Visit to Grandma’s

Two weeks ago, the kids and I hopped in the car and took a (six hour) drive up to my parents’ home. It was a great time visiting with mom, dad, my three brothers and one sister still at home, and my older sister, her husband and their three kids.

Since I was far from in photographer mode, my sister Jo (15) took many of these snapshots. I think by the end of the visit, she was fairly deep in lens-love, since I left my 50mm f/1.4 on my camera for the entire trip.

We enjoyed pinochle, talking, coffee, laughing, swimming, good food (my mom is an astounding cook!), family, baby snuggles (the “babies” were two and two in a half, but my sister is due in August, so baby T will soon be the recipient of all cuddles for aunts who need a baby fix), painting (my 15 year old sister is quite the artist), and reading.

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Visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium

Have you ever bought an annual pass somewhere because the cost of the number of individual tickets for one visit is nearly that of the yearly pass? We do that quite frequently, it seems, especially now that both kids are above the general “two year old and under free” admission prices. In 2009, when we were visiting the Aquarium, we found that the ticket line was horrendously long, and above that, the cost of three tickets was rather steep. So, we left the General Admission line and found the Members Entrance, purchased an annual pass (complete with ID cards for all of us), and voila; we had spent about 5% more per person than it would have been for four individual tickets, but we had an unlimited number of visits for the next 12 months (plus we go in the very low traffic Members Entrance, no wait!). When J had a business trip to Salinas in the middle of May, we decided that an overnight stay in Monterey was perfect. We drove down Thursday evening, at on Fisherman’s Wharf, stayed in a very nice hotel, got up, had breakfast at Peet’s Coffee and Trader Joe’s (J and I very much prefer Peet’s to Starbucks), visited the Aquarium, and then drove to Salinas for the afternoon for J’s business meeting. A full weekend, but it was a lot of fun!

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