Thursday, March 10, 2016

Reset

I needed a change of family pace. I read how a lot of people do these excellent jobs of keeping their families grounded and connected. When I read about their lives, there is a pace and appreciation I have some envy for. (I want to be clear I'm not harboring any bad feelings nor do I feel their shares are written to elicit envy intentionally -- you know those shares, I know these shares and I avoid them diligently hence my lack of a Facebook account)

Well our weekends can sometimes be a bit chaotic followed by a bit of flopping. We often arrange ourselves in various silos of activities and get on with it till Monday, rinse & repeat.

I'm all for down time and I mistrust people who require constant engagement, but my people were beginning to smell, growl and snap too quickly when interacting.

Thus a quick getaway to Monterey, a road trip that could be done in one day but would be given the treat of a sleepover with a heated pool was plotted.

We ended up going Sunday/Monday since those were the days my husband and I had off together. We pulled The Kid out of school which we never do, because what can I say? I'm a rule follower, my father was a teacher, my family was/is military, I'm a civil servant -- routine and discipline compel me even when I don't want it to.

Anyhow, where was I? Oh yes, our intention was to leave Sunday morning after my son's final Futsal match. I know we could've left earlier and the team probably had enough to play comfortably with subs, but! He had not missed a match for 2 seasons at this point and you know, we fall back on principle. So we knew we were going to have a bit of a late start, but so what -- company and leisure were the goals!

Unfortunately we woke up to a broken car window. Wet passenger seat from the all night rain before and glass everywhere. Our poor neighbor's car in front of ours also got hit. Our neighborhood is not good for this, we know it, we keep the deductible. But we do not have building parking, and so this is life. One year we were hit 3x in August. So you see, for us, we were focusing on the bright side, "it had been a while since the last time."


Undeterred ... We lost the match by one goal.

My husband missed the match because he was off getting the glass replaced which took us longer to get on the road, but what can you do? Good thing I have knitting with me at all times right?

We got into Monterey late to find someone forgot his swimsuit. One night... I didn't think I had to check his pack. I even asked him ...

Well you gotta stay positive (remember you can't enjoy it if you're bickering the whole time). So we made it an adventure to see if we could find somewhere with a cheapish suit (in a tourist area of a tourist town!) and walked at night around cute Monterey -- which is what we like to do anyways. We eventually found him a suit at the CVS just off the main drag. We had a lovely dinner and a lovely walk back.

The boys went to the pool and I opted to stay in for the last Downton episode. I also had horrible stress stomach catching up with me and making me less than ... amiable. I've been battling that a bit the past few weeks but nothing to worry about really, however that night, I couldn't even knit, I was so uncomfortable!


The next morning we decided instead of going to Aquarium, which we've done and which really I'd do EVERYTIME I went to Monterey if I could, but we'd prefer to use our time and money for a breakfast together and a walk down to lover's point and back (that turned out to be cost effective, ha!). They'd given us an extra hour for check out and that way we could keep our car at the hotel. Well we ran out of time and didn't make it ALL the way, but we ALMOST made it. It was a beautiful day.


The spring showers were in full force and the sky and ocean played together in the best dramatic way without being threatening to the casual walker.


We saw lots of seals!



We took the coastal highway home and enjoyed the view, the pace, the chatter and bad car radio singing. Quick stop for a cup of chowder on the way when the rain was really bad.

It started out a bit rough, but I think our gang did a good job of enjoying our change of pace and scenery. :)

19 comments:

  1. The rough parts will be the parts you'll remember though--"remember when he forgot his suit and you had to get one at aCVS?" "remember when we were ready to go and someone had busted the car window?" And then that will lead into all the good stuff. Good job!

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  2. Dang girl, glad you got to get away. Sorry about the car window. Dammit. Freakin' idiots who have nothing better to do than steal from others who work hard.

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  3. Sounds like it was worth the aggravation for the way it turned out. Looks beautiful!

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  4. Monterey sounds like a great place to decompress!

    Steve and I are heading out to decompress tomorrow! We've had "one of those weeks" and I will be so glad to turn off my phone and just "live in the moment" for a day or two.

    Glad you had a wonderful time.

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  5. What a wonderful trip, it looks like a really beautiful spot. Shame about the car, but well done for getting there anyway. So glad you all had a good time. CJ xx

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  6. Nothing like a getaway to perk everyone up! Looks like a wonderful time.....

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  7. Good times! Nothing better than a road trip in spite of all the problems along the way. They are real memory makers. I just spent $200 to have our ancient road trip VHS tapes put on DVD and The Mister and I have been glued to them reliving the good old days of having a car full of kids fighting in the backseat.
    PS: Message me your address on Ravelry so I can get a package out to you. Thanks!

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  8. Sounds like you and your family had the end of winter doldrums. I'm glad you were able to get away despite all the roadblocks that popped up. I like how everyone found a way around all the obstacles and had a great time as well.

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  9. I know it loses money for the school but...I think every kiddo needs at least one "get out free" day with their parents-whether it be a quick trip to a fun city, an afternoon at the movie theater or just a day spent at the local park...it's good for families to get a chance to play together and be maybe just slightly rebellious :)

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  10. Getaways are a lovely deprive. Glad you got away even with all the drama!!

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  11. Now that's perseverance. I think the broken car window would have thrown me for more of a loop. LOL! So glad it all turned out so well for your wonderful get-a-way. Nothing like a coastal drive to recharge and reset!

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  12. So jealous! Of the ocean and of your being so close to Monterey. I've been there a number of times with my friend from Berkeley.
    Good for you for not letting a string up mishaps ruin your weekend -- so much easier said than done!

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  13. Ahhh Monterey! Love that place. I so happy that even though everything started off not so great, it ended being oh so lovely!

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  14. sorry about your car window....that would make me sad. however your outing looks fun! we went to a one week BEACH vacation and my son forgot his swimsuit....so we bought one!

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  15. Kudos to you all for carrying on!! I think we would have just passed if someone broke our car window. GOOD FOR YOU ALL. Sounds like you made a difficult thing work out for your family in the end. By doing this you taught your son an invaluable lesson

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  16. Glad you hung in there and went to Monterey. It's a lovely place, and you make me want to go there again soon! Sorry about your car window; one time when DD lived in SF, someone even stole her laundry from her car!

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  17. a wonderful, memory making time-out....if everything had gone smoothly, there wouldn't have been nearly as many memories!!! Hope that stress tummy is feeling better.

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  18. It looked like a great time, and finding the swim suit at CVS was an extra score. And i loved the fact that you blocked that hat on your head (above post).

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