Labor Day Getaway

Friday morning started off great! Kurt finally received SDL's official offer and quickly signed it and got it back to them. :) After picking up Logan from school we were on our way!

We decided to take the scenic route down Highway 1 (California coastline). We drove through Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, San Simeon, and then into Cambria. We stopped off to the elephant seals in San Simeon and Hearst Castle's wild zebras. The kids thought they were pretty cool. We then check into our hotel in Cambria. We stayed right across from Moonstone Beach in a pretty nice hotel. (Kurt had sticker shock when he went to pay the bill. We thought we weren't going to be able to make the Disneyland trip work, so Kurt ok'd staying in the nicer hotel...and forgot about that until he had to pay for it. lol) The kids were super excited when they saw the pool. After unpacking we rushed down to Cayucos to have dinner at his amazing restaurant we found on our last vacation down the coast (Hoppe's Garden Bistro). The food was as amazing as we remembered, but have to keep the kids quiet in a nicer restaurant wasn't cool. Note to self: Don't take the kids next time! Luckily we went at 5:30pm before the romantic crowd showed up. We went back to the hotel and enjoyed the big hot tub!

Our weekend getaway also matched up with Pinedorado Days, so we woke up Saturday morning to go watch the parade.  We found a spot at the very end of the parade route, so Kelsie entertained us with her beautiful singing while we waited for the floats, etc to come.

Earlier in the week we found out (thanks to Facebook) that some of our Union City friends were also going to be in Cambria!  They were set up at an art fair (http://www.ericksonarts.com/) in Morro Bay, so we drove down to visit with them for a little bit.

After a much needed nap we explored Moonstone Beach across from our hotel. Earlier the Ericksons & Willyerds invited up back to their place for a BBQ.  So we enjoyed their company the rest of the evening and caught up on everything.

Sunday morning we packed up and played a little more at the hotel before driving to Bakersfield.  We spent Sunday evening visiting with my Aunt Nancy & Uncle Craig and popped in to see how Grandma Kyle was doing.  She was already for bed and was experiencing some back pain, so we decided to come back in the morning so we could visit with her some more.

Monday morning Grandma was in much better spirits, just pretty tired.  My Grandma turns 90 years old this December, so I wanted to make sure we were able to have a visit with her before we left for Japan.  Her mother lived to be 94, so who knows how long she'll really be around for.  I was pretty sad when we left because who knows if I'll get to see her again in this life. :(

On a happier note, before leaving we were able to meet up with my cousin Kathryn and her family for lunch and visit for a while.  It was nice to sit and relax for a little bit and enjoy the Lava Flows Kurt made us.