our first visitors...Matt, Courtnee and Isaiah!

 Matt (my little bro), Courtnee and Isaiah were a big hit with our kids and the neighborhood kids :)

the family on Stanford Campus

In front of the famous "Palm Drive" on Campus (the red flowers are in the shape of the Stanford "S")

Helping Isaiah roll down the hill on campus

 This little man is such an amazing talker and also really loves his fire trucks! We had a great time getting to know his fun personality and finding tunnels everywhere we went :)

 the bell tower

 creative Courtnee helping Zanna in her quest for accessories 

 we went out for pizza at "Pizza My Heart" on University and then found one of our favorite places...Red Mango--Matt got the parfait and it was the bomb

This is "The Manstad" from Ikea and we are loving it!! Our living room is quite small, so instead of pulling out the Aero bed (because it won't fit) when guests come we can now pull out our couch and it works beautifully.  It even has a huge storage compartment under the chaise for all the bedding.  The best thing about this couch-turned-bed is that we can all watch a movie very comfortably and we love hanging out as a family on it too...a fun new addition to the francis fam!

We ventured to see some of the famous Redwood Trees in the area and found some beauties at Henry Cowell State Park The tallest tree in the park is about 285 feet tall, and about 16 feet wide. The oldest trees in the park are about 1400 to 1800 years old.  

It's hard to capture how amazing these trees are!

After the redwoods we headed down to Monterey and hung out for a while at Dennis the Menace Park.  It has GREAT slides, a huge locomotive to climb on, a maze, rock climbing wall and is just an awesome park right across the street from the ocean.

 Mia loved the park too and played with Dad in her jammies since she had a huge blowout right as we pulled up :)

 On Saturday morning we woke up early (for us) and "hiked the dish" to help Matt and Courtnee feel like real Palo Altans. 

 then it was off to soccer for the little lady-- her first game of the season and it was finished off by nothing less than orange wedges and juice boxes

 We then headed into San Francisco where we rode our first Trolley... we weren't holding sourdough baguettes and hanging off the side, but maybe next time

 When we got off nobody was paying so Courtnee asked if we needed to pay and the guy said, "um...yeah, just if you want to."  We didn't really want to but it was a little awkward to just walk away so we gave the guy our money, but could have saved $20!  

 We saw the sea lions at Pier 39

 Rode the Carousel

 and introduced Matt and Court to Trish's Mini donuts-- a MUST HAVE if you ever visit Pier 39.  They are mini bites of goodness, hot off the conveyer, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar-- we get them everytime!

If you don't believe just read the reviews http://www.yelp.com/biz/trishs-mini-donuts-san-francisco-3

On Sunday we had a yummy dinner at home, walked to the park and then watched a movie (altogether on the The MANSTAD with plenty of room) and just had a great time hanging out.

Thanks for coming to see us guys--we love you and your little man!!!