Fujimoto Monterey Visit

This weekend we were visited by the Fujimoto family (My Aunt Brenda, Uncle Craig and Cousin Sheila). We had a fun time with them, and they got a lot of time to explore the area.

 Took them for a walk thru of the Del Monte Hotel, which is located at the Post Grad School that Mike attends. It is now used as the Navy Hotel! Lots of history.

 Sheila spent a lot of time with the girls, and they enjoyed her company!

She shared a room with them all weekend too!

 We ventured out for our first family paddle boat trip!

Its just down the street from our house, and the kids LOVED it! No surprise!!

Abby loved steering, and Maddy enjoyed helping pedal!

 

 Sheila also volunteered to babysit while the adults escaped to our favorite wine club on Cannery Row! It was a gorgeous Sat/Sun with clear skies all day!

 

This is the view (above) from the wine tasting room. The side view looks down Cannery Row toward the Aquarium.

Then it was Monday again....and the girls were off to school bright and early!

Maddy got the royal treatment and got Uncle Craig and Sheila as escorts to her class.

SIDE NOTE: Roxy was spoiled all weekend too by this dog loving family! She got extra walks, lots of love, and treats!! Pretty sure she wanted to be packed out in their car when they left!!

Carmel Night Out

Mike and I were spoiled this weekend with another date night out!

My Aunt and Uncle Fujimoto were in town and volunteered to watch the girls for us so we could escape for a night out.

We had reservations at a popular Mediterranean/Greek restaurant in Carmel, then headed to Clint Eastwood's old restaurant "Hogs Breath Cafe" for a few drinks! They had a quaint fire pit outdoors that we sat around! We rounded the night off with a movie too! Haven't been to the theater for an adult movie in a LONG time!

Floaters

I took the girls to the pool Saturday and they ended up spending most of their time floating

Scooter Girl

 Miss Abigail LOVES her scooter. And now enjoys riding it to/from school each day!

The boys on our block ride as well, so it was a challenge for her to take it on and keep up with them, but she begged us and did it with success!

Maddy Playdate!

 Maddy had her first Monterey playdate!

This is her friend Zoha who she adores! And vice versa!

She is loving school three days a week, and Zoha is in her class.

Yard Improvements-SUCCESS!

 Mike worked really hard over the last few weeks to improve our mini yard!

He laid down sod and mulched the side planter!! This grass photo is two weeks old, but the grass took 100% and is thriving! So much better than the dirt mess that was there before!!

Evening at the Aquarium

The Monterey Aquarium hosts a lot of fun events.

As members its nice to take advantage of the non-tourist ones!!

For the summer they are doing evenings with late hours from 6-8pm.

They have a no-host bar with cocktails, and live jazz music. And last night we caught a winery doing free samples! So we got to drink and watch the fish!!

The place was practically empty, and we got to see so many things without rushing around crowds.

 Maddy is such a goof ball, she now lays down in the giant room with circulating fish to watch them.....lovely......luckily the place was empty!!

 Abby's favorite of the night was the jellyfish exhibit!

Gone Fishin'

Mike surprised the girls last week with their very own (princess, light-up) fishing rods!!

I'm not sure they cared if they actually caught a fish, but they were excited to try.

So Saturday morning Mike took them to the pond down the road for a test run!

Gorgeous morning.....but no fish :( They will be ready for the next time!

I think Mike was happy to share his love for fishing with them!!

Old Friends

My closest friend and college roommate Cailin and her kids (Connor 18 mos, and Sienna 3-1/2) came to visit this past weekend. We haven't had a weekend to catch up since we moved in, so the timing worked and we took advantage of it. She came down with the kids for a short visit. We live close enough now, I hope to see her more often!!

 Mike graciously entertained the 3 big girls at the house, so Cailin and I could escape with Connor to our local wine club taste room for some drinks!!

 Connor was such a love!! Almost makes me want another.......JUST KIDDING!!!!!

 Sunday we took the kids for a picnic lunch to the park down the hill.

All four of them got along so nicely.

Date Night

Mike and I got to go on our first official Monterey date night!

We got a sitter, and tried a place in downtown Monterey, and had dessert at a Crepe restaurant after.

Fun night out! As a bonus, the Pebble Beach "Concours d'elegance" famous car auction was going on all weekend, so we got to see some interesting and jaw dropping cars everywhere we went.

MotorGirl

The girls enjoy trying on Mike's motorcycle helmet.

Maddy's size, with the large helmet always makes me laugh. 

She gets quite the kick out of it!!

Soccer!!

Abby is on our neighborhood kids soccer team. They are the youngest group, mostly made up of those who have never played, ages 5-6.

She has refused to practice soccer with us on the field in front of our house, but FINALLY overcame her nervous, shy side and fully took part in her first team practice this past Friday. 

This is her first time playing a sport!!

 

These are the great moments!! A smile and some action.....

 Then there was the typical nose-picking, fussing with her pants antics that drove us nuts from the sideline.....

 All in all she had a great first practice. They practice weekly in August and games start on Saturdays in September!!

Lessons learned for practice #2:

*She needs hair clips or ponytails to keep her hair out of her face

*Tuck her shirt into her shorts

*And a well lubed nose of Vaseline to prevent picking....uggghh