November Vacation

Mark and I had such a great time in CA. It is always so much fun to see our parents and siblings who still live in CA.

SATURDAY
We had a smooth trip out from our house to Denver International. We were packed like sardines into the SuperShuttle, but it was a lot less stressful than having to park & then go, but more on that later. Rick and Jordan picked us up at SFO and we drove thru San Francisco. Of course we had to hit In and Out Burger in Marin County on the way back. The first day of our vacation was awesome because most of my family from my moms side was gathered together for the baptism of my cousin Frances' daughter, Grace. It was such a fun day. I saw my cousin Sarah who I have not seen in about five years. We had such a fun time visiting and catching up. We were laughing at how old we are now, and how we are turning into our mothers. It was so good to Sarah and all of my other cousins. When I think about it, it makes me smile. After the party we went to my parents house to celebrate my dads birthday, he turned 70 on Nov. 7. I was so excited that my family waited until Mark and I were in town to celebrate. After dinner and cake and ice cream we headed to Rohnert Park to see the Nelson side of the family.

I'm sure Mark thought the ride from Petaluma to Rohnert Park took forever. It was great to see the Nelsons.

SUNDAY
We were back in RP 3rd ward. It is amazing to see how the ward has changed, and how small it is. After church it was nice to hang out and visit with not a lot to do.

MONDAY
Not a lot going. I went over to my brothers house to pick up my nieces, Jordan and Emily so we could head down to my parents. My Karen (due to the fact that Mark and I both have a Karen in each of our families, we label them My, our Your, depending on who is talking, and who we are talking about) was making breakfast, homemade waffles, and Rick was cooking some bear sausage. Earlier in the year on a hunting trip my brother shot a bear. I was excited to taste some bear meat. It was delicious. Had I not known it was bear meat I would have just thought it was regular breakfast sausage. I spent most of Monday hanging out at my parents. It was so much fun to just be at home. Monday evening I took Jordan to swim practice. Jordan is on the Rohnert Park swim team. I can't believe how much she has improved since the last time I saw her swim. She swims almost every day for an hour and 15 minutes. It was so awesome to be able to watch her swim. That evening Mark and my Dad enjoyed watching some Monday Night Football together.

TUESDAY
We left in the late morning with Bill, Helen and Ramona to go to Armstrong Woods, and to the Ocean. I loved seeing the redwood trees. When we first entered Armstrong Woods, it was so damp and cold, I was freezing. Since moving to CO I have to say I like the dry weather better. It is one thing to be cold, but when it is also wet, no thanks. The redwood trees were beautiful. We drove up to the top of Armstrong Woods. The view was beautiful, and it was warm. I had never been up to the top, so that was awesome. After we left the redwoods we headed to the ocean. Oh how I miss the ocean. The first stop was In at the Tides for lunch, fresh seafood. Thank you Bill and Helen for a delicious lunch. Mark and I each got a sweatshirt that says "Bodega Bay." I wear mine all the time, it is a little reminder of home. After eating lunch we went to Bodega Head. It was windy and cold, but it is just the perfect place to be to see the ocean. Mark's dad took some amazing pictures in the brief sunset. We headed back to Rohnert Park to recuperate so that we could go eat some more. Still full from lunch we went to Johnny Garlic's for dinner. There is nothing as tasty as fried spinach. Okay, Guy Fieri is a decent cook, hehehe. It was so much fun to go out to dinner with Marks family. Thank you Bill and Helen for a terrific day, filled with all the things we love.

WEDNESDAY
I went to my moms house to help her make pies for Thanksgiving. I also made gingerbread houses. I think I spent all day baking. It was so great to be at my parents house helping to get ready for a holiday. I was baking pies all day. The first berry pie I made was really not a pie at all, but rather a soup like thing in a pie shell, we all had a good laugh about that. On Wed. night I went to work with my brother on a ride-along. Rohnert Park seemed to be free of crime, and in good hands the night before Thanksgiving. Mark went out with his friend Aaron Shiffler.

THURSDAY
Ahh, Thanksgiving Day with the Nelsons. What more can be said. It was a Thanksgiving day with family, some annoying, some not. Football on a large HD screen makes our Low-Definition set look like an ancient piece.

FRIDAY
Ahhh, another Thanksgiving, this time it was with my family. Again, pretty standard. A fun day with family.

SATURDAY
Saturday morning I was able to go to Cal Skate to watch my niece Emily at her skating lesson. She is pretty good at skating, and only fell a few times. After skating my Mom, Jordan, Emily and I went to the Rohnert Park craft fair. I was so excited to be able to go with my Mom and nieces. When I lived in CA my mom and I would go to all the craft fairs between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Saturday afternoon Mark and I were able to go to Galt to see our niece Olivia be baptized. On our way back to Rohnert Park we decided we would stop in Novato at the Hilltop for dessert. We were very sad to see that the Hilltop is no longer in business, but glad to see that our marriage has lasted longer than the place of our wedding reception.

SUNDAY
This was the day, the day to end all days, this was the day of the crab feast at my parents. I love dungeness crab. My name is Rebecca, and I have loved dungeess crab my whole life. My mom, Mark, and I sat for a long time cracking and eating crab. People who live near the ocean and have access to fresh seafood have it made.

MONDAY
Our last day in CA. We still had to have Old Chicago Pizza, and Porter Street BBQ. We took my parents to Old Chicago for lunch, and we had Porter Street with Marks family for dinner.
We had such an awesome vacation. I miss my family so much, so it was nice to be able to hang out, and visit. While we were in CA my parents bought tickets to visit Mark and I in CO in July, that made it a little easier to say good bye. It was very hard to say bye to Jordan and Emily, I love those girls so much. Just thinking about it now makes me want to cry. We love and miss our family so much.

The last thing I wanted to mention, was that if GETTING to the airport in SuperShuttle was great, then getting home on the Not-So-Super Shuttle stank! Bad directions to the wrong pickup location, standing outside in freezing weather as two shuttles came and went as they were overbooked, having an "on-call" driver come in and input the routes into the GPS as he weaved back & forth on the freeway (while texting the dispatcher) and finally leaving our carry-on with my make-up, hair dryer, etc, on the van really was the anticlimactic topper to great vacation! Next time we may pay to use the Hughes Shuttle service!

A special thanks to Rick and Karen for letting us use the Jag while on vacation. I have to say that you have a very sporty car, and returning home to drive my Saturn VUE kind of sucked.