Our Second Christmas

 

This was our first Christmas as Californians and our 2nd Christmas together and MAN was it a good Christmas!  

We kicked it off by buying ourselves a fun new toy.

We set up our Christmas tree and our Brisbane Star. The City of Brisbane is known as the City of Stars, every house and business sets up these big wooden stars that light up at night. Our city sits on the side of San Bruno Mountain so as people drive by on the 101 or even as they sail by on the Bay, they can see all the stars of Brisbane. It certain puts you in the Holiday Spirit.

 We put on our ornaments and collected a few more throughout the season. We bought one while we were down in Big Sur, my mom sent us a cute little tear drop trailer ornament, Andrea sent us a great Gators one and Aunt Ma sent us a very cute one with our picture.

We still need to grow our collection, but we have plenty of time for that!

 

Presents included: some cozy pjs, gift cards galore, a Christmas train for Ryan and some fun accessories for the new car. We topped off our Christmas gifts to each other with an amazing trip to Hawaii! (more about that in the next blog)

Mele Kalikimaka

It really was a great Christmas and we are looking forward to having a very happy New Year!

Lake Tahoe

Last weekend, we went to Lake Tahoe! It is only about 3 hours away from home and it is beautiful!

  

 We got a cute little studio Airbnb right on the lake. It was Veteran's Day weekend so I had Friday off from work. It was a great time to be there not too crowded but most places were still open. It was the transition time between summer and the winter season.

We stayed in the north side near Kings Beach. It was perfect. We had some great weather and enjoyed driving around the lake, stopping for some hiking spots and basically just fell in love with Lake Tahoe....we will be back!

 

Parent Trip 2016

This past week was Fall Break, a California thing that I really like! My parents came to visit during my week off. They were here as part of their Epic Post Retirement Trip. They started in the Grand Canyon and spent some time with my brother in New Mexico and then they came here.

While they were here we spent the weekend in Yosemite, visited Alcatraz, went to Muir Woods and drove the Pacific Coast.

 

 Yosemite was awesome!  Its pretty much the peak of Autumn there so we got to see some color changes. It was also unusually crowded but still awesome. We spent the day in the valley and then stayed at the lodge and did some more exploring on Sunday morning.

There was some time spent trying to teach me how to skip rocks... I still suck.

On Monday we went to Alcatraz.

I didn't really know what to expect but, to be honest, it was not very high on my list of things I wanted to do in San Francisco. However, being that it is the #1 place to see in all of the travel books and things I figured a good tour guide/hostess would give the people what they want.

 We did the audio tour. It was actually very well done. It was like listening to an audio book complete with sound effects of riots and escape attempts.

I tried to leave him there but they wouldn't let me

 After we got out of prison, we hung out at the Wharf. Dad got to experience In and Out Burger and then Mom and I enjoyed our Chocolate covered ice cream lunch at the Ghirardelli Factory!

Heaven

On Tuesday we took a guided tour to Muir Woods and Sausalito.

 It was a gray and rainy day, but that is great weather for the great Redwoods.

 On the way back the bus driver too us to the Golden Gate Bridge over look. It was a great photo stop.

On Wednesday, I drove them down the coast, on Hwy 1. This is one of my and Ryan's favorite weekend activities. Luckily, it was a beautiful and sunny day. We stopped for lunch in Davenport and enjoyed the scenery. This is by far one of the coolest parts of living here. Within 10 minutes we can be in this beautiful place!

It was a great visit and a good week. I kept them busy and I know they are tired now but it was a good introduction to Northern California and all of the great things to see within such a close proximity.

Balloon Fiesta

Last weekend we flew to Albuquerque for the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta! My brother and family live about 2 miles from the fairgrounds so it is super easy to enjoy the balloons from the backyard as well as going to the Fiesta. I had been 6 years ago as well.

   

The little man has certainly grown since then! Darth and Yoda are still the fan favorites.

We arrived late Thursday night so when we woke up on Friday this was the scene over the house.

   

This was Ryan's first visit to New Mexico so we took him to see the sites and eat the grub. We went to Petroglyph National Monument and did a short hike through the volcanic rocks. After, we enjoyed some authentic New Mexican food for lunch and hung out at the house with the kids. 

The weather that day was beautiful. Great blue skies and warm sunshine.

Later that evening, Ryan and I went to the Fiesta for "the Glowdeo." After sunset the balloons are suppose to inflate and stay tethered to the ground and the light from their flames lights up the night.  

Only a few balloons lite up but apparently it was still too windy for all of them to do it. We still had a great time and enjoyed the fireworks on our walk home.

 The next morning we all went down to the Fiesta for the "Dawn Patrol." It was cold and super windy but we didn't care...we were in the VIP tent! Jen hooked us all up with access to the Albuquerque Journal's VIP tent complete with coffee and breakfast burritos as well as a heater! It was fantastic. We didn't even mind the hour and a half delay.

 When they finally gave the green flag... it was game on!  Balloons everywhere, people everywhere...Balloon Fiesta fun (even with the gloomy grey sky)

On the walk home, however, things took a wet sloshy turn. It rained. In the desert. Who knew?  

Since it was raining we spent the afternoon with Frank and Mattie and Tas at Dave and Busters playing video games and winning prizes.

Overall it was a great weekend!