NOW he's ready

it's official.

ben has his schedule

and has mastered his locker

NOW

he is ready for middle school!

planes, trains, and goodbyes

we packed a lot into a few days

but

it was SO worth it

the boys got a lot of things

checked off their bucket lists

and

we got a quick getaway in before school starts

on wednesday we said our goodbyes

checked out of our hotel

hopped on the train

alex didn't last long

made our way to the airport

and were headed home

to get ready for a new year of school!!

thanks for the fun, san francisco!

san fran smiles

crookedest street

another of the mandatory san francisco stops

is lombard street -

the crookedest street in the world

a one block section of the street

is at a 27 degree grade

and would be too steep to just drive up or down -

for this reason they turned the road into a switchback

with 8 hairpin turns

once again - 

a super fun place to visit

but not really a street

i'd want to live on

room for 5

the one catch to a family of 5

is that most hotel rooms are made for 4

good thing we are creative

AND ...

alex isn't that tall ;)

the hills

in addition to spending a lot of time riding the cable cars

we spent a lot of time walking

and for those of you who have been to san francisco

that means a lot of hills 

it's hard to put that into perspective in pictures

but we decided to try

not exactly the hills i'd want to be doing runs on

or walking daily

but they are a lot of fun to explore

cable car fun

the one thing we spent the most time doing

while in san francisco

was DEFINITELY riding the cable cars

we got the unlimited 7 day pass

and used it well

\\

in the beginning we were nervous about letting alex stand and ride

but it didn't take long for him to become a pro 

they were all pretty fearless -

wanting to ride in the front

up and down any of the hills

sometimes only inches from cars -

parked and moving

we spent HOURS riding each of the lines

and it never got old