"Jesus, Help me!"

Tonight I was trying to get Kristen to eat a part of her dinner before i gave her an artichoke (one of her favorite's) and it turned into a bit of a fit. She was throwing a bit of a fit, and I told her to go into the hallway and finish her fit there. She ran to the hallway threw herself on the floor and cried some more. After a few minutes she starts crying out, "Jesus, help me, Jesus, help me!" My heart sank instantly. I felt horrible and joy all in the same moment, horrible because I had pushed her a bit too far for unexplained reasons, and joy because she was crying out to Jesus..I love that she is calling on the One that will always be there to help her! God is good!

Getting blood drawn

Today I took Kristen to the doctor to get her leg checked out. She has been having chronic pain in her knee for about six months. So, Dr. Jim recommended that we have an x-ray, and blood work done. The x-ray went really well. Kristen thought it was very cool that mommy was wearing a green costume (lead jacket) and that we were taking pictures of her bones. Next we went to the second floor to get her blood drawn. I tried to tell Kristen what they were going to do when they drew her blood, but you can only do so much telling. Kristen's name was called and we went back to endure the needle. She got the first poke in her right arm, but no blood. She was such a trooper, the tech moved the needle around a bit but still missed the vein. I couldn't believe Kristen didn't cry. Of course, all I could think was now we have to poke the other arm. I was right, and thankfully the blood came quick! Kristen felt the pinch of the needle this time and cried! She was such a trooper! The technicians gave her bandaids and tons of stickers. Afterwards, Kristen continued to tell me, "Mommy it hurt when they take mud (blood) from me". I was so proud of Kristen, so I told her we could get something special. Her first request was M&M's, and then it was a doll. We went to Toy's R Us and she picked the baby she wanted..I love my girl.

Last day in SF

We had decided that on Wednesday we were going to go to some museum in SF. We thought that both Kristen and Austin would totally enjoy the Aquarium of the Bay. So, down we went on a Cable Car to Pier 39. We first ate lunch at La Salsa, and man did we eat. Kristen and Austin ate so well. It was wonderful that they had full bellies! After eating we were off to ride the double decker carousel. Wahoo! Paul took the kids up to the second story and put them each on a horse. They loved it! It was so fun. Austin was so happy that he kept clapping the entire time.

After the carousel, we were off to the Aquarium of the Bay. Kristen had an absolute blast running from fish tank to fish tank showing us each of the fish, crabs, seaweed, sea anemone, etc. Austin enjoyed sitting in front of one fish tank and saying, Loo, loo (look)" while pointing at all the fish. The best part of the aquarium was the archway aquariums with huge sharks and enormous fish in them. We went through these aquariums about three times. Kristen could not get enough of it! Austin fell asleep on round one, which was a bummer because he wasn't able to see the sharks. After the archway aquariums we went upstairs to the tide pool tanks where Kristen was able to touch leopard sharks, bat rays, skates, many starfish, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins. She throughly enjoyed this touching everything! We had the best time at the aquarium!

After the aquarium we went to Ben and Jerry's and had some yummy ice cream. We sat around the pier and watched people. Really we watched Kristen eat chocolate ice cream and get it all over the place...total entertainment!

We then went back to the hotel for our rest time. After rest time we went to dinner and Puchinni and Pinetti's. It was italian food and it was absolutely delicious! Then we walked up to Walgreens and bought Austin a cable car, and then to the Disney Store because Kristen saw it and really wanted to go there. We left there with a Beast and Lucy. We then hopped on the cable car and went back to the hotel, packed up and fell asleep!

Thursday we took a shuttle to the airport (much better than our adventure in getting there). Got on the plane and came home! It was so nice to get home, but we all miss SF a little bit.

Two days in and we are having a blast!

Yesterday we set out for a boat ride. All Kristen could talk about before we left was going on the airplane and riding on a boat. So, we thought doing a boat ride in the bay would be perfect. Well we were in for a new adventure and that was figuring out the MUNI system in SF. The concierge gave us a map that had all the bus lines, trolley lines, street cars, etc., little did we know that this map was over a year old and some of the bus lines and their routes were changed. AAAAHHHH, is all I have to say. We walked around for I don't even know, probably an hour trying to find line 15 and it didn't exist. It was changed into 9x. Go figure..so once we figured this out we were doing pretty well, but could of course still improve our MUNI skills. We got to Pier 39 and ate at Boudin, which was delicious. Then we waited to get on the boat. We got on the boat and we were off. At one time, Kristen was crawling over the side of the boat to "get in the water Mommy". Whoa! Overall, we all really enjoyed the ride, especially going under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Afterwards, we went and checked out the Sea Lions. Kristen and Austin loved them! They just watched, and Kristen tried to find all the Mommies, Daddys, and babies. Then we were back to the hotel for a rest. We rested, Kristen took a nap and Austin played with his trains. After rest time we went to a restraunt called Umbria. It was an Italian restraunt and it was delicious! So yummy..we enjoyed every bite! We walked back to the hotel and hit the bed. (Pictures to come)

Today, Tuesday, we were in route to go and fly kites. This is one of Paul and Kristen's favorite things to do together. First we went to find a good MUNI map. None were to be found. Then we went to get on a Cablecar and talked to a local man who helped us tremendously. We got on the Cablecar which was so fun, and were off to the Ferry Building for a little lunch. We cruised down the building looking at all the vendors, and settled on a little Mexican food place called Mijitas. It was very yummy. Before that we walked past a vendor who had PB&J sandwiches for sale, and approaced us by saying it was National PB&J sandwich day. We couldn't pass this up, especially because it was an easy lunch that we knew the kids would eat..and boy did they. After the ferry building we went to the Marina greens, which was a long strip of grass with nothing to interfere with the kites. (this area was recommended to us by the local guy that helped us earlier) We spent a couple hours picking flowers and flying kites..what fun. It was nice and relaxing, all we were missing was Raleigh to play fetch with. After kite flying we got back onto the bus and came back to the hotel for a rest. We tried to rest but our energy was high. After trying to rest we took the bus down to Mel's Diner for dinner. It was yummy as always (a place Paul and I have frequented before). Kristen had a great time eating a pancake for dinner (it's amazing what you do on vacation that is you wouldn't normally do at home, but that's what makes it fun right??) and Austin slept throught most of it. We then had some dessert (banana split and a Black and White shake) and were back on the bus to go back to the hotel and sleep. So everyone else is asleep now, and I am off to join them. (pictures will hopefully be up tomorrow)