Disneyland / Universal Studios 2010 - Day 9

This is the first conversation I had with my kids this morning:

Me (after reading the news): Hey guys, guess who we missed at Disneyland Friday?
Kids: Who?
Me: The Octomom
Kids: (blank stares, crickets chirping) Who?
Me: You know, that lady that had 8 babies?
Alison: Is that like John and Kate plus 8?
Me: No
Jackson: What? John McCain had 8 babies?!
Me: No
Jackson: (singing at the top of his lungs) John McCain jingle-heimer Schmidt….la la la la la la

We left Patterson at 9:30 AM and had a pleasant drive into San Francisco. Chad and I were only yelled at once by Alison for embarrassing her. Apparently our singing bothered her: “Why do you guys always SING? People can HEAR you!” We arrived at Fisherman’s Wharf at 11:00 and the weather was gorgeous. The sun was out, music was playing, people were out enjoying life and the view was beautiful.

Our first stop was Pier 39. We took Jackson there when he was 18 months old and he had loved the sea lions, so we bought him a little stuffed one that he still has in his bedroom (don’t tell  his friends that). We walked the boardwalk and popped in and out of little shops as we made our way to the sea lions. The kids adored them, and we watched them lay on the docks for about 30 minutes. We laughed at the “Proud Papa” sea lion who was standing tall and proud, guarding his wife and baby (we like to make up stories about people and animals regardless of whether there be any truth to them). He would ‘bark’ and knock down any other sea lion that dared swim up and try to jump on his dock. We got all sappy over the little fuzzy babies that were snuggled up to their mamas and made jokes about how the sea lions gather on those docks so they can watch the lazy humans stand around and do nothing.

Ashley begged us to let her ride the double-decker carrousel, so I bought 2 tokens and Alison and Ashley climbed up to the second level. Ashley rode the sea lion and Alison rode the dolphin. Chad took pictures while I watched, and Jackson rode around the pier in Alison's wheelchair like a maniac.

The kids wanted to see where The Tanner Family lived on Full House, so we drove to Alamo Square Park and showed them the row of houses. It’s funny the sightseeing you do when you have young kids. We decided to go to Chinatown and have lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant. Chad called the concierge desk at some hotel and got a recommendation and then he looked up reviews of the place on his new girlfriend phone. It’s called The Oriental Pearl. It was featured on an episode of $40 a Day with Rachel Ray, and lunch was delicious.

Chinatown is a lot different than the Chinatown we created in our minds from watching too many movies. While I looked everywhere for a dark, ominous shop in which I could purchase a mogwai for the family, Chad wondered where all the carts full of watermelons and wooden crates stuffed with live chickens were. And we both kept waiting for rickshaws to roll past, and the Chinese parade to begin with the big dancing dragon snaking it's way through the crowded streets. It never happened.

After lunch we did some shopping around Chinatown, but Alison was having a hard time on those steep hills. Chad was carrying her on his back for awhile, but it was getting late, and we needed to decide where to go for the night. And we still needed to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It appeared as though every other person in the state of California also needed to see the Golden Gate Bridge at the exact same moment we did. The parking lot on the south side was completely full, so we drove across the bridge and enjoyed amazing views from the north side. The bridge, Alcatraz, the city… they were all stunning.

We hopped in the van, and got online to choose a town to stop in for the night. We decided on Redding and, at this moment, we are about an hour and a half away. It’s 6:30 PM, 81 degrees outside, and the kids are all resting quietly in the back seat. The only sound we hear from back there is Alison munching on an apple. We are listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and it’s starting to settle on our hearts a little that this is almost over.

Gulp.

The Niemeyers