Alcatraz

On our final weekend in California we finally made it to Alcatraz. We had wanted to go there the entire time we were living there. We went with our good friends the Wilde's, the Holland's and the Roberson's. Of course it had to be rainy and cold the day we chose to go, but we think it only added to the experience. Mina lost a sock on the walk over to the ferry so Inge let her borrow her mittens to wear on her feet. It made her look very much like a monkey and Dru loved it. It was fun riding the ferry over to the island. We really enjoyed our time learning the history of the old prison. Probably the coolest part was that we had recently watched, "Escape from Alcatraz" and we got to see the cells that those particular prisoners stayed in and escaped from. We watched the movie again when we got home that night.

The Wilde's, the Holland's and the Jorgensen's.

We got yelled at for asking our friends to stop on the ramp and take a picture of us getting on the ferry.

Mina was being a bully again.

But, Ethan fought back.

Mina had a lot of fun on the ferry ride, but got a little concerned the closer we got to the big prison.

We saw a beautiful rainbow!

About to start the tour.

Standing next to a cell. So tiny.

Of course Mina fell asleep in the middle of the tour. Anything interesting puts her to sleep.

Dru and Mina sitting on the pot.

One of the fake heads and holes the prisoners dug.

Where the escapees dug their holes to to climb up and escape.

Mina wearing Inge's mittens as socks.

After our tour of Alcatraz we took a bus over to Chinatown in San Francisco and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. On our way to the bus we happened to find Mina's missing sock all wet and cold on the sidewalk. As we were getting off of the bus a bunch of people starting coming in through the exit and before I knew it the doors shut before I got out and the bus started taking off. Dru had to run along side it and bang on the windows to get the driver to stop and let me off. How embarrassing. Then we went on a search to find a place to eat and I don't know how it happened, but all three times we went to Chinatown we managed to pick the same restaurant to eat at. We didn't know it was the same one until we walked inside each time. There must be something very appealing about that restaurant. It was pretty good. Mina happened to soak her diaper so much that it leaked out all over her pants. So, we had to change her in the middle of the restaurant and luckily Ethan brought an extra pair of pants she could borrow. She fell asleep after that. At the end of the meal the restaurant gave us all some green tea ice cream. I don't care for it, but Dru likes it and apparently so does Ethan. Dru chanted "green tea, green tea, green tea" to Ethan while feeding him spoonfuls of the ice cream. Ethan was just cracking up at Dru and gobbled down that ice cream. It was so cute.

Ethan chowing down on the green tea ice cream.

That was our day. A wonderful, wet and cold day with some good friends. Mina was wonderful in the car. Didn't cry a bit which gave us hope that she would be good on the long ride to Texas in a few days.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures of our trip, click on the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010647&id=116900049&l=947d07a47c