It was all a blur - staying up late before I left London to watch the US team play in the World Cup, getting up early to catch my trans-Atlantic flight, hanging out at a sports bar in JFK International Airport for 3 hours or so watching more World Cup action, then flying cross-country to arrive bleary-eyed in San Francisco shortly before midnight on June 17 (2014), a couple of hours after Alan arrived at SJC with Enzo.
The next day we pedaled off as a family to visit a couple of parks via some bike trails, stopping at Creekside Park and then Blackberry Farm, where Enzo enjoyed the playgrounds as well as the creek.
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| alan and me up a tree at creekside park... |
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| with *somebody* snoozing on the bench below us |
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| enzo making the most of the playgrounds |
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| riding bikes |
The next day we drove off to Monterey for a couple nights, fitting in tidepooling at Point Lobos, playground enjoyment at Dennis the Menace Park, and a perusal of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
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| my parents, brother, and nephew tidepooling at point lobos |
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| we spotted sea otters, crabs, anemones, pelicans, seals, and more |
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| father and son at dennis the menace park |
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| outside at the monterey bay aquarium |
Alan and Enzo left Monterey separately from the rest of us, headed their own way for a couple of days, so I made my first trip home to Tahoe and spent my first night back in my own house.
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| el dorado beach/ lakeview commons |
I only spent one night before going back to my parents' house - Alan and Enzo had also returned. We made a trip to San Francisco where we saw Steve and Trudy (my hosts when I spent the summer in San Francisco) and Alan played in a session in an Irish pub. We did encounter a small problem when Enzo wasn't allowed to be in the pub (because it's a bar!) so we found a bookstore down the road where my mother and I each spent some time with Enzo reading books and playing with Lego.
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| me, steve, trudy, parents, enzo hiding his face on alan |
alan playing in a session
We went for a hike at Fremont Older Open Space with Janet Anvick and the Anvicks' yellow lab Cedar, both on the rolling grassy hills and in the wooded areas. We were treated to a close-up view of a doe and fawn as well as views of the Santa Clara Valley from Hunters Point.
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| hiking with janet anvick (and cedar) at fremont older open space |
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| family photo at hunters point |
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| wildlife spotting (spotted wildlife?) |
The night before Alan and Enzo flew back to Madison, we had a joint early birthday celebration for Scott Anvick (June 26 birthday) and my mother (June 27 birthday), celebrating with our family tradition of a homemade birthday cake, this time provided by the Anvicks.
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| joint celebration of mama and scott anvick's birthdays |
June 25 marked both Alan and Enzo's trip home to Madison and my move back HOME to Tahoe...
