San Francisco

Colby took the week of Thanksgiving off, and since we hadn't gotten out on a little day trip as a family of four yet, we figured a trip up to San Francisco was in order.  In the car on the way up, the kids were being so good.  Hallie was in dreamland, and Hudson was loving watching the cars, trees, and airplanes out the window.  I actually turned to Colby and said, "you know, these kids are actually at a perfect age for this.  Hudson enjoys these outings and is quite cooperative, and Hallie is still easy, as long as she's having a good day and not fussy.  She really only sleeps and wakes to eat." Colby smiled.

We continued through the east side of the city, and saw gorgeous homes in the Sea Cliff and Presidio areas near the coast on our way to Baker Beach.  We didn't have a huge plan, but knew Hudson would love the ocean, and thought it would be a cool view of the bridge from the beach.  Both were great assumptions!  The only things we didn't consider was how cold and windy it would be.  We sure aren't used to these Northern California beaches in November. Ha! Hudson loved gathering sticks and drawing in the sand.  He kept drawing "tracks" and accidentally drew a perfect heart that Colby and I were quite impressed with.  We walked almost the whole beach and stopped to take a couple pictures with the bridge.  Hallie needed to eat, so I took her back to the car to feed her while Hudson and Colby continued to play, watching the fishermen and playing with the dogs, rocks, and sticks.  When they got back to the car and went to start it, we quickly realized that I had the auxiliaries on and had killed the battery. Whoops. Luckily the man parked next to us was in his truck and had cables and a kind enough heart to help us out. :)

We went on to eat lunch at Lou's Cafe and had great sandwiches. From there we headed into Golden Gate Park so we could take Hudson on the Merry-Go-Round.  We got a little lost with our GPS and it took us about 20 minutes to make the simple drive that should have taken 5.  Oh well. Part of the experience. :) On our way, Hudson started saying "hurt" and pointing to his stomach right where his pants hit his waist.  We figured they were too tight, so loosened them.  He said it again, and we realized there was sand in the top of his diaper that was probably rubbing him, so we brushed it away.  We got to the park, loaded hallie in the stroller and stuck a bottle in her mouth, as she was now hungry again and letting us know it.  I pushed the stroller and Colby and Hudson meandered to the merry go round.  Hudson was sure taking his time, and we soon realized he kept stopping to go to the bathroom.  By the time he finished, he had a very full, stinky diaper.  We changed that and Colby and Hudson got on the merry go round.  By the look of hudson's face, you would never guess he was having fun, but when ever Colby asked him on the ride what he thought, he would say "fun!" so I guess he enjoyed it.

We headed over to the playground nearby to let hudson play before heading home.  After a few minutes, Colby noticed wet lines on Hudson's jeans around the edge of his diaper.  This could only mean one thing.  Poor Hudson had been saying "hurt" because he had a stomach ache, and now the diarrhea was coming. oh no!  You could tell he was miserable, but at the same time did NOT want to leave the playground.  We dragged him away to the car telling him we'd head back after we got him changed.  Luckily, I had grabbed a change of clothes from home because I figured he'd get wet and sandy at the beach (which wasn't the case). We changed him and put him in the carseat and he had a huge meltdown.  We had told him we'd go back.  And I guess he remembered and was holding us to it.  We headed back for a bit, he filled his diaper again, we changed him and called it a day.

So, I guess my statement on the way into the city came back to haunt me. We had a fun day, but definitely not easy.  Poor Hudson clearly didn't feel well and slept the whole way home.  Thankfully we live close to the city and will return again and give Hudson another go at the Merry-go-round and playground when he feels better.