Monday

We're in a  little bit of a lull until later this week when my brother visits with his family. Mark has been so excited for his little cousins to come.

On Saturday the 2 older boys and I volunteered at the RISE Summer Bash which is their annual kick off to the water sport season. I won't lie - it was a beating. We were suppose to be there from 8:30 to 3:30pm on the lake, which makes for a VERY long day. The boys ended up leaving a little earlier with Jodie and her son because they were miserable and making me miserable in the process. They were having a good time at the beginning though.

We didn't do much else over the weekend. I did lots of laundry. The older two boys went and hung out with their friends some. Matthew has started to hang out with his friends more which I'm very glad for. This weekend they went and saw a movie. Mark and I swam. The weather is starting to get unbearable.

Michael started his driver's ed this week and hopefully will pass his written test so he can get his learners permit!

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.

California Dreamin' Part One

We just got back from our trip to California to visit my family! It was a great trip as usual but like all trips, it feels really good to be home. I'm trying to get back to a routine which is not easy during the summer.

We started our trip off with lunch at the airport.

This guy wanted nothing to do with picture-taking.

Our flight there was not the greatest. We sat in front of a family with kids who were not good flyers. Both kids cried almost the whole trip and one of them got sick several times. I felt really bad for them, but at the same time, I felt bad for us too because it was a very loud plane ride. Mark was annoyed because he felt the parents were not doing anything to quiet their children.

Our first order of business of course was to get breakfast at O'Henry's Donuts the next morning with the cousins and the grandparents! 

We all hung out at my parents' house after and then all went to dinner at the local Italian restaurant. The atmosphere was amazing. We were seated out on the patio under a canopy of grapevines with grapes hanging down. It was beautiful, but the food was not great and the service was even worse. Maybe because we had a huge group?

I took about a million pictures and this was the best I got. Haha!

This guy and M got along great. He's got a huge personality!

This guy is a wrecking ball but so sweet! I love my Ben-Ben.

The next day, we left the kids with my parents and drove to Paso Robles for a long weekend to celebrate my cousin Felicia's big 40th. We met up with her and her husband Robert and another couple for a delicious dinner. We had such a fun time catching up and I forgot to have the waitress snap a picture.

Then on Friday, it was wine tasting time! Felicia hired a shuttle to take us to the different wineries in the area. I was very surprised at how pretty Paso Robles is. It is like a mini Napa. The wineries of course were smaller, but the feel of it was very close to the Napa area.

This group is ready to taste some wine!

Our first stop was Venteuax which is windy is French? The owner explained that it was named that because this is one of the windiest part of the area due to it's location in front of the Templeton Pass. Or something like that. Can't blame a girl for paying more attention to the wine.

So most of the vineyards in this area are "dry irrigation" vineyards. Because the water table is not very deep underneath the soil, the roots of the grapevines can get to the water so they don't need to be watered. 

Me and the birthday girl.

Me and the hubby. 

There was an intense game of corn hole going on. But I heard that there was dog poop on the lawn so I decided to park myself on a chair and sip wine instead. Safety first!

Our next stop was Rotta Winery. This was my least favorite because I wasn't really digging the wines but it was the prettiest. The property had these lavender bushes all over and it smelled heavenly.

I love this wooden swing. Note that M is missing in this picture. He was one a conference call the whole time we were here.

I can't remember the last winery we visited. I remember the wine was good though. Haha - The picture says we were at Brecon. These peeps were getting a little silly by then....

We had a nice little cheese and fruit picnic while we wine-tasted. After this we went to this little area with cute shops and a brewery and then dinner at Thomas Hill Organics to end our long day. It was a great day with great people.

Saturday morning, M and I went to grab some coffee and an acai bowl at this cute little place called The Neighborhood.

Then we met up with everybody at the house. We decided to go into town and just hang out, grab some lunch and wander around town.

We ordered take-out from Fish Gaucho and went home to eat before the Murder Mystery! By that time, people were in different states of mind. Haha! Some people had to take quick naps, including me, and then it was time to get into character and solve a murder mystery! The theme was New Orleans Masquerade party so we all wore masks.

The next morning, M and I got up early, grabbed some coffee and and headed back to my parents house. It was a great little vacation within a vacation.