October 16, 2012

We started the day slowly by going on a run and a leisurely cup of coffee before meeting my parents for lunch. After Mexican food, we boogied down to my cousin’s place in Campbell. But of course we got distracted along the way. At Suisun Bay there are a bunch of large rough looking ships moored in clusters that had caught our eye on a previous trip to California. It turns out they are part of a reserve fleet of cargo, tanker and military ships that can be used during times of national emergency. The inventory and purpose of the mothball fleet changes over time and it sounded like currently the ships are primarily used for oil spill training and hostile boarding exercises by the Marines.

After the stop in Suisun Bay we drove straight to Campbell in some pretty wild traffic. My Aunt and Uncle were in town from Saint Martian, which was an added bonus. We talked about our upcoming bike trip and ate pizza, but mostly were entertained by the cutest boy in the room, Xander, my “nephew”.

We sang songs, played musical instruments, went to the park (tetherball is really fun) and watched Xander brush his teeth.

We had already made plans to go to Hollister to stay at my cousin Amber’s house so, after the little man went to bed, we drove south..

October 17, 2012

We woke up in Hollister to a very warm day ahead of us and decided the beach was the place to be.

My cousin and aunt took us to Lover’s Point in Monterey to do some snorkeling and sun tanning.

Coolest guy on the beach

Again, I was a big weenie and didn’t go in the water. Instead I stayed on the beach with Miles, my other “nephew”, so his mom and grandma could enjoy the water. Good looks certainly run in my family, who wouldn’t want to hang out with this guy? Miles was pretty entertaining as he was unsure of the sand and waves and it was fun to watch him explore his surroundings.

On the way back to the house, we stopped to check out some local history. The Old Mission San Juan Bautista was built in 1812 and has three aisles, making it the largest of the mission churches.

The day ended with pizza and deep fried artichoke hearts at my aunt’s house.