July Excursions: Stories of San Jose--Part One of a 3-Part Series

We've been gone.
Physically and mentally.
But look at all the neat-o stuff we got to do, traveling around at the peak of high gas prices. We went to three different places, so I'm going to break this into three posts.

At the beginning of this month we made the trip to San Jose to attend the baby blessing of Baby Schroeder, Travis and Britanny's new little bundle of joy. Sadly enough, I didn't take one picture of the little man of the hour. These obvious mistakes come glaring back to confront me all the time. Just recently, I discovered that I might not have taken any pictures of Keller's 1st birthday. I'm crossing my fingers that I at least took some video. For pictures of Schroeder, however, you're going to have to refer to the Team Ryan site. Sorry I'm so lame.

While we were there visiting them, we enjoyed hanging with the family at the San Jose fireworks. We traveled into the city proper by use of their mass transit rail system. It was a nice non-crowded journey into town, but everyone was telling worrisome stories about the hoops we might have to jump through and the people we'd have to shove/punch in order to catch the ride back home. Since we were lugging 5 kids, 2 strollers, AND since I find crowds of people to be incredibly stifling and scary, and I'm not at all comfortable getting too close to most people, let alone strangers, I was a little nervous about the whole thing. I also have fears of losing my children in a crowded place. Timothy and Travis weren't helping calm my nerves by busily contriving some complicated scheme to ensure that we wouldn't miss all the trains and be left stranded in the middle of the city for the rest of the night, which Timothy insisted was a very real danger.

I'm making fun. Their eff0rts were actually helpful, and each adult was assigned to a child, and we somehow made our way easily onto one of the returning trains without me having to cuddle up to a stranger or clothesline a preteen, so I would rate myself as pleased with the whole experience. I did have some lady who was sitting on a bench suddenly reach out and grab my arm as I walked by in order to pull herself to a standing position, but she was elderly and very nice and I kept my balance, so it was okay. Oh, and the fireworks were good too.

The next day we decided to take a gander at the children's discovery center. I did get pictures of this so buckle up. They had some really fun exhibits about different kinds of energy and bubbles and water. They were also featuring an exhibit based on Alice in Wonderland at the time, so here's the kids getting ready to crawl through the rabbit hole.

These are touchscreen computers that quiz the kids about different kinds of sounds. Keller finished his quiz and left. Then a little girl sat down at the computer next to Meriel who had just successfully completed her quiz and was celebrating by lifting both arms over her head and whisper-shouting "Yesssss!" The little girl turned to look at Meriel, and Meriel gave her a dark, highly-offended scowl. Then she oozed off of the chair and droopily plomped over to tearfully tell me all about the horrid little girl who was "looking" at her. I can't believe I've given birth to one of those kids.

But on the whole, she and all the other children were pretty good and had lots of fun. Even Mitchell got to enjoy a sensory explosion in the toddler center. So many things to grab and twinkly, rainbow-lighted carousels to stare at.

We wrapped things up in the afore-mentioned toddler center where there was a fun area with a bunch of critter vests and little creature hand puppets.

Ian, being dressed as a skunk, obviously felt it his big-brotherly duty to educate Meriel about all of the exciting characteristics of skunks. He was as good a teacher as she was an eager learner. She then went on to flaunt her newfound knowledge for me, Daddy, and any employee who tried to talk to her. I was so proud. Note: you'll need to turn off the music to hear her sound effects.

Coming soon: July Excursions--Part Two: Tales of Tahoe