Father's Day in Golden Gate Park

Yesterday was Father's Day here in America. We started the day off with the girls giving Kim gifts and cards that they made for him. As you can see, Lola's drawing skills are starting to improve and she's finally drawing people. Ava loves pointing out how much better she is at drawing than Lola because she could draw people before she turned two. Not at all competitive that one!

Showing off the handmade cards

Lola's family portrait.
According to Lola it features "Daddy, Mummy, Ava, Lola,  my cousin Grace and my Grandpa" :)

After a morning of just lazing around the apartment (and a little more house hunting... blergh!) we headed into the city for a picnic lunch by Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Usually when we visit Golden Gate Park we stick to the eastern end near California Academy of Sciences and the de Young Museum as it's really easy by Muni. Yesterday we happened to have a Zipcar for the day so we were able to venture a little further afield.

We sat by the lake and ate our picnic lunch while gophers popped up out of their little holes in the ground entertaining Ava. Lola has fallen asleep on the drive there and slept almost all the way through lunch so she almost missed out on seeing the gophers. Luckily she awoke just as we were packing up and there was a gopher nearby that had its head perpetually out of its hole so she was able to see one - even if she did have trouble distinguishing its brown fur from the surrounding soil!

What Lola didn't have any trouble spotting however were the many ducks, geese, pigeons and turtles in and around Stow Lake. So much wildlife in such a small area. I guess the large numbers of tourists throwing small pieces of bread might have something to do with that!

Picnicking in the park

Spot the gopher

So many ducks, geese and turtles in the lake

The highlight of our trip to Golden Gate Park was our pedal boat ride on Stow Lake. Ava and Kim sat in the front of the boat and did all of the work while Lola and I sat on the back and just enjoyed the ride. Ava was pretty keen to do as much of the work herself although her steering left little to be desired and we had a few close encounters with trees, islands, bridges...
 

Ready to set sail... so to speak

Ready for a family boat ride

Kim on the pedal boat

Ava on the pedal boat

Lola loved the boat ride

Ava found pedalling hard work as she was a little short but she insisted on giving it a go

We made it through this bridge without crashing!

Little cutie

Pretty

The pagoda on the island in the middle of Stow Lake

Ava and the pagoda

Lola and the pagoda

Oh look... I actually made it into a photo!

 

Sutro Tower in the background 

Kim and the pagoda

Cheese!

I love this shot of Lola looking up at Kim

Ava steers...

...while Lola makes engine noises!

Team work

Oops! Ava steered us into the bridge!

That was close!

Ava was desperate to dangle her feet in the water - when she wasn't pedalling, that is

Don't fall off the side!

Hooray for boating

Ava tried pedalling with her hands

Ava directs the way back to shore

We had a great time on Stow Lake and hope to go back again soon. Next time Kim is keen to rent a row boat instead. We'll just have to make sure that he does all the work! We didn't get a chance to explore the island in the middle of Stow Lake which is accessed by a bridge. That's definitely on the list for next time too.  

I hope all of the Dads out there had a great Father's Day.