Sunbaths and sunsets

Abel, Elijah's brother and the coolest uncle at the moment, stayed with us for a few days.  He expressed a desire to visit San Francisco and a few things around the area.  I love San Francisco and never get tired of visiting it.  The Presidio is one of my favorite areas with great museums, fun beaches, and relaxing greenery.  We started our tour, however, with the usual Pier 39 visit, since Abel had never visited it before.  Here are a few highlights, hopefully not a replica of the previous visits.

The kids had a pleasant time "playing" the keyboard steps. You could make your own musical piece by stepping on the desired keys.

After eating lunch (In N' Out is Abe's favorite California munching spot), we headed toward the Presidio, enjoying the ever-so-spectacular views from the Golden Gate Bridge.  The kids fought over who would show their favorite sites first.  I have to say James's is my favorite too.

I also wanted to show Abel my special view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and since all of them wanted to go to the beach, we stopped at Baker Beach.  The water was very cold, and there was a bit of a breeze, but nothing that kids couldn't handle.  Although toward the end, when Jefferson had been thrown in the water by Abe and he was completely immersed and soaked in salty and sandy water, Jefferson requested to go home.  I guess there is always a first time.

While Jefferson, Gillian, and Abel were playing with the waves and trying to trick the ocean (which didn't work well in the end since all three had gotten quite wet), James, Charlton, and I went for a stroll toward the cliffs near the bridge.  We saw a lot of sea creature on those cliffs, anemones, clams, crabs to mention a few.  James's favorite were the Chinese hats; they were very tough to remove from the rocks.  We climbed cliffs, learned about the marina, played with the waves, and saw some nude people.  There is a part in Baker Beach where individuals use it as a nude beach.  I thought since it was cold and overcast that no such people would appear.  But appear they did, and I tried very hard to explain clearly to my boys the notion of modesty and privacy.  I needed not because at one point James said that they either were crazy or didn't have good values.  Short and to the point.

Toward the end of our trip, we stopped at our usual resting place, Treasure Island.  I think the artist in Abel's heart loved the view of the city from this spot the best.