Any Family Want to Get Away?

Any family out there want to get away? Like, to our house, Petaluma, Nate's Soccer Practice, Monterey or Carmel?

If you are looking for a winter getaway and want to get away to the Bay Area, let us sell you on the idea of come visiting us! Here is our latest and greatest attempt to entice more visitors!

Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory. On rainy winter days, Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory in Petaluma is definitely a must do. This is no small outfit. I have no numbers for you, but they crank out millions of stickers and ship them worldwide. They are sold in virtually every craft and specialty store, all over the place. They've been around since 1979. Cousin Ella, Julia, the kids witnessed sticker production en masse about two weeks ago, and we must say, it's well worth going!

Hammer Time. Julia's brother Tom is building a magnificent outdoor office. It's downright spectacular to see it all come together. A fine craftsman of the ye olde tradition, Tom is pulling out all the stops to craft an heirloom quality workspace. John (Julia's other brother here) is helping as well, lending expert quantitative advice with near instant measurement calculations, and of course, swinging the hammer.

Competitive Soccer. For the last few Saturdays, Nate has gone to a competitive soccer league soccer clinic. They play on a really nice turf field, and there are really good kids playing and being coached by REAL coaches from all over the world who know what they are doing. The only encouragement we can give Nate is to go out there and learn all he can because those coaches know A LOT more than I do. I know it is not saying much, but he has officially surpassed my coaching ability. We're grateful there are quality soccer experts around who are willing to give of their time and teach these kids.

Monterey's Dennis The Menace Park. Ahh, the finer parts of Monterey.

If Julia and I were the hosts of a family version of "Bay Area Backroads" (one of our favorite shows) we would certainly include this park. It's nestled between the Monterey Bay and Cannery Row, and it's free.

I think we've gone here every single time we have visited Monterey.

I won't recreate what you can read about on it's website, but know that if you have kids, this is THE HANGOUT.

There is a full sized "GRA park-esque" locomotive to play on, a hedge maze, suspension bridge, climbing wall, many slides, swings, a skate park, a ballpark, paddle boats (not free) and more.

Apparently I need to teach Caroline to hold on better when she and I go down the roller slide. She turfed it. There were gasps. No blood or broken bones.

Carmel-By-The-Sea Yesterday after Nate's competitive league soccer try-out/practice, we cruised down to Monterey and Carmel ... By-the-Sea. Of course we've been to Carmel before, but this time was a bit more magic than times past.

We aren't sure if it's because it's January in most of the rest of the world, (and it doesn't feel or act like January there), or if we've just starting loving it there more and more. Either way, we love it for so many reasons. Yesterday it was kind of like a "umpteenth" honeymoon, but with 4 kids.

Cottage of Sweets. Part of the magic in being there is going to the famed Cottage of Sweets. Call it heaven on earth for kids, and sweet toothes. I wish I could post all the pics of what is inside...unique candies from all over the world, all in one place. They make their own fudge in that little cottage, and it is quite a place. A must see for all that come to visit. Disneyland prices. It's got to be one of the more kid friendly places in famous, quaint, artsy, eclectic and tony Carmel.

You see, there are parts of Carmel that seriously make you feel like you are walking around storybook old England.

Yup, as in The Mother Country.

The girls loved it. Amazing photos. Next time we go, we'll hit the candy joint again and one that we missed...The Tuck Box Cottage for scones. Wowza. Kids are going to be spoiled rotten.

The Beach at Carmel. The newfound magic could also have been the time of day we were there.

As many of you well know, 5-6 p.m. west coast light can be stunningly golden and makes for some amazing pictures, especially if you know what you're doing photo wise (we don't know what we're doing BTW).

At the end of Ocean Avenue (the main drag through Carmel) is a really fun beach with really nice sand. The kids love it. We love it. The world loved it (there were a lot of people there speaking French, German and other European languages I couldn't pick up). Big winter waves were crashing and rolling in, creating a glass-like reflection of the sun (just in case you were wondering if I created that reflection in Photoshop)...it's real, and in a majestic way penetrates your soul.

Of course, Nate and John were digging in the sand a lot and making it cave in. (Don't worry mom, I made sure they weren't going to have a cave in that would suffocate them). However, I was slightly fearful for this sage Indian woman who John seemed to be trying to cave under so the sand under her would collapse.

Cute.