California Dreaming' Part 2

After our wonderful trip to Paso Robles, we drove back to Morgan Hill went to my sister's new house in Hollister for family dinner. This was the last night that all my siblings and our family will all be together because M had to fly out to SoCal for work and when he gets back, my brother and his family were going to Bodega to celebrate his in-laws 50th anniversary. Fifty years! That's amazing.

Anyway, my sister's house was beautiful and dinner was real Mexican food not the tex-mix stuff like we get here. It was so yummy. After dinner, we tried to do family pictures and got these.

Not hang on the wall quality, but it'll do.

We tried to get one with Makena and all her boy cousins. Result was good, except we were missing one little guy. Ben was not having any of it.

The next day was beach day! We packed up, had lunch in Gilroy and headed out to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

We decided on the Boardwalk not because of the rides, but because there were bathrooms. Haha! We thought maybe we could get some carnival food too, but the boys didn't ask for any so I didn't offer it up.

My sister brought the shade tent and it was perfect to lounge in.

The weather was nice for Santa Cruz, but the water was FREEZING to me.

That didn't stop these guys from getting in the water.

This water looks warm, but it's not....

It was a fun time. The older boys even participated because their iPhones were out of battery. Haha!

The thing I really like about visiting family is that we have days where we just do nothing but stay home. There's no pressure to go out and cram activities into our trip because there's really no purpose other than to be with family.

We went over to my brother's house for crepes one morning. Michael said he had five. He does not know his limit sometimes.

The day before Fourth of July, Mark and I went to pick M up from SFO. Then we all headed out to Cannery Row and Monterey Bay Aquarium. The boys always ask to go because they get to buy candy in Cannery Row. This year, Michael and Matthew got $15 to spend on whatever they wanted in return for pictures. I thought it was a fair deal.

Michael spent all of it on saltwater taffy. He loves saltwater taffy. Alex stayed home with my sister-in- law because he woke up with a fever that morning. Boo.

The Bay never gets old. I love looking out into this view! Sometimes you can see sea otters out on the rocks.

After the Aquarium, we always stop by Ghiradelli's for a treat. These boys knew exactly what they wanted - Brownies a la mode.

Mark and I shared two scoops of ice cream. This is the look of a happy boy right here.

We celebrated America's birthday at home. Just dinner and some sparklers. We watched fireworks from the backyard. Mark was disappointed because we didn't make plans to watch fireworks somewhere. Next year we will definitely go somewhere for fireworks. I keep forgetting he's still little and is still excited for these things.

Doing the floss with sparklers. At one point, he was moving those sparklers way too close to his shirtless self. I had to tell him to stop because it was making me nervous.

Michael has been wanting to go and have dim sum while in California so my parents took us to Dynasty. This restaurant was where M and I had our Chinese wedding banquet almost 18 years ago. The kids didn't seem to care but it was special for us.