City Sans Twins

Luke checking out the Bay Bridge in San Francisco

Last weekend, the twins went to a youth group retreat, leaving the house too quiet. Katie was home, but she is always fairly quiet, keeping to her room or hanging out with the neighbor kids.  The twins, on the other hand, raise the noise factor considerably!  Part of that comes from practicing their instruments (Steven practices clarinet and sax, and Isabel the trombone), but most of their noise  is from the constant back and forth chatter about all the middle school drama that is going on all the time.  So much drama.  Just, don't even ask.  Trust me...  It's dramatic.  

Steven and Isabel enjoyed the retreat, but they thought there was too much free time.  Steven, my introvert in training, felt like there wasn't enough to do during the free time.  Isabel, a definitive extrovert, thought the free time made the weekend go by too quickly!  I am sure the leaders needed the afternoon time to recover from the late evening activities.  The kids stayed up until 12:30 or later every night, playing games and just being middle schoolers.  They came back exhausted after the 3 night long retreat.  Steven said that he rarely got a chance to check his sugar, since he was snacking so much, so he pretty much just took insulin with every single snack.  I guess that's better than no insulin at all and sugar levels in the 600s...  This was a very different experience from diabetes camp!

In the meantime, Mac and I tried out what it would be like to have only 2 children.  We took Luke and Josie in to San Francisco to go to the Exploratorium.  This museum is basically a hands-on science museum geared towards elementary school aged kids and their parents.  I'm sure that Steven and Isabel will enjoy it when they go as well, but they might just not be able to admit it due to the "cool" factor.  The first display we came upon was fairly clever...

"You want me to do what?"

This display explored a social experiment comparing drinking from a toilet fountain vs a regular fountain.  Josie was skeptical, but Luke simply shrugged and went for it.  He reported that the toilet fountain water tasted like regular water.  Phew.  

After Luke finished his drink, a cavalier man elected to fill his water bottle from the toilet fountain, even though the other fountain was available.  I think I'll stick with the traditional fountains!

The museum was filled with clever displays.  Luke really enjoyed working with mirrors and light beams the most, and Josie seemed to like the climbing structure outside.  It was a beautiful day in the city, with temperatures in the low 70s, clear sky, and lots and lots and lots of tourists visiting for the Veterans' Day weekend...

A bridge outside the museum gets covered in a thick fog periodically.  You literally can lose your children in this fog!

After the museum, we walked (and walked, and walked) to Pier 39, which is an extremely touristy area on the wharf.  After lunch and a little bit of people watching, we headed home.  It was a fun day, and an interesting experience for Mac and me to NOT be outnumbered by children.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...  If you use your imagination.

Not much else happened this week.  The dog continues to heal, and to find inventive ways to remove his cone of shame.  The twins are preparing for a swim meet this weekend, and they are back in their regular school and swim routine.  Mac has brokered a deal which will allow him some O.R. time starting in January, so he's happy about that.  Kate was selected at the last moment for a camp through her school.  It's some kind of a leadership camp, and she's been gone since Wednesday and will come back tomorrow.  I'm sure she'll be ready to take over the world!  But hopefully she will finish her college applications first.  I have been trying to get over a cold and nasty cough...  It's been a tough fall.  The kids have brought home way too many germs this year.  Mom and Dad come to visit tomorrow, which is always very exciting for everyone!   Maybe they will bring some of our germs back home with them after their visit...  I hope not!