Our time "Back Home" in San Jose

When we left Redding, we drove back to San Jose, which is where we spent the rest of our time. I failed in the picture taking area, and don't have photos of much of what we did. But let me say, we had a fun time! Here is a list of some of the fun things we did, but I have no pictures to prove it!

I attended a bridal shower for a friend, Cassie, and was able to see Heather and Maeve, two other girls from my days of working in the youth group at LGCC.

I had lunch with my former co-worker and dear friend, Anne. She is like another grandma to the kids- and we all had fun seeing her.

I had breakfast with some friends from church, Hillary and Kaitlyn, and Kaitlyn's new baby, Logan. Levi and Logan are just a few weeks apart. It was a fun breakfast, but a little crazy with so many kids! (I'll be honest, the babies were perfect. It was more Eliana and Silas- why would they want to sit and eat breakfast when they can run around in a restaurant?!?).

We had lots of fun with our friends, Brandon and Sarah, who we stayed with. We were up many nights talking until the wee hours of the morning. I think once it was 4AM. Yep, we were all tired the next day.

Luke had a day to go down the coast and take pictures with Brandon.

We had dinner with my former boss and great friend, Diane, and her husband, Brian. It was a double date at Santana Row- and a perfect evening of food, ice cream, coffee, catching up, and laughing. 

We ate at In-N-Out 3 times! Yes, it was wonderful. Our second time was in Fairfield, on the way to Redding, and Silas had his first hamburger ever! Memorable. :)

We had more CCC's at the Great Bear then I can count. We shopped at Trader Joe's a couple of times. We ate at Willow Street, one of our favorite restaurants (and a place I worked for many years). We shopped. Luke had Phil's Coffee. We had Sprinkles cupcakes again. We went to our favorite parks. We had a picnic at Vasona with friends and road the train and carousel. We spent time hanging out in Los Gatos. We went to the fountain to play. We visited friends and former co-workers at our old church. We were able to attend the service and worship at our old church- and see many friends and familiar faces. We had Manley's Donuts- more then once! We went and drove through our old apartment complex and tried to explain to Silas why we couldn't go in our old apartment. We spent evenings with friends. We played at the Children's Museum. We picked strawberries at our favorite farm in Watsonville. We went to our favorite grocery store with "the little carts" and got sugar cookies. The kids played with Mr. Mark and Mrs. Patty- friends of ours and surrogate grandparents for the kids. We ate at Pizza My Heart- and got t-shirts. We went to La Villa in Willow Glen and picked up dozens of raviolis to freeze and bring home to Colorado. We went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk- again!

We did so much on our trip and came home needing a vacation to recover from our vacation. But it was SO. MUCH. FUN. I would go back in a heartbeat if I could. Because even though we were in California for 13 days, we still didn't get to do all we wanted do and see all the people we wanted to see.

The next few posts will be filled with the pictures we did take of our adventures!