Instead of hitting the malls and going shopping on Black Friday, we spent the day meeting up with friends who were in the area! It was food-and-fun-filled holiday weekend — this is what the holidays are all about! 😀
And I shall conclude with our adorable burrito Mio!
We had a pretty busy weekend, and instead of going into the details of the places we went and the friends we saw, I thought I’d just share some snapshots! I find that I’ve been leaving our camera behind a lot lately… while it takes great pictures, I’ve been lazy and just love the ease of using my phone to take quick snapshots and instantly share them online. I used to wonder what all the fuss was about Instagram, but after a few months of using it, I’ve been bitten by the bug and am now admittedly an avid Instagrammer!
So if you already follow me on Instagram, these pictures are old news, but here are some of our memorable moments from the past weekend!
Thanks Brent and Estella for having us over to celebrate with you all! 😀
On Saturday evening, we drove into the city to have a sushi dinner at Sanraku with Stephanie, who has been one of my dearest friends since college! She’s getting married in late September, and I couldn’t be happier for her! So glad that we could have dinner and catch up before she left to fly back to DC.
On Sunday morning, Mio got to have some fun playing with a bunch of other tots in San Leandro…
In the afternoon, we went to Hayward to attend baby Easton’s first birthday party!
It’s been pretty hot lately, so I’ve been having fun dressing Mio up in cute little sundresses. We’ve been staying cool indoors while enjoying frozen fruit! 🙂
Continuing from Day One of our weekend trip down to Big Sur and Carmel, here is Day Two! Sunday was a lot more relaxed, and we slept in at our cottage in the morning, had breakfast, and then spent a few hours at Carmel Beach before taking the scenic road home.
A video Dan took of me on the beach… (I thought he was taking a photo of me at first — hence the posing.)
On our way back up the 101, we stopped by Castroville to pick up some fresh produce for Dan’s parents for watching Mio.
We continued to make a few stops here and there as we drove up the coast, to admire the views of the ocean.
We passed through Half Moon Bay on our way home, and grabbed a bite to eat there as a late lunch/early dinner. We wanted some cheap but good Mexican food, and found just the place: Happy Taco!
We arrived in San Lorenzo in the evening to pick up Mio, and she seemed to have had fun during her weekend at the grandparents’. But when we came through the door, she looked up and immediately reached her arms out to be held by me — she missed me! And of course, we missed her too. It’s back work for Dan this week, and I’m trying to adjust to being a freelancing WAHM (work-at-home-mom). It’s not going to be easy to balance work and family within the home and keep it separate, but I’m excited about new opportunities and more time spent with Mio.
This past weekend was really rejuvenating and enjoyable — I don’t think we’d had that much fun in a while! I think besides both Dan and I just really needing a vacation in general, we also really needed that time for just the two of us. Of course we love Mio and cherish the time we spend with her, but I think that any parent of a young child needs a break from time to time. Between working exhausting hours at work (Dan has been pulling late nights at work until 11pm and on weekends the last couple of weeks due to a deliverable), and coming home to immediately switch gears to be Mommy and Daddy — it feels like working a double shift! It’s really important to every healthy relationship to take some time away from the baby to go on a date night or take a little trip to just be a couple again, because it’s hard to find the time and energy to really appreciate each other when you’re running around so focused on taking care of your child. We really appreciated how easy things were again — we could make frequent quick stops while driving, and hop back in the car… you just can’t do that when you have a child with you, since you have to unbuckle your child from a carseat, take out the stroller, make sure you have enough snacks, the whole drill. There’s also so much stuff you have to bring along when you travel with a baby, so it was nice to just be able to pack a duffel bag between the two of us and travel lightly! We’re really grateful for Dan’s parents for taking care of Mio so that we could enjoy our mini road trip together, and of course I am very thankful for Dan who helped make it happen, and whom I got to share such great experiences with! I continue to look forward to what other adventures await in our family’s journey.
My last day of work was Friday of last week, and Dan and I went on a weekend trip to celebrate! Dan’s parents very graciously offered to watch Mio for the weekend so that we could fully relax and enjoy our getaway, so it was awesome! 🙂 Although we have both been to Carmel and Monterey in the past, we had both never been to Big Sur, and we had talked about going for a while… so we decided this was the weekend to make it happen! We spent most of the first day at Big Sur, and then headed back to Carmel where we spent much of Sunday. Here are some pictures from the first day…
The highlight of Big Sur was definitely the McWay Cove at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park! It has the most stunning views, and I think it’s safe to say that it is the place most people come to see when they go to Big Sur.
The McWay Cove was probably one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen… it looks like something from a movie. (Dan and I agreed that it was even more beautiful than anything we saw in Hawaii!) Alas, it was almost like looking at a painting you couldn’t touch, because no one is allowed to go down there. It’s too dangerous, especially with all the rocky cliffs jutting out and strong waves that can pull you out to sea. Dan was itching to jump the rail and climb down to the beach, but I stopped him from breaking the law (and risking orphaning Mio) with my voice of reason. 😉
Afterwards, we continued to drive around the area and stopped at trails here and there to check out more views. Thankfully (for me), the trails were all pretty short and never too rigorous, so a less-than-fit person such as myself could still hike them! 😛
After doing a fair share of hiking, we drove back to Carmel and checked in at the Carmel River Inn. We chose to stay here because they have cute, individual little cottages. I love how cozy and private it is!
We freshened up at the cottage, and then headed back out to drive over to Monterey, where we had dinner at The Fish Hopper in Cannery Row. (Thank you Katie for the recommendation!) It was pretty busy, but we were able to get seated surprisingly quickly.
The food was impeccable! But instead of describing just how delicious it was, I’ll torture you all with drool-worthy photos of it…
After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening walking around Cannery Row and leisurely exploring the stores.
We came upon a froyo place called “myo,” which reminded us of our dear Mio My-oh that we had left with Dan’s parents. We were able to rest easy and have a great time because we knew she was in good hands, but she didn’t leave our minds for a moment during the trip!
That concludes Day One of our weekend trip. I’ll post Part Two soon, so stay tuned for more of our adventures! 😀
…they do! Every parent tells me this, but it’s really true! Mio turned 29 weeks yesterday, and her smiles have changed. Before, they’d creep across her face and were given with a bit of reservation, oftentimes disappearing after a few seconds. In the last few days, her smiles seem to have keyed up a notch and are a lot more enthusiastic and wholehearted… I’m not sure how else to describe it except that they’re so animated that they take up her entire face! Her nose scrunches up, her eyes disappear into crescents, and her mouth opens wide to reveal her toothy grin (well, as toothy as you can get with just two bottom teeth). They are the most adorable smiles I’ve ever seen, and are truly infectious!
Some more photos and videos from yesterday…
Mio showing off her crawling skills for Daddy:
Having fun playing with her blanket and Mama:
…and I shall end with yet another photo of that smile of hers. Just can’t get enough of them! 😛
