So I started writing this earlier this week, but Safari crashed and erased it all. So I will now try again!

Labor day weekend was a wonderful wonderful weekend! Kevin and I took off around 8pm and headed down to his Uncle's house in Carmel. We took our time, stopped for some great pizza in Los Gatos and talked and talked all the way. We talked about a house we looked at that we really loved. We talked about halloween costumes, we just talked and enjoyed the drive and each others company.

Not long after settling in to the house in Carmel Ali and Mark arrived. We chatted we set up and we all went to bed ready for the start of a great weekend.

Saturday was great. We started with a walk into town for some brunch do a little shopping, to check out the houses and take some pictures. On the way back we decided we needed to go to the beach. Changed and prepared we walked to the beach for a great afternoon of hanging out, beach stone hunting and exploring. The water was too cold for any real water play or getting very wet. I did succeed in numbing my feet however.

Home again we played some games and power-napped before getting ready for a very special dinner. All dressed up with somewhere to go we all took off for Marinus at Bernardus. Wow was that a wonderful dinner, we took four hours, had 5 courses, a lot of wine, great friends, a great staff.. oh it was wonderful. A little giddy by the end and the last people there at about 1am or so we played around and switched tables on the waiter while he was charging the credit cards. He was such a good sport and really seemed to like us.

That night, after a quick and giddy stop at Safeway for lots of water and a game of Simpsons Clue, we just passed out!!

Sunday was another success. We drove to Monterey to check out the The Monterey Bay Aquarium. I took LOTS of pictures, and they will be coming soon. What an amazing place, it was so very cool.

Down the the wharf for some great bread-bowl new england clam chowder, calamari, fish and marinated artichoke, we eventually headed home to play some more board games and plan our evening.

We figured out the tide schedule and made plans for an 11:30 walk at the beach during low tide for some tide-pooling. It was romantic, and fun. Ali and Mark did some serious exploring finding all sorts of star fish, sea anemones, crabs, barnacles and more of which Kevin and I followed them to photograph. We got to play with my super flash and also some real long exposure photography. It was a wonderful evening.

Ali and Mark headed back soon after coffee the next morning, but Kevin and I stayed and wandered the shops a little bit more. Did a little cheese tasting and then finished cleaning up at the house.

On the road again and having a great time we made a stop at an Artichoke farm/produce stand and loaded up on all sorts of Artichokey goodness.

Home, happy and relaxed from a weekend of good food, good friends, happiness and relaxation. Oh yes, it was a good good weekend.