San Francisco with Kids!

 


Today was our first full day in the Bay Area and it was also Easter Sunday! The Easter bunny didn’t come to the hotel room last night, however I had a feeling the bunny stopped at our house when we were gone. The kids would have to wait until we get home to find out! 🙂

The kids loved sleeping on the sofa sleeper at the hotel!  It was such a treat!  They were up bright and early, of course.  Why can’t they get up this early on school days?  We headed downstairs for the Embassy Suites FULL cooked to order breakfast!  I just love this hotel!  If you can’t find something to eat for breakfast, then there is no hope for you.  They have everything!

After filling up their bellies, our daughter was dying to get in the swimming pool.  She had been eyeing up the pool since we arrived.  I remember being a kid and couldn’t wait to swim in any pool.  After the pool, we all got ready and headed into downtown San Francisco to Pier 39.

The drive from Walnut Creek to downtown was approx 30 minutes on a holiday morning.  We arrived around 11:30 am, which was perfect.  The parking garage across from the Pier wasn’t too packed and the rain was holding off.  I was little surprised how much parking was for an hour…$22!  If you ate at one of the sponsored restaurants and validated your ticket, you got an hour free. Well, we tried that (got it validated) but still got charged the full rate.  Whatever.  We still had a great time!

Pier 39 has a ton of stuff to do for everyone.  Our first stop on the pier was the sea lions!
The sea lions were barking and jumping in and out of the water…what a great wildlife experience!  Breakfast was wearing off, so we continued to walk through the pier looking at all the shops and trying to find a restaurant the kids would enjoy.  We all agreed on Players Sports Bar & Arcade, which is right next to the large carousel.

Players Sports Bar & Arcade, is more family-friendly than the name appears.  At each table, there is a flat screen TV which, of course, is playing sports but they had a nice kids menu AND an arcade!  This was awesome!  While the kids waited for their food, my husband took the kids around to play on all the games (basketball, skee-ball, driving simulator, etc).  The best part for the parents, they have a rechargeable card to load tokens.  You just put in you debit/credit card to recharge your game card for more tokens.  Great idea!

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After lunch, we started looking around in some of the shops but our son HAD to go on the carousel….NOW!  He started throwing a tantrum!  Luckily the line was short!  It was a double-decker carousel so we quickly made our way to the top.  He loved it!

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After the carousel, we started to make our way back to the car.  Our son (3 years old), legs were getting tired and wanted us to carry him.  That wasn’t going to work for long, so we headed back to the car and decided to make our way to the Golden Gate bridge for some pictures.

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We weren’t in the car for more than 5 minutes and our son was asleep!  All that walking really wears him out!  Our daughter (6 years old), on the other hand was still pumped up and ready to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  We made our way through downtown and China Town.  Saw all the trolley cars, Lombard Street, etc.  We finally made it to the bridge and my husband and our daughter jumped out for a quick picture while our son was asleep.  There was soooo many cars and the line to get visitor center would take forever.  So, out they went for a picture, while I drove around and picked them up.  We made our way north over the bridge…what a great view!  I’ve been on the bridge a few times before, but you forget how beautiful the view is looking out to the Pacific and into the Bay.  Just awesome!

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It wasn’t long after we crossed the Golden Gate that our daughter fell asleep.  So, we decided to drive around the bay and check out the views.  We headed north to San Rafael, and drove over to Berkeley, and made our way back to the hotel.  This was a good hour drive and enough time for the kids to get some zzzz’s.

Once we got back to the hotel, the kids wanted to hit up the pool again.  Why not?!  Let’s wear their little bodies out so they sleep tonight!

It was time Manager’s Reception at the Embassy!  Have I mentioned how much I love the Embassy Suites?  The kids got snacks and juice during the reception and ran around the hotel looking at the Koi Pond, while my husband and I sat back and enjoyed a few drinks!

What a great first day in San Francisco!

What have you done in San Fran with the kids?

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3 Comments

Karen Surratt

LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE THIS, ANGIE!!! LIKE A PHOTO-LOG LETTER FROM HOME!! GET T SEE THE KIDS AND EXPERIENCE THEIR QUALITY FUNTIME WITH YOU ALL. MAKES EVEN ME WANT TO UP MY NUTRITION / EXERCISE PROTOCOL TO FINALLY GET IN ”SENIOR-SHAPE” TO GO ON ONE OF THESE FAMILY DATES WITH YOU!! What a wonderful FB Page / FamilyTravel Logue group you’ve developed here!! This is first one I’ve seen. Hope I haven’t missed any. There’s an Embassy Suites near me in Vegas — not far. Tell Bernie I have a pool at my place too — and jaquezzi hot tub ( her little cousin, Maddywas in it last May ) — not as grand as Embassy’s, no doubt, but nice! I’ll have to checkout ”Kiddies Friendly” stuff in Vegas, too. There’s that Jump in Jungle, Lied Children’s Museum, MGM use to have an feature amusement park inside, Wet ‘N Wild Water Park, Spring Preserves, Cowboy and Mining tours, etc. Outside Vegas. But I need a seat next to Q so I can fall asleep. Caesar’s Place Forum shops has that hourly ”Moving / Talking Statues” performance — lights thundering sounds play animation. Oh, what am I doing — family reunion planning? THIS WAS REALLY GREAT, ANGIE!! LIKE I WAS A FLY-ONWALL VISITING! Sharing @ Rhonda & Tiffany! <3

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Karen Surratt

LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE THIS, ANGIE!!! LIKE A PHOTO-LOG LETTER FROM HOME!! GET T SEE THE KIDS AND EXPERIENCE THEIR QUALITY FUNTIME WITH YOU ALL. MAKES EVEN ME WANT TO UP MY NUTRITION / EXERCISE PROTOCOL TO FINALLY GET IN ”SENIOR-SHAPE” TO GO ON ONE OF THESE FAMILY DATES WITH YOU!! What a wonderful FB Page / FamilyTravel Logue group you’ve developed here!! This is first one I’ve seen. Hope I haven’t missed any. There’s an Embassy Suites near me in Vegas — not far. Tell Bernie I have a pool at my place too — and jaquezzi hot tub ( her little cousin, Maddywas in it last May ) — not as grand as Embassy’s, no doubt, but nice! I’ll have to checkout ”Kiddies Friendly” stuff in Vegas, too. There’s that Jump in Jungle, Lied Children’s Museum, MGM use to have an feature amusement park inside, Wet ‘N Wild Water Park, Spring Preserves, Cowboy and Mining tours, etc. Outside Vegas. But I need a seat next to Q so I can fall asleep. Caesar’s Place Forum shops has that hourly ”Moving / Talking Statues” performance — lights thundering sounds play animation. Oh, what am I doing — family reunion planning? THIS WAS REALLY GREAT, ANGIE!! LIKE I WAS A FLY-ONWALL VISITING! Sharing @ Rhonda & Tiffany! <3

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