The world

Thursday already and our last full day. Time to start packing and see if we can close our suitcases – lol. Done some shopping since Xmas is coming up when we get back home…

Nicole came over and we went out to lunch together with mom and dad. Then we went to look for some last bits and pieces and found most of what we wanted. We had a great time and in the afternoon she had to go back home and we had to say our goodbyes. 😞

We met up with Kevin for dinner at a Japanese restaurant with mom and dad. It was a hibachi-place (kind of like teppanyaki) where the chef prepares and cooks the dinner in front of you. I had a steak & lobster – loved it!

After inner Kev came with us back home for a bit and Lorna & David came over too for a drink and a chat. A great day with so much family around all day. Loved it!

A busy day seeing friends and family! First my sister Jennifer, her husband Lee and Nicole came over for lunch. We had a great time chatting and catching up for a couple of hours.

Then tonight we drove up to Nicoles’ to meet up with her cousin Dan w/ family and also my best friends from highschool Dusty and Keith. So nice to see them again! Also Nicoles daughter Emily and her Darrel came over. We had a pizza dinner with a lovely peach cobbler for afters. We had brought some Swedish candy for them to try – I think they enjoyed it!

A great day – so good to see everybody again! Miss them dearly and I’m glad they all could come to see us before we leave on Friday.

This morning it was quite foggy outside. Peter went for a run – great that he is feeling so much better again! Dad and I went to buy some donuts for breakfast – what at treat!

Then we all went over to the Nut Tree – which is like an outdoor shopping mall sort of. We had a light lunch and looked in some stores.

Tonight we went over to a Brazilian steakhouse together with Lorna and David for an amazing dinner! We had a really great time chatting and enjoying lots of different kinds of food. Afterwards we drove over to Candy Cane Lane which is a street where all the neighbors have gone crazy with their Xmas-decorations. It was amazing to see – all the houses and gardens completely decorated. A lot of people driving and walking by to see. The less-is-more didn’t apply here! Lol.

Monday and our last week this visit. We decided to drive over to the Mount Diablo and see if we could get up to the summit on top. It is south of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated upthrust peak of 3,849 feet (1,173 meters), visible from most of the San Francisco Bay Area.

A lovely day and about 2 hrs later we arrived at the top. What a spectacular view! I’m so glad we went!

On the way back we stopped close to Walnut Creek for a nice lunch at California Fish. Back at the house in time for a soup dinner and now we’ve crashed in front of the tv tired after a long day.

Sunday already and Advent 1st. They don’t celebrate that over here though. But my mom and sis sent me pics of their first lit candle which was nice.

Me and P went out for a little drive after breakfast (mom treated us pancakes!) to look for a few things. When we got home we had a sandwich lunch and then it was time to watch the football game on TV – 49ers towards Eagles and we won (don’t remember the score, sorry). Yeah! Happy days.

Tonight we had a great family dinner – my brother came over, my sis w/ hubby hosted the dinner, my niece w/ family joined in – so 11 of together at one table. Fun! My brother-in-law bbq teriyaki chicken and it was served with all sorts of goodies. Yum! We had a great time chatting and catching up. So glad they all could come!

We had the alarm set for 06.30 this morning and after breakfast me and P drove up to Woodland to Ns house. There we changed to their big truck and the five of us drove up to South Lake Tahoe. A lovely drive which took us a little over 2 hrs. 

As we were getting close to Tahoe there was snow on the ground and close to 0C / 32F. Brrr. We had a great lunch in the harbor overlooking the lake. Then we took a gondola up to the top to get an amazing view of the area. Up there people where skiing and snowboarding and it was quite a winter wonderland. 

On the way back we passed Squaw Valley (or Olympic Valley as it is called nowadays) which was quite fun to see. They had a memorial sign as we entered the valley with the Olympic rings and the fire. Neat!

Then we stopped for dinner right outside Sacramento before we arrived back at theirs to get our car and drove back to Vacaville again. 13 hrs later we arrived back home – tired – but pleased with a great day! Thank you for everything! 

Got up early today and when Nic came over we packed ourselves into one car and drove over to Lodi to visit some wineries and vineyards. A lovely sunny day and a nice hour drive. We stopped for lunch at Michael David Winery and then we made stops here and there to have a look around and enjoy some wine tasting.

Tonight we met up with Nic w/ family at an Irish restaurant in Woodland for dinner. I had some fish & chips – yum! It was a festival of some sort on the mail street with all kinds of parades and performances. Fun to see! A lot of people out to enjoy the evening too. P drove our rental tonight so mom or dad didn’t have to.

Thank you for a lovely day and thank you for treating us to dinner! Now I’m going to sleep like a baby, I think.

What a great day! My sis had taken the day off and came over to the house to see us. Lovely! We then drove into town all five of us to have a nice lunch at Los Reyes in Vacaville – a Mexican restaurant they like to go to. We had a really good time chatting and catching up. After lunch we strolled around the area – they had decorated the big Xmas tree in the park. 

Then we drove back to the house to drop mom and dad off and then  me, Peter and Nic drove over to the outlet factories in Vacaville to have a look around and maybe buy a few things. 

Tonight my other sis Lorna invited us over to theirs for dinner – she had prepared a great meal and set a beautiful table for us. We are being spoiled and having a great time. And my hubby is finally feeling a bit better again. 

Tonight it was raining for a bit but it was all nice and sunny by the time we got up. Hubby had some more fever tonight so he kept to himself most of the day although the fever was gone by the morning. 

I have spent the day catching up and it’s been a nice quiet day. I went grocery shopping with day and we had a great time chatting. Then before dinner me and my oldest sister and mom went to run some errands and also stopped by a  store they wanted to show me. Now we’ve had dinner together with my sis and her husband – sliders and lumpia – which are like a small beef burger and Filipino spring rolls. Mm.

Hubby felt a bit better this morning after sleeping for about 32 hrs… so, he was able to join us for breakfast and then we went for a slow lovely walk on a trail near by where they live. The Helen Putnam Regional Park it was called and we chose a 3 mile trail which took us about an hour to finish. A lovely walk up hill and in a forrest. Great views. Hubby was able to come along too! 

We had a great visit with the S family – they always make us feel so welcome and at home. Thank you so much for having us! 

We took another covid test (all four of us) and it was still negative, so that was good. After a lovely lunch we drove over to my extended family and it was amazing to see them again after all these years. Now hopefully my hubby will feel much better and fingers crossed I won’t come down with any flue either.