Fleet Week SF 2009

We packed up the kids and Grandpa and headed out to SF for Fleet Week. We were excited to see the Blue Angels (our last Fleet Week was in 2004 and we got to see the Canadian Snowbirds because people complained about the Blue Angels practice being too loud so they didn't end up flying).

It's been a while since Shyla's been on BART, but after a few minutes she started to enjoy it. I am the only one that had to pay for a ticket and because of that we actually missed the train we were trying to catch so we had to catch the next one. We were meeting my dad in SF at the station. My dad gets to ride free for life (and my mom) because my dad retired from BART and that's just another one of the perks of working for BART. Jake gets to ride for free since he is a government worker (Concord Reserve Officer). And both kids get to ride for free until age 4. That leaves me... the only paying rider in my family. *sigh*There were a lot of people waiting to see the Blue Angels fly. By the time we got there, there were some other planes flying. We watched from Pier 39, but we talked about buying tickets and going to Marina Green next year to see the air show from a better perspective. I don't know who they are and I didn't see their name on the "roster" though they were still really good. The fog started rolling in during this time so I think they were keeping the show low-key for safety of the pilots. First came the C130 (pretty sure it's a C130) that flys with the Blue Angels. It flew around for a couple minutes then left. Then the Blue Angels arrived! You'd think we'd have been happy. The planes made their debut and after about 5 minutes they left because the fog came in too much (it was only 3:00pm) by this point and they couldn't see the tips to the Golden Gate bridge clearly. It was a risk for the pilots and onlookers so the show was cancelled. They were able to fly on Sunday though..........GRRR! So I only got a couple of not very good shots.Here is the reason we didn't get to see the Blue Angels AGAIN. By this point we were hungry and we had previously made reservations at a restaurant that I can't remember the name of. But it's at Pier 39 on the upper level towards the entrance. Shyla certainly does love her french fries. Can you believe this is the CHILREN'S SIZE chicken and fries???!!! It fed Shyla for dinner, and there was enough to feed Jake and I for dinner the next night as well.After dinner it was off to see the sealions. Shyla has never seen them before. At first she was a little apprehensive but then thought they were cute.It was getting pretty cold pretty fast so we decided to head home. On the walk back to the BART station we saw some interesting things... it wouldn't be San Francisco if there wasn't "stuff" to look at. ALMOST home! Shyla loves her brother, but I'm not sure how much he loved having her arm around his neck, haha.

It was a LONG day. We left the house about 11:15am and didn't get home until 8:00pm-ish. For the length of the day Shyla did exceptionally well. The day could've been hard with Shyla not having a nap but it was a lot of fun and we got to see some fun stuff. HOPEFULLY next year we can actually see the Blue Angels!