sweaters, but when it actually came to packing, I spaced it and so did Brandon. At least I remembered long sleeves for Nikolai!

We did not spend a while lot of time in Muir Woods. It was getting late, Sarah and Debbie were wearing Bermuda shorts, and it But when I started taking pictures of it, it started going towards my camera! A little weird, but oh well...  At least we enjoyed the views and the beautiful redwoods!

On our way back from Muir Woods, Uncle John turned onto the 101 South. We were in my car behind him and my response was "where are we going? we should have turned onto the 101 North to go back to their house!" Brandon figured he was going a different way home than the way we had come. Well, as we were traveling on the freeway we passed a sign that mentioned the Golden Gate Bridge. I decided not to say anything. Brandon does not read signs when driving, one of the reasons he hates freeway driving in cities other than Tucson (it's a good thing I read signs!). He wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge so badly, I decided to keep my Uncle's surprise secret.

There was a tunnel to go through before spying the bridge. The moment we exited the tunnel, you could see one of the towers to the Golden Gate Bridge. Now I cannot put as much enthusiasm into written words as Brandon had in his exclamation when he saw that tower. It was a deep and loud intake of breath, utter excitement, followed by an immediate "COOL!" His excitement made me smile with giddy joy. It was that contagious! We followed my uncle through a detour to a lookout point so we could see the whole thing.

Brandon was so excited! He was so happy to see the Golden Gate bridge. He had never seen it before and figured he might never see it. Never say never! With me, there will be so many things he is going to see because there are so many things I want to see!

The next day, the girls went shopping with the babies. My mom got Nikolai a robe to use by the pool. It is nice, we can use it when we go to the pool with her, when we go to the pool at Bonnie and Allan's, and Nikolai likes the pool! :)  This Friday was such a lazy day. We were going to go swimming, but didn't. Sarah and Sean were leaving at 4 in the morning to get to their flight, and so we left around noon. We were hoping to leave before that so we could spend some time with Brandon's cousins who live outside of LA, but we got carried away.  The neighbors that live across the street were having a garage sale, but their little boy clothes were up to 6 months and I didn't want to get something that Nikolai would be growing out of soon! They had some cute stuff though! I was going to leave them for someone who could use them instead. :)

We got to LA area around 6 and got to spend somewhere near and hour with Rabecca, Donald and their 3 kids. :) The kids are so cute! Addon is a handsome little fella, and funny! Lizzy is so cute, she has a personality! Didn't want to say goodbye, poor thing was tired! And Lilly! Such an adorable little baby! We played "stick your tongue out" at each other! :)

Brandon took Nikolai down the slide!

Before we said our final good bye to California, we took a short detour to Simi Valley and visited my old house! It was so cool seeing the old neighborhood and the park! So many things for me to point to Brandon and tell my stories. I remember the way the city looked coming around the mountain, the lights signaling that we were almost home. I kinda miss that feeling, that beacon of home. But Simi Valley is not my home. Where ever our final home will be, I am sure there will be somthing to signal and spark that feeling again. :)

Until then, we have places to visit, sights to see, and things to do.