Day 1: Carmel, CA

Boy have we all been busy! Not only work-wise but life wise as well. We got back about a week ago from my brother David's wedding in Carmel, California. Carmel is probably one of the most beautiful places I have seen. It's like a picture postcard.

We flew out around 830a Weds, August 19 - a direct flight into SFO. While for a couple with no kids, that time seems reasonable - adding 2 kids into the mix makes it a wee bit more challenging. They were tired. We did manage to just about finish packing on the Monday before which took some of the heat off of the Tuesday prep. We got the kids up and did manage to get to Dulles Airport with plenty of time. We got onto the plane -- and all was well. The kids did not sleep on the flight into SFO and when we arrived, they were not only antsy to move around, but cranky and tired. My mom flew into SFO from NJ about an hour earlier than us, so she waited for us and we got our minivan rented and hit the road. We decided to get lunch in Palo Alto for 2 reasons - 1. It had restaurants and was on the way to Carmel and 2. My brother met us there to take my mom and head back to SFO to pick up my sister, Connie. Lunch was challenging to say the least. Right after lunch, we said our "see ya laters" to Jon and Mom and headed to Carmel. Carmel is about 110mi from San Fran. Mom and Connie were spending one night in San Fran at David and Janine's apartment and headed into Carmel the following morning.

We arrived at our hotel and we were all tired. David and Janine stopped by briefly to say hello and then we hit the beach for a bit. It is pretty chill in Carmel and it was past dinner time. The kids have fun running around and chasing the seagulls that were resting on the sand. After that, we returned to the hotel and Scott went and got us some dinner. We ate in the room while watching the Hannah Montana marathon on the Disney Channel. We were all pretty worn out and ready for bed. So we hit the hay - gearing up for a busy next day.