Dylan and Haley's visit

Our grandson, Dylan and his girlfriend, Haley, came for a visit!  It was their summer vacation, before Haley's senior year in high school, and Dylan's freshman year in college.  Dylan had been working a lot, and they were both ready for a holiday!

They flew into Oakland on July 26th.  We had lots of activities planned for them.  High on their list was a trip to the outlets, for some serious shopping, some of the tourist attractions in San Francisco, a Giants game and Teatro Zinzanni.  We managed to work all of that in, as well as some other activities that we came up with.  We also made sure that they had plenty of beach and bike riding time.

Unfortunately, they left warm, sunny Aldergrove and came to cold, foggy Moss Beach, but we made a point of searching out the sun, so we could make sure that it was still there!  We had a great visit with them, and enjoyed having them here!

Here we come...

This is a required photo opportunity - Dylan and Haley with the giant century cactus bloom!

A nice shot of the kids with the sun going down behind them.

Dylan and Haley at the beach

If you enlarge this picture, you will see the harbor seals dozing on the beach behind them.

The tide was low enough that the little sea creatures were exposed.

Haley spots a sea anemone!

And gets a closer view

Beginning a sea glass hunt!

Haley's looking for sea glass.  The kids looked for sea glass every evening, and gathered enough to make a mosaic on a piece of drift wood - a great souvenir

A beautiful sunset

Watching the sunset

Dylan, relaxing with his new laptop

Haley, having some quality reading time

Playing in the trees

A great backdrop for a photo!

Dylan, Haley and Grandpa

The giant coke bottle and baseball glove at the Giants ball park.  It was a great day, but, sadly, the Giants lost badly - they were shut out!

There's nothing like eating at the ballpark!

We found some serious sun and warm weather in Santa Cruz!  We went on a Friday and in addition to all of the rides and surf, there was a free concert!  Who remembers Eddie Money?  Grandpa and I spent the day on the beach, soaking up the sun and reading.  You can see our umbrella in the middle of the picture.

Dylan and Haley rode all of the rides - most of them multiple times!

Off to the beach!  The kids were really looking forward to swimming.

It didn't take them long to decide that the water was for watching, not for swimming - it's really cold!

But here's a good way to warm up!  And yes, they had sunscreen on!

Ok, it looks like we had one good day while they were here!  The kids took the buckets and shovels, and headed to the beach to build sand castles!

And here's the results of their labor!

On Sunday we went to the zoo!  It was pretty cold, but we had a great time.

I love this picture!  I have one just like it, with Patience and Jordyn!

We took full advantage of all of the photo opportunities!

Haley, on the lioness

And, Dylan, too!

Fun in the gift shop!

Riding on the bear

Haley didn't look too excited about being a spider!

Here's Dylan as a spider, too!  He's a bit too tall.

Another pose with the baby elephant

We went to Pier 39, and saw this sign, posted in front of this:

It looks like a very large macaroni noodle - not sure why!

Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  It was really good

While shopping at Fisherman's Wharf, Haley and Dylan found these great Sesame Street sweatshirts!

At the Hard Rock Cafe!

Watching the sea lions at Pier 39 - It was a bit cold and windy!

We went to the Hyde Street pier, and toured some of the old sailing ships moored there.  Here are Haley and Dylan in the bunks!  These were not cruise ships!!

This ship was build in England in the 1800's.  Here are Dylan and Haley doing their "king of the world" imitation!

We took a drive down to the Monterey Aquarium, and went through Castroville.  Dylan LOVES artichokes, and wanted a shot of this sign.

Here's Dylan with the giant artichoke.  Of course, we brought home some artichokes for dinner

Dylan was a happy camper, with three artichokes to start with for dinner

A picture with the penguins at the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

This was a great shot, with the jelly fish in the back ground.

Dylan and Haley in the giant clam

The Monterey aquarium has a fabulous sea horse exhibit.  This is a model of a male sea horse, giving live birth!

Dylan starred in a commercial for saving energy!

Oops!  this is sideways for some reason!  Dylan and Haley took a picnic lunch and hopped on the bikes for a ride into Half Moon Bay.  The Coast side trail is a great, flat trail that goes from Miramar into Half Moon Bay

Haley had a bike crash!!

NOT happy!!

Dylan on his bike

On the last day of their visit, we went to the Academy of Science in Golden Gate park.

The albino alligator with the kids in the background

And then we reversed the shot!

We saw the exhibit of Extreme Mammals - this guy was one of them!

This gives you an idea of the size of this beast!

Watching the tropical fish feeding

We went to Teatro Zinzanni on Thursday night.

Teatro Zinzanni is a dinner theater, with a fabulous revue-type show.

In the lobby, before the show starts

And here are the four of us at our table.

And then, it's time for reality!  Dylan and Haley, checking in at the airport.

At this point, we were hoping that their luggage wasn't overweight!  And it wasn't!

Sad to have the vacation over!

As you can see, we had a great time!  We kept busy and did lots of thing, but also had some time to just hang out and relax.  There were many times that there were four laptops going at one time, as everyone checked e-mail, facebook, etc!

And now Dylan is back in the groove at work, and Haley is looking for a job as well.  They will both be starting school in a few weeks, so it was great for them to have this opportunity to play tourist in San Francisco and environs!

Thanks for coming, kids!  We love you!