Malissa & Kaden

On our way back from Thanksgiving we brought a truck along with us. Roger inherited the "family truck" from his brother - he was super excited to have a truck so he could work on the house. Malissa and Kaden volunteered to drive back with us from Utah - a normally 11-12 hour drive. I refuse to drive on the Sunday after Thanksgiving so we left early Monday morning. Unlucky of them (and us) the almost 20-year-old truck couldn't go as fast as my Sienna. We were going 65 most of the way, that is until we hit the last 150 miles and then we were going 45. But make it we did. We pulled into the Apple Tree House (our new home) around 8:30 pm. We had left Utah at 4:30 am PST. Doing the math ... um ... we were driving (with a few stops of course) for 16 hours. The truck barely made it into the driveway. It gave one last lurch and died when we got there. Heavenly Father definitely answered our prayers to get that truck there! No more. No less. We unloaded the truck and most of the van with stuff that needed to stay at the house and then piled into the van for our drive into the city. We pulled into our alley on Washington Street at 10:30 pm. Whew! An 18-hour-day complete. Malissa switched off with me as driver and Roger drove the truck the.entire.way. We were all happy to see our beds that night!

To make the trip worthwhile for Kaden and Malissa, we did a lot of tourist-ing.

We went to the Academy of Sciences on Tuesday. I don't know why I didn't pull out my camera? But to the Sciences we went. After I dropped Sarah off at school I dropped Kaden and Malissa off at the Wharf. They did the Wharf and China Town before walking back to the apartment.

On Wednesday, we went to the free hour at the Japanese Tea Gardens.





Free day at the zoo. Our last time as San Francisco Residents. We saw lots of animals and enjoyed the petting zoo.




And one last ride on the Little Puffer.



We didn't make the Alcatraz boat so off we went to explore Muir Woods.



Thursday Kaden and Malissa went to Alcatraz, the Exploratorium and Feeding the Ducks at the Palace of Fine Art. We also met up with Roger for Zachary's Pizza in Berkeley before going to the Apple Tree House. Malissa and I (well, mostly Malissa) painted the first coat of paint on the built-in bookshelves in the playroom.



And Friday was ballet and working on the house.




On Saturday, Roger went out to the house early to work on some things while I went to work at the Carters. Malissa was super helpful watching the kids and making my sweet potato dish for the ward party. After a couple of hours, I picked up the crew at our apartment and we made one last trip out to the Apple Tree House. Malissa worked on touch-ups on the bookshelves while Rog and I cleaned the carpet in the front room.


Are you tired yet? I know I am just re-reading all of this! A few hours later we headed back into the city. Rog dropped the kids and me off at the ward party and took Kaden and Malissa to the San Francisco airport. He rejoined us later and we had a great time at the party. Sarah loved seeing Santa again and again asked for a Tinkerbell toy.


What a week. We loved having Malissa & Kaden visit and hope they come again soon!