Another Family Weekend

We have been blessed with all the time we've gotten to spend with different family members this winter. Last weekend was yet another opportunity! My husband's mother and grandmother drove up from Texas for a week; we met them in Monterey for the weekend. Grandma's cousin has a beach house in Monterey, which makes for a great meeting place -- and a nice little getaway.

We didn't do much, which is exactly what I needed. The previous week had been so busy that a relaxing weekend with nothing to do was just perfect! We did play a game of Mexican Train, attempted a puzzle and went for a beautiful hike in Point Lobos.

I could have watched the waves crashing into the rocks all day.

Just look at the color of that water - Gorgeous! 

A little bit of rock "climbing" for the adventurous.

It was a little on the chilly side but the sky was clear and the sun was warm. We had a great time visiting, resting, reading, and relaxing.

On the way home we stopped at a pizza place advertising gluten-free pizza crust. As soon as we saw it, I knew I couldn't go home without it. It turned out to be pretty expensive, but I enjoyed that pizza for days!

*Of course I failed to take any photos of the people we spent the weekend with...

We have been blessed with all the time we've gotten to spend with different family members this winter. Last weekend was yet another opportunity! My husband's mother and grandmother drove up from Texas for a week; we met them in Monterey for the weekend. Grandma's cousin has a beach house in Monterey, which makes for a great meeting place -- and a nice little getaway.

We didn't do much, which is exactly what I needed. The previous week had been so busy that a relaxing weekend with nothing to do was just perfect! We did play a game of Mexican Train, attempted a puzzle and went for a beautiful hike in Point Lobos.

I could have watched the waves crashing into the rocks all day.

Just look at the color of that water - Gorgeous! 

A little bit of rock "climbing" for the adventurous.

It was a little on the chilly side but the sky was clear and the sun was warm. We had a great time visiting, resting, reading, and relaxing.

On the way home we stopped at a pizza place advertising gluten-free pizza crust. As soon as we saw it, I knew I couldn't go home without it. It turned out to be pretty expensive, but I enjoyed that pizza for days!

*Of course I failed to take any photos of the people we spent the weekend with...

Family Weekend (Part 2)

If you missed my first post about our adventure to the Grand Canyon, you can read it here. If you've already read it, then you are ready (and waiting) for part two. So here you go!

My sister was about 22 weeks along in her pregnancy (the first pregnancy amongst my siblings) and they decided to do a gender reveal party while the parents and my husband and I were in town. The timing was great.

Mom and Sister did most of the prep work before I had arrived so basically all I did was decorate and help get the food on the table. And then I ate. There really isn't much to share about a gender reveal party . . . except of course the gender. I'll let my photos do the talking:

 Finally time for the cutting of the cake:

I'm going to have a niece!! Congratulations Sister and Brother-in-Law!

And a few extras just for fun:

If you missed my first post about our adventure to the Grand Canyon, you can read it here. If you've already read it, then you are ready (and waiting) for part two. So here you go!

My sister was about 22 weeks along in her pregnancy (the first pregnancy amongst my siblings) and they decided to do a gender reveal party while the parents and my husband and I were in town. The timing was great.

Mom and Sister did most of the prep work before I had arrived so basically all I did was decorate and help get the food on the table. And then I ate. There really isn't much to share about a gender reveal party . . . except of course the gender. I'll let my photos do the talking:

 Finally time for the cutting of the cake:

I'm going to have a niece!! Congratulations Sister and Brother-in-Law!

And a few extras just for fun:

Weekend with (part) of the Family

Last weekend, we took a quick trip to Las Vegas to visit my sister. Even though we were just there a couple of months ago, I could not skip this trip.  My parents had planned a week-long visit there and I could not let my parents get that close to me without actually seeing them! I hadn't seen them since sister's wedding in January which makes this the official longest time I had gone without seeing them (13.5 months).

Anyway, it was really a whirl-wind trip but I'm still going to break it up into two posts. First, I want to share a few photos from our drive to the Grand Canyon. We took off early on Friday morning, drove five or so hours and had just three hours left of daylight to walk a mile or so of the South Rim Trail. My parents had never seen it before (I don't know if my sister had or not) so there were many stops for photos! It was so cold. I think the high that day was in the mid-thirties, which for this girl equals freezing.

Other highlights of that first day were: Eating at Sonic (a first for my parents), having the rental car stall a few times, and having a leaking toilet in our hotel room. But on the plus side, the roads were clear, the sky was blue and there were no crowds at the park. We also watched the sunset over the canyon which was pretty amazing (and oh, so cold).

After a leisurely continental breakfast we bundled up for another day at the canyon. This time we wanted to do a little more hiking. However, the hike I picked out was a little too steep and long for some. The girls turned back and walked a bit more of the Rim Trail while the men wandered down the rocky trail for half a mile or so. (I don't think they liked us girls being by ourselves). We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the views of the different points along the rim and then headed back to Las Vegas.

We had a wonderful time all together! It was much different from the memories I have of our road-trip vacations where the car is stuffed and crowded and most of us had a hard time entertaining ourselves (because we were kids... stuck in a car). This time we had great conversations and it gave us plenty of time to catch up!

I'll be posting more photos on Facebook soon!

Last weekend, we took a quick trip to Las Vegas to visit my sister. Even though we were just there a couple of months ago, I could not skip this trip.  My parents had planned a week-long visit there and I could not let my parents get that close to me without actually seeing them! I hadn't seen them since sister's wedding in January which makes this the official longest time I had gone without seeing them (13.5 months).

Anyway, it was really a whirl-wind trip but I'm still going to break it up into two posts. First, I want to share a few photos from our drive to the Grand Canyon. We took off early on Friday morning, drove five or so hours and had just three hours left of daylight to walk a mile or so of the South Rim Trail. My parents had never seen it before (I don't know if my sister had or not) so there were many stops for photos! It was so cold. I think the high that day was in the mid-thirties, which for this girl equals freezing.

Other highlights of that first day were: Eating at Sonic (a first for my parents), having the rental car stall a few times, and having a leaking toilet in our hotel room. But on the plus side, the roads were clear, the sky was blue and there were no crowds at the park. We also watched the sunset over the canyon which was pretty amazing (and oh, so cold).

After a leisurely continental breakfast we bundled up for another day at the canyon. This time we wanted to do a little more hiking. However, the hike I picked out was a little too steep and long for some. The girls turned back and walked a bit more of the Rim Trail while the men wandered down the rocky trail for half a mile or so. (I don't think they liked us girls being by ourselves). We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the views of the different points along the rim and then headed back to Las Vegas.

We had a wonderful time all together! It was much different from the memories I have of our road-trip vacations where the car is stuffed and crowded and most of us had a hard time entertaining ourselves (because we were kids... stuck in a car). This time we had great conversations and it gave us plenty of time to catch up!

I'll be posting more photos on Facebook soon!