My Family

My Family

Monday, December 12, 2011

Monterrey and Carmel






The Beach! My favorite place to go in the world. And now I have been to what I believe could be the most beautiful beach, for sure the prettiest I have seen. We met my cousin Diane in Monterrey (where she lives). The kids loved hanging out with Diane and her dog, Lola! She was our tour guide for the day. We walked on the Wharf, had lunch, watched the Sea lions, walked by the water. It was my first time to see real starfish in the ocean. Beauiful, orange starfish stuck to things on the side of the pier. Awesome!!
We had a wonderful lunch and then we took the 16 mile drive along the Coastline. If you haven't heard of this drive it's just beautiful scenery, houses, beaches the entire way. We made multiple stops looking out at at the beaches. There is a really cool Pebble Beach that I really would love to go see again. Then we went to Carmel and played on the beach there. The beach is dog friendly and there were dogs running around everywhere. So next time I think our girls will make the trip! They will LOVE it. We were going to try some family pictures but the sun was going down and they didn't really turn out.

Redwood Forest






We planned a big trip to the Redwood Forest! We have talked about doing this since before we left Birmingham. We went to a forest that is near us not to the one that is quite a ways away. We plan on going to that in the future maybe for a weekend. I want to see the tree that people can actually drive through. There is a train around the park that we went to, but part of the park was actually closed because of a wind storm they had had recently. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful the forest was. We really could have spent the entire day there. Our pictures just do not do it justice. The trees are huge and beautiful. As we were hiking through this lady on a white horse came galloping through, I loved it. So my word to describe this place would have to be, Magical!

San Fransisco






One place I had been looking forward to seeing was San Fransisco. We saved it for when Mom came because I knew she would enjoy it as well. Clay had been several times for work but had not seen all of the fun attractions there.
We first went to see the Golden Gate Bridge, it was amazing!! If you know me very well you know I hate driving over bridges, especially over water. So I wouldn't let Clay actually drive over it but there was a great Look out place for us. Clay jogged out to the middle of the bridge by himself to get the view from there.
I had never heard of Lumbard street, but now I have and now I have seen it. A cute, really windy street. We went to the Wharf after that and walked around and had lunch. Wonderful views of sailboats, water, and ofcourse the sea lions all over the place. I LOVED it there. I actually don't think I have been anywhere yet that I haven't liked, other than the apartment we lived in when we first got here! :)
We had lunch at Bubba Gump's, really fun place!! There was a magic show, that the kids loved, Cenley clapped the whole time. Mom and I bought some yummy chocolate. I think everyone really enjoyed it and I look forward to going back.

Mom's Visit




Well, it has been a long time since I have written a blog. I keep saying I am going to catch up and something else comes up. I am not even sure where I should start. We have been doing a lot lately enjoying what California has to offer us. The weather is wonderful. Most days are in the 60's so it's perfect for us to get out. We did learn just because it's warm where we live doesn't mean it's not cooler other places. Mom came and stayed a couple of weeks and we went to San Fransisco. That place is cold and Windy!! Lesson learned.
So, Mom came a few days before Thanksgiving and we were all really happy to have her. I really enjoyed the company. So Clay and I tried to plan quite a few things to do while she was here. We showed her some of San Jose, San Fransisco, Saratoga (my favorite town), ofcourse Los Gatos, (where Clay works) Carmel, Redwood Forest.
We did lots of cooking for a Thanksgiving feast first, Mom, Cenley and I had a girls only shopping trip, which was a blast. Then after Thanksgiving we went on our Adventures! :)