Weekend in Monterey & Carmel

Last week I got the sudden urge to go to the beach. We love going to Carmel and Monterey, so we decided that would be the best place to be to enjoy the wonderful weather we're having in California. We booked a room in Carmel on Thursday and headed down the coast on Saturday morning. On the way there, we saw something on the road we've never seen before - a guy playing the cornet (similar to a trumpet) while driving south on 680. If it's illegal to text while driving, I'd think trumpeting would be out of the question.

About 10 minutes away from our destination of Cannery Row, Kaitlyn fell asleep. She desperately needed a nap, so we drove around for about 45 minutes to let her get some beauty sleep. After she woke up, we went down to Cannery Row and met up with my parents, who also happened to be in the area celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary. We had lunch at The Fish Hopper, with beautiful views of the Monterey Bay. Highlights from lunch were; Mom and Dad ordering crab and lobster, creating the need to wear bibs; and Kaitlyn screeching at the top of her lungs and throwing crayons.

After lunch, we headed down Cannery Row, ate a sundae at Ghiradelli and shopped at the American Tin Cannery. From there, we went to our beautiful room at the Best Western Carmel Bay View Inn and chilled out until dinner. We had a partial ocean view and were able to enjoy the sunset from our window. Dinner was at Casanova, a beautiful and romantic dinner place in Carmel that was within walking distance of our hotel. There were other children there who were behaving well, but Dave and I had to take turns during dinner walking Kaitlyn outside so the patrons didn't have to listen to her screeching. (Note to self - sorry Kaitlyn, but no more nice dinners out with a toddler!)

On Sunday, we got up and got ready for breakfast at the hotel. The continental breakfast at the Carmel Bay View Inn was really nice! From there, we packed up the car and headed back down to Cannery Row to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Last June when we went to the aquarium, Kaitlyn loved the Splash Zone. That hasn't changed any, and she had even more fun this time because she's so much more mobile now. For lunch, we went over to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. So touristy, but fun!

After lunch, we figured it was time we headed to the actual beach to hang out in the sand and surf. On our way, Kaitlyn fell asleep. We made a stop at a mall so I could exchange some items and shop a bit. I got all my shopping done, and when I got back in the car, Kaitlyn finally woke up. After a wonderful 2 hour nap, we were on our way to Asilomar Beach. We stayed for a while until Kaitlyn got restless, then we started for home. After looking at the coast one last time on our way out of town, we were on the road. We arrived safely at home and Kaitlyn immediately went to bed after a brief version of her bedtime routine.

Monday was spent mostly around the house getting laundry and grocery shopping done, stopping long enough for a trip to the park for swinging and sliding. We had an early night to bed in which Kaitlyn slept over 11 hours - almost unheard of. I guess we really tired her out this weekend with all the fun we had!

Holidays 2008

We haven't posted for a while, and for good reason! We've been very busy this holiday season. After the Metallica concert, Sunday was spent relaxing and baking for Christmas. Not much was done in the way of Christmas baking, but then again we didn't need to make much since we received so many yummy things to munch on from friends and family. After working up until Christmas Eve, we spent our Christmas day having lots of fun and traveling around the Bay Area to visit everyone.

At home, we started early with a little breakfast and opening gifts. Most of the gifts were for Kaitlyn, but Dave snuck in a little something shiny for me on the tree (it was a beautiful bracelet from our trip to Club 33). Kaitlyn had gifts to open from Mommy and Daddy, Santa and also from the Williams family. Being an almost 18 month old who loves to get into everything, she surprisingly took her time opening the gifts. (We wanted to catch it all on video, but started to run out of tape because she kept wanting to go over to the camera to check herself out and wave at the viewing screen.) It was quite the scene to watch Kaitlyn open her gifts. She'd start by taking one piece of tissue paper and walk across the room with it, lay it out on the floor and smooth it out. Again and again she did this, until we decided that it was probably OK for us to help her.

One of her big gifts was an art easel from Santa. Kaitlyn immediately loved to sit on the little stool then pick it up and carry it around, setting it on various pieces of furniture. She has quite the imagination.

After gifts, we hurried to clean up and get on the road to visit with Gramma Cutforth, Uncle Dan, Aunt Kelley and cousins Andrew and Alyssa. Packed with all of the gifts and necessary items for Kaitlyn, we made it to Christmas with the Cutforth's. We had a lunch of lasagna, garlic bread and green bean casserole. Afterwards, dessert was a medley of chocolate, gingerbread, peanut butter, nuts and raisins. While snacking on desserts, we opened gifts. Kaitlyn got more toys and books and we all had a great time visiting.

Next, we were on our way to Great-Aunt Gayle and Great-Uncle Dan's house for the afternoon portion of our Christmas. There we were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa Pride, Uncle Mike, Amanda, and the Bates family. We had appetizers and mingling to start with, then went into more gift opening. Kaitlyn got a bit more into it, as by now she knew what she was doing. We opened many gifts, had lots of laughs and took tons of pictures. After gifts, we ate a dinner of lasagna, salad and cheesy garlic bread (family favorite!). If there was any room left in our bellies, we ate from the huge arrangement of desserts. Christmas isn't Christmas without desserts!

After a while, we decided we had a tired baby on our hands and made our way home. It was a fun filled day for sure!

On the day after Christmas, we started organizing the garage. We put storage up, but only got so far because I got the stomach flu! I was out of commission for the entire weekend, only feeling back to normal the following Tuesday. While I was quarantined upstairs drinking my Gatorade, Kaitlyn and Dave stayed downstairs playing. Luckily, on Monday Kaitlyn was able to hang out with the Williams family and Dave had some down-time and I got to rest up a bit more. Once I was better, we got back into organizing things. The storage we put up in the garage is now full of holiday items, Kaitlyn's clothes and other miscellaneous items we don't need on a daily basis. It feels good to be organized! Now we have some space in the house to put things away where they need to go and feel un-cluttered.

On New Year's Eve, Kaitlyn had her 18 month check up. She weighed in at 26 lbs. 14 oz. and is 33 inches tall. The doctor said she's the size of an almost 2 year old! We were also told that Kaitlyn has a higher than average vocabulary. We celebrated the rest of New Years Eve by having dinner with friends Phil, Char and Addie, then went home to watch Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin on CNN for their New York New Year. With an 18 month old, we tend to go to bed fairly early - even on New Years. She keeps us on a schedule!

On the Saturday after New Years, we spent some time with Dave's grandparents. We had a bit of lunch and did some visiting and playing. It was great to see everyone.

While we were off of work, we also did a bit of shopping. It was a fun, relaxing and productive holiday for us. Happy 2009 everyone!