San Francisco - Part 2

We arrived at the house my parents rented in San Francisco around 3pm.  We got all settled, planned our meals for the rest of the week, went grocery shopping, and just hung out the rest of Monday.

Tuesday, we waited until Tate woke from his morning nap and then we headed to Pier 39!

Collin played on the seal statue with some other kids.

We watched the noisy seals.

Then we walked along the pier and did a little shopping.

 There was a magic show about to start, so we decided to sit down and watch.  Big Al Catraz was the magician, and he was sure entertaining!  He had us amazed at the tricks, and laughing!  He had told the kids that they could come sit in front to see better, and Collin joined them.  Then he asked for a kid volunteer and guess who's hand shot up?  That's right!!  Collin's.  He was the ONLY one.  It was too funny!  Greg recorded most of it on his phone.  I'll have to see if I can upload it.  But for now here's some pictures.

He made a bottle disappear!

 Then when he was done helping he ran off stage to Greg who was on the side of the stage.  Big Al asked who Collin was talking to and then had Greg come up for the next trick.  I wish we'd have thought to record that as well, but didn't.  Big Al asked Greg for a hundred dollar bill, but all Greg had was a $20.  Then he had Greg write his name across it in big letters.  Then Big Al, put it in a balloon and as he was building up his trick, the balloon flew away!  He was really distressed, and whispered something to Greg.  Then he told us that Greg's a good guy, and isn't gonna be mad, and he's gonna help with another trick, but could we PLEASE put money in his tip jar because he now needed to pay Greg back.  Then he went on with another trick with a safe.  Inside the safe was the $20 with Greg's name on it!  Greg left the $20 as a tip.  It was a one of a kind experience and tons of fun!

After he found the $20.

Collin and Greg with Big Al

We played on the piano staircase. Lewis even played a real song!

 Then we had lunch at Boudin's bakery.  It was amazing!  We walked down to the next pier and visited a museum for arcade games.  It was SO cool!  The games all cost a quarter or more, and we spent quite a bit of time playing.

Then outside the arcade museum we found a submarine tour!  Since my dad served in the navy aboard a nuclear submarine, we decided to do the tour with our own private tour guide!  My dad!

He was really excited to share it with us!

Down the hatch!

The stairs were tiny and it was SO steep!

Dad pointed out a lot of things, told us what they did,  and described what life would have been like.

We all thought it was pretty cool; cramped but cool!

The sleeping room was the craziest.  I don't know how they slept on such tiny bunks!

Officer's quarters.  The hall was tiny!  If two people needed to get past each other, you're rubbing bellies!

At the end, we ran into a man who had served on the actual submarine that we toured.  He told us more about that specific sub and some interesting stories.

 Then we took a long walk up to Ghirardelli.

Filled some boxes with chocolates.

And shared a giant ice cream sundae!

On our way back to the house we passed the Golden Gate as the fog was coming in.