Oakland: Fairyland

(yep, I'm still posting about our trip to the Bay Area. We took a lot of pictures and it's taking me a while to get them all on here!)

After a few days at the beach, we left Stinson Beach for Oakland/San Francisco. My mom had discovered Fairyland while she was researching things to do on our trip and I knew I had to take our kids there. It's this super cute little theme park in Oakland. You know that Storybook Land ride at Disneyland? Fairyland is basically walking around that ride. It was really cute and fun for little girls! Admission is only $8/person, so it doesn't break the bank at all.

Three kids in a shoe.

Straw house...

Stick house...

And brick house!

There are these little blue boxes at pretty much every Fairyland attraction. You can buy a key for $3 to listen to the stories at the boxes. We splurged and got one and it was worth it. Juno especially loved racing around from box to box to listen to stories. Plus, you get to keep the key so we have a great souvenir from our trip.

Helena and Snow White.

Juno walked around and kissed Snow White and all of the dwarves (without prompting!) 

The Alice in Wonderland part was awesome. There was a "tunnel" that you have to go through and it starts off with a slide--just like Alice's fall down the rabbit hole! Then you wind your way through a little tunnel painted with scenes from Alice in Wonderland before coming out in a maze of cards.

Tempe and Helena found the Queen!

The White Rabbit.

This was another fun one. It was a butterfly/fairy music tunnel--a cute little sunlit tunnel with murals and interactive instruments all through it!

If you go down into this whale's belly you'll find a fishtank!

The girls and Willie the Whale.

Jack and Jill's sliding hill.

Fairyland is mostly these little walk through, interactive displays, but there are a few "carnival" type rides--a carousel, a train, and this ferris wheel. Everything's included in the $8 admission--plus, the food was really good and not that expensive!
All in all, we really liked Fairyland and I would recommend it if you are in the Bay Area!

Stinson Beach: sandcastles, swimming, and more!

We had a couple of days at the beach that were very sunny and pretty warm--perfect for hanging out at the beach and watching the surfers!

Caution, shark attack!

Sibling lunch at the Sandpiper Cafe. I got crabcakes and they were phenomenal. So yummy!

I won't lie, I was kind of nervous of a tsunami. I think that is my biggest fear!

Helena and Grandma Lisa helping Uncle Karl build "Crandall Castle". Helena was really good at doing dribble trees! I was surprised she liked crawling around in the  mud, because she doesn't usually like to get messy.

Helena and her dribble tree forest.

Uncle Karl perfecting the castle.

We missed the Crandalls/Rhoades/Hesters, the Crandall/Osbournes, and the Milligans/Browns!

Tide pools at Stinson Beach

When we told people we were going to the beach in the Bay Area, everyone looked at us like we were crazy and said "You know you can't swim there, right, it's way too cold!"

Yes, we knew. We were prepared for foggy, cool, wet beach weather and we were excited to read books on the beach, go for walks looking for seashells, and build "real" sandcastles.  Mostly we were excited to explore the tide pools!

We ended up having some really hot, sunny weather, but every morning was very cool and very, very foggy. The tide was out in the early mornings, so we walked down (1/2 mile or so from our house) to the tide pools every morning to explore.

Sea anemones!! They suckered onto your finger if you touched them.

First starfish we found. After we spotted this guy, we realized they were all over the place--they just really blend in to the rocks if you don't know what to look for!

PURPLE starfish!!

Muir Woods

It was rainy on our second day at Stinson Beach, so we decided to go to Muir Woods, a stand of old growth Redwood trees. We bought ponchos and bundled up and the rain didn't really bother us at all!

About half the Crandall gang was able to come--we missed those of you who couldn't make it!

No picture can really show just how huge these trees are! They were amazing.

The Red House at Stinson Beach

We just got back from a week long vacation to the Bay Area with my family!

We started out spending four days at Stinson Beach, which is about an hour outside of San Francisco. It's a tiny little town (pop. 450) and this week at least, it wasn't crowded at all. It was foggy/rainy the first two days and then it cleared up and was bright and sunny.

We all stayed in this charming beach house at Stinson Beach. It was right at the end of the street on the beach--so nice to be able to just walk right out onto the sand whenever we wanted to!

The house was perfect for foggy days--cuddling up by the fireplace and reading, playing board games, and watching really great Netflix movies (Paranormal Activity 3 and 2012: Ice Age--I really recommend the second one. Like, really. If you want to see the funniest movie ever made, set aside 2 hours and watch it)

Juno was wiped out at the end of each day and she fell asleep at the dinner table several times.

Tempe lost a tooth at the beach and the tooth fairy paid her with a sand dollar instead of a real dollar!

Playing ocean bingo with Grandma Lisa....

Jeff, Kelsey, and Tyler playing Bento. Never heard of Bento? It's a game my Uncle Karl designed and made and it's a favorite at Crandall family reunions!