California Day 11

View from the tenth floor into the lobby of this hotel: those are real trees! 

There is a river full of coy meandering through the lobby!

Chris had to work in the Bay Area again today and we're down to one car now. He headed to work and I took the kids to breakfast. Then I inquired at the front desk and learned that there is a nice walk along the Bay, so I had the courtesy shuttle driver take us there. We walked from San Bruno Point to Oyster Point. It seemed very clean and safe, the path being bordered by the Genentech campus and the pedestrians guarded by a Genentech security officer riding his bicycle up and back.

San Bruno Point 

Most of the trail was bordered by large boulders which the kids walked along (slowly) rather than sticking to the smooth path.

This trip has been their first time seeing the ocean.

When I commented that a particular flower was beautiful, John answered, "I think all the flowers God makes are beautiful."

Oyster Point Marina--where the children found two baby crabs

At our conclusion, I called the nice lady driver of the courtesy van. She picked us up, took us through a nearby restaurant drive-through, and delivered me back to the hotel where we ate our lunch, the kids had Quiet Time (John napped, Mary sang songs to herself for an hour and a half), and then we were lazy bums who watched way too many episodes of Curious George.

Chris had to work past dinner time, so I decided to take the children to the hotel restaurant. Eating down there saves a 20% surcharge and I didn't think it'd be that hard. When we got there, the nice maitre d' said that, yes, we could eat in the restaurant but . . . "perhaps you'd like to be seated over here?" She pointed to a section totally outside of the restaurant, over by the coy pond. Frankly, I was relieved if a waiter was willing to come serve my table far, far away from the elegant, quiet restaurant so that I wouldn't feel so guilty about the high level of noise emanating from our table.

Unfortunately, Mary was acting like a three-year-old who has not napped but needs one. John was getting pretty wild himself, with no good reason. And Margaret's high chair had no strap, so I was trying to pin her down with my right hand, but each time I let go to use my right hand to take a bite, she'd stand up instantly. So I reached across myself, pinned her down with my left hand, and ate with my right. Even though veteran Mama had made people do potty checks before leaving the hotel room, a certain child needed to visit the restroom after we'd been seated and served, so I had to haul all the children to the restroom, assuring the waiter that we were coming back!

These are the fun times, in their own way!