Monterey!

Took longer than it should have, but finally got to visit the Monterey area again!
Shawna and her family were visiting from VA so it gave me the excuse.
Justin was training for work in MD so the rest of us went up for a couple days.

We went strait to a new spot Danna found in Carmel Valley on the river.

So good to see these faces!

Amanda S was out of town...sad to not see her,
but awesome to get to stay in her amazing house.

I love her backyard hedges.
The kids loved the see-through shower.
Drew wants to live there for "20 years."
I could handle that.

That night...a backyard hot dog and s'more roast at Danna's.

Bright & early the next morning, we did the Garrapata trail.
Just driving to it was amazing.
Forgot how beautiful it is there.

While Owen & Drew explored the trail,

the girls shared some Chapstick.

Rushed straight to Danna's afterwards for a potluck lunch.

Those girls know how to do potlucks.
LOVED seeing so many people and meeting some new babies.

Water fight after lunch.

Please note Felicity's velvet ensemble.

The observers:

Staying far away from the water:

That night...the farmer's market (where the kids got way too spoiled by Aaron),
and clam chowder on the Wharf.

Wagon Wheel breakfast the next morning.

Oatmeal pancakes even better than I remembered.
Went back for more the next day on my way home.

A quick stop to Hacienda Hay & Feed to see the animals.

Then the newly remodeled Earthbound Farms for raspberries and ice cream.

The parking lot before heading in to the famous Dennis the Menace park.

Felicity loves the boys.

Super quick run around Lover's Point.

Then kayaking the Carmel River.

Craig (our token male) & Danna arranged for this.
It was awesome and it was crazy.
None of us had kayaked before and this was a 7-mile, 3-hour trip.
The river had tree blockages, shallow parts that we had to push the canoe over...it was nuts.
But SO beautiful and I'm so glad we got to do it.

Before we knew what we were getting into:

Wish we had an after picture...goose eggs, scrapes, bruises, and mascara faces.

At the end, we were so exhausted, but it really was amazing.

The kids had been w/babysitters all afternoon.
Drew was happy to finally get to the tire swing he'd been hearing about.

I loved these huge floppy daisy-like flowers.

We fit so much into 2 1/2 days.
It was the best.
Felt like we had never left.
Missed a lot of faces but were way happy to see everyone who was there.
Oh and did I mention we had pretty much perfect weather?
Sunny summer days are not too common there.
We got lucky.
Such a good trip!