wedan family grows celebrates 10 years!

It occurred to me that I started this blog 10 years ago!  It started with a post announcing our intention to adopt our first child and has journaled our life through first steps, lost teeth - and all the bumps and bruises in between. 

Here are a few facts about wedan family grows:

1. There are 639 published posts, and 59 "drafts" that never got put up on the blog.

2. As of this moment, there have been 57430 page views.  I have gone through seasons of wanting to make the blog private, but finally settled on just making it harder to find. 

3. After the US, I have gotten the most visitors from Russia, followed by several European countries and Canada.

4. I wrote the most posts in 2010, followed by 2011, and 2009.  I averaged two posts per week. Which is a gift, because I don't actually remember those years.  In the other years, I've averaged 2-4 posts per month.

5.  According to page views, my most popular post is the nuk with 276 views.  Second is potty training does not equal potty independent with 234 views.  Third is eyes, ears, mouth, and nose with 207 views.  If you want page views, put key words in the title?

6.  After we adopted Reggie, I temporarily changed the blog title to "and babies make five".  Once Reggie was no longer an infant, I changed it back to wedan family grows.

7.  I have had the same verse on the blog for 10 years: In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.  Proverbs 16:9

8. There are 979 published comments, with Ruth leaving the most comments.  I have never met Ruth but we have read each other's blogs for 10 years!  My aunt emails me after almost every post.

9. I expect to continue this blog as long as blogger exists and wedan family grows!

san francisco part three

We have a life-long goal of attending a baseball game in every major league stadium in the country.  There are 30 major league teams.  I haven't been very systematic about keeping track, so let's see what I can remember...

1. Twin's Metrodome - went here on our first date in 2001 and many, many dates after including the playoffs in 2002.
2. Milwaukee Brewer's Miller Park - we have been here a few times and I believe the first time was in 2002.
3. Chicago White Sox' Guaranteed Rate Field - I'm pretty sure we went here in 2004.
4. National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York - not a stadium but still on the bucket list.  I think we went here in 2006, in the same trip we went to Niagara Falls.
5. Colorado Rockies' Coors Field - I know we went here in 2009 because we left our colicky baby with Meemaw and Papa.
6. Twin's Target Field - We hired two babysitters to go to our first game here on my birthday in 2010.
7. Yankee Stadium, New York City - we went here for our 10th anniversary in 2013.
8.  Red Sox' Fenway Park in Boston - we went here on the same trip in 2013.
9. Chicago Cub's Wrigley Field - 2015
10. San Francisco Giant's AT&T Stadium - 2017

There are a few things we have started to do at every park.  We try to get there a couple hours early so we can take in the atmosphere.  Sometimes we go on the tour if there is one.  This one was sold out weeks in advance.  We get our picture taken in front of the stadium. 

We walk around the entire exterior of the stadium.  Before we go to our seats, we also make at least one lap around inside of the stadium.  We always eat the concessions.  And we cheer for the home team!

 View from our seats.

The best feature of this stadium is it is right on the water.  You can see the Bay Bridge.  There is a gathering of boats and kayakers anticipating home run balls!

 I did a little game watching and a lot of boat watching.

We have 22 more stadiums to go - if no new stadiums are built!

san francisco part two

The next day I talked Bryan into renting bikes and riding across the Golden Gate Bridge. 

While the bridge is a mile and a half long, it was a few miles from the bike rental shop to the bridge.

 And 2 "hills" according to the nice lady at the shop.  NOT in mid-western terms!

She neglected to tell us - or maybe we just didn't hear - that once we crossed the bridge, we still had a few more miles and one more "hill" to get to the ferry that would take us back to the bike shop.  Yes, we are out of shape, but it was a good way to see the bridge and spend a few hours.

After we returned our bikes, we spent some time at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.  We spent all our quarters at the arcade museum and watched the sea lions

 That night, we went out to dinner and I did not take a picture of my food.  It was yummy!

The next morning, we got up early because we wanted to avoid a line to ride the trolley.  There was still a long line!  We rode the trolley up the hill, got coffee, and walked back down.

We walked over to have a look at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  Just the outside of the building- because Bryan worked on the design of the curtain wall!

There were so many street entertainers - and homeless- in the downtown area where we stayed.  I like street entertainers, but Bryan calls them hustlers.  This guy made an instrument out of a water bottle and some wine bottles.  The white bucket is for cash obviously.

san francisco part one

We don't take selfies unless we are on vacation.  And we don't fly first class unless Bryan earned enough vouchers from being bumped to pay for the tickets.

 And I don't take pictures of my food unless I'm flying first class for the first time.  It was yummy.

 Our first stop in San Francisco was Alcatraz.  Our tour started with a ferry ride around the island

 Looking back at San Francisco from Alcatraz.

 Once we were in Alcatraz, we took an audio tour.  It was very interesting.

 View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz.

Touring San Francisco is all about how you get to your destination using public transit.  In this case, when we were trying to get back to our hotel, we had to get off our cable car because someone was passed out and the driver called 911.

mother's day

Mother's Day was a great day this year because I got to spend it with my mom...

 and my kids....

...and Bryan took us all out to eat.

And after these pictures were taken, I took a nap.