A couple of weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to get over to the coast for some much-needed "sister time." My family is sort of scattered around, with none of them living in my town. So when I can, I head over to the Monterey Peninsula to see my oldest sister. I love it there: the weather is always cooler, the flowers are always in bloom, and everyone seems really friendly - very 'small town'. We happened to arrive on the weekend when Pacific Grove celebrates "Good Old Days." There was a parade and street fair filled with artsy booths and delicious foods. I think my favorite thing to do is to drive around to Asilomar, park the car and hike down to the rocks where we love to look for sea glass, shells, and other treasures. I love to close my eyes and listen to wind. And then open them to see the ocean crash up against the rocks. I don't know how people can live in the center of the United States and rarely, if ever, visit the ocean. Here are some of the highlights of our trip. The first thing we did on Saturday morning was head to Lighthouse Coffee, where my niece, Kate, makes the most delicious coffee drinks. Yummy!
Next we headed over to my sister's house and watched the parade from the front yard. It was freezing out!
These were just some of the wicked cool cars that were in the parade. My husband has a hot rod, so this was definitely his favorite part of the parade.
Then off we went to the Good Old Days craft fair to wander around, do a little shopping, eating, etc. Here, the boys got to hold some of the rescue birds that were in the parade.
I bought a ring made from seaglass. 
We even saw a blue dog. Yes, a blue dog!
The next day the weather was quite blustery. My sister took us for a drive to see the ocean along the peninsula. We drove to Carmel, hoping for the sun to appear, but it didn't happen. Oh, well........Did I mention that deer wander around in abundance here in Pacific Grove?
Noah, walking with uncle Des in the rain.
Here's my sweet sister in the rear-view mirror. She was telling us all about the town she loves so much! And here are my guys hanging out in the back seat.
On our final day, the sun did appear enough so that we could take a quick trip down to the beach so the boys could hike around on the rocks while we collected sea glass. Is there anything better than watching your children enjoying life's simple pleasures?
I snapped a picture of this cool little house ... unfortunately, a big truck pulled up and parked in front of it so I didn't get to take the picture from the angle I wanted. I would love to know what it looks like inside.
Back home we traveled. Rested. Relaxed. Thankful for our time together, enjoying our family.
Only in CA would you find a blue dog.
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