A GREAT time with friends and, especially, family on our trip. Most of my family were there, so for most of my readers, this is all recap. You know what? Recapping a great weekend is what it's all about.
Darla and I left for Aptos on Wednesday morning. I had to clean the pool and mow the lawn, so we got on the road late morning. We got into Aptos about 3:00 after stopping for some food along the way. We found the condo and were pleasantly surprised at how big and clean it was and it had all sorts of toys, games and videos for Sam. We went into town and shopped at an overly expensive grocery store in town and paid 25 cents a bag for the ability to cart our purchases out of the store. We spent $140 for basically three days worth of food (3 meals a day for six of us). It did include a nice bottle of wine and some hard apple cider and plenty of snacks for the week.
David got in about 10 o'clock after getting slowed down by his Dad on his way out of Roseville. Jennifer didn't get on the road until about 5:30 and arrived about quarter to two. I stayed up and watched old Perry Mason and Bonanza re-runs until they got in. David and Darla headed to bed after midnight and I brought Sam up and put her in the other twin bed in the room with David. McKenny had a 6:00 AM meeting and had to be on the internet, so I hooked him up with the wireless key and went to bed myself.
Thursday was Jennifer's birthday and I slept in until almost 9:00 before heading down to help out with breakfast. We were on the beach by about 11:00 and the coast layer of fog had burned off. It was a little breezy, but we saw dolphins and sea otters and Sam got buried up to her neck in the sand. Jennifer is great with her and they played most of the afternoon with Jennifer pulling Sam on the boogie board. We brought lunch to the beach and enjoyed sandwiches and drinks on the sand. We headed back home mid afternoon. Sam and Jennifer walked because Sam was head-to-toe sand. It was even in her hair. We hosed her off in the back yard and walked over to the pool in the complex. We thought we got all of the sand, but the piles of it next to the steps in the pool said otherwise when we left. The weather was great, probably 82 degrees or so.
We had dinner and then headed to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was $12.99 Pepsi can night at the park and we had our five cans ready to go (David decided to stay back and firm up plans for the bachelor party.) The trouble was that we left the bag with the cans sitting on the counter. I had to stop at a market close to the park and buy a $4.99 six pack of Pepsi that went to the Pepsi counter at the park. It was $32.99 for wristbands without the cans, so it was a no brainer. We had a blast, Darla and I taking Sam on some of the kiddie rides while Jennifer and McKenny rode the adult rides. We had a ball. The kids took Sam and insisted that we ride the Big Dipper, an old style wooden roller coaster. I rode it once and got jostled all over the place. Darla was giggling and laughing and was ready to go again. I was done after one run and we hooked up with Jennifer and McKenny and Darla went again with them, while Sam and I rode the tram cars over the top of the park. I took Sam over to the caricaturist and we had a gift picture made for her Mom's birthday. Jennifer came by while he was working on it and took a video of the process. She was thrilled.
Darla and I took Sam home and McKenny and Jennifer went out for a birthday drink. We got Sam home (after buying more breakfast meat) and to bed, although she was still awake when her Mom got home.
Friday we met Don and Alicia after lunch and drove over to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. It is one of the areas in the world where forces cause the land to have some interesting quirks. The land is all on a hill and the phenomenon is all smoke and mirrors, but still fascinating. You can put a level on a piece of wood and see that it is level, but the person that stands on one end of the board is always taller than the other. At one point they said they needed a "smart" person to verify the results of the board test. Sam raised her hand and the guide said to say "Ghost-Ghost-Ghost." Sam did and she said, "Quickly, what do you put in a toaster?' Sam looked at her and said, "bread." That's my girl.
We hit the beach in the afternoon and Sam had a bit of an attitude on our way out. She wanted to bring a couple of sand crabs home and we all said no. That didn't go over well for the overly tired girl. We had shish-ke-bobs for dinner and enjoyed a great meal. Sam was in bed at eight as we had a big day on Saturday.
Saturday, we were up early and cleaned up the condo and were on the road by 9:00 AM after a breakfast of cereal and toast. Jennifer, Darla and Sam had a 10:30 bridal shower at the Grand Hotel in Sunnyvale. I hung out with Earl and went back to his trailer at the Elks lodge while the girls ate and partied. Sam did a good job and was engaging with all of the girls.
We got checked into the hotel and ran into Randy and Cake as we were leaving to run to the store. They got checked in and went to the liquor store and ran into Darryl and Cheryl (they are their father's sons). I had everyone over to the room in the afternoon and we drank Randy's Maker's Mark. I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get the bottle on the plane, so I was doing my best to help out. We went over to the rehearsal at the church while Darryl and them hung out at the pool. We all met up at the restaurant, a huge Mexican restaurant called Ming's in Palo Alto. The food was great and all served family style. Steve had done a nice job buying wine and beer and they had it all set up at a table with a nice table cloth on it. I split the cost of the liquor with him and we split the cost of the dinner for 80 people. It was a great time and we got to meet a lot of Becky's family and some of Steve's. They all made a fuss over Darla and she was a little embarrassed. I think they remember her and Steve hasn't had another significant other in his life in 22 years. If he was remarried or had a girlfriend, it would have been different. Daniel and Becky seemed to have a really good time a the dinner. Sam and Lucas enjoyed themselves as well.
Sunday we all met for breakfast at 9:00 and had eggs, sausage, cereal and toast. We ran into David and Steve and their family as well as Aunt Tracy and Uncle Stan, who sat with us for about 90 minutes after breakfast. Darryl was the first to break away and change into his swim suit. I soon joined him and Sam and Jennifer followed. We hung out at the pool most of the late morning and early afternoon, ordering pizza to go with some beer, margaritas and wine that we bought at the store. McKenny had one of his friends who is a single Dad bring his daughter over and Sam and Kiana played during the afternoon.
The wedding was that night and it was wonderful. Sam did a great job as the flower girl scattering flower petals, although she dusted Lucas who was supposed to walk with her, but he was busy hamming it up with people as he walked down the aisle. Sam high fived Daniel before finding her place next to her Mom in the front row. The ceremony was wonderful and the reception even better. The food was a little slow to arrive, but they hosted both appetizers that were served in a reception line and dinner. Our table was served. The lateness of the food sort of threw off the DJ and there was only about fifty minutes of dance music. Darla and Daniel had a very touching dance to the song "A Mother's Song' by T Carter. It was a great night with a nice speech/toast by David and a soft moment by Daniel when he thanked everyone for coming and surprised himself when he said, "on behalf of myself...and my wife." We sent them off with sparklers and silly string and the night was done.
We said our goodbyes after breakfast to Jennifer and Sam and McKenny as they had a long drive to Vegas. The brothers all packed up and went to San Francisco for the day. We met up with Cheryl's brother, Scott and his wife Cindy at Pier 39 and had lunch at the Fog Harbor Fish House. I wanted a chowder filled bread bowl and they are not hard to find in SF. Darla had a crab sandwich. We walked from there up to Ghiradelli Square and had ice cream sundaes after the walk. It was a great day. We left the city at 4 PM and were home by 6.
That was our week that was and I'm tired just writing it. I was tired at work today, but should be back to my self by tomorrow. Ciao.
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