Thanksgiving, etc.

So, it's only been 3 weeks, which is a slight improvement...right?  Anyway, back to business...

Thanksgiving Weekend
This was the first Thanksgiving that we haven't been home for since we got married and my first Thanksgiving away from home too.  But with our work schedules (I worked the day before Thanksgiving) and practically the whole Bay Area going somewhere or another, we decided to stick it out in CA.  Our friends John and Julie were also staying in CA instead of flying back to the East Coast, so we decided to go hiking on Thursday.

So, we packed up early on Thursday and drove 2 hours up to Point Reyes, which is a state park a bit north of San Francisco.  The weather was a little damp and chilly on the drive, but it cleared up as we were getting closer.  We were feeling pretty adventurous, so we picked out a 13-mile loop to hike.

We started out hiking up a "mountain" through the woods and then came out along the coast.  The sun was basking the coast and a gentle breeze was making its way along the cliffs at the water's edge.  It was fantastic.  The only un-fantastic part was that my camera broke...  so I only got pictures from the first little bit of the trip (shown below)..

Banana Slug! (There were lots of them)

The trees were covered in moss...

So, it was a little wet in the woods...

The only picture of the coast I got...

The 4 of us... and the last picture my camera took...

The last few miles of the hike were back in the woods and seemed to drag on a little, but that could have been due to the fact that we were hiking a half-marathon...  After we got back to the car, we were starving.  So, we stopped a grabbed some food on the way back.  I got a turkey sandwich (like you're supposed to...) and Bridget got barbecued chicken (not sure why...).  But it tasted so good regardless. :)

Bridget made plans with Julie to do some Black Friday shopping together, so John and I decided to hang out and watch some movies and football.  So, after a nice night of sleep, that's what we did.  The girls shopped for hours and John and I watched 2 of the 3 Bourne movies and watched part of the LSU-Arkansas game.  It was quite relaxing, to be honest. :)

Later that night, one of the couples from our church group invited us over for a Thanksgiving dinner.  The husband is a resident at the Stanford hospital and had to work on Thanksgiving, so we all celebrated the day after.  It was alot of fun to hang out with them, meet their friends, and eat lots of good food (of course!)

The rest of the weekend was pretty much just chilling out.  We ran quite a few errands, played some Wii, watched a movie or two, and basically caught up from the past few weeks of busyness.  It was pretty great!

12/3-12/4
It seemed like we did quite a few things this weekend.  Saturday morning started with volunteering with a group from church that does home repair for needy families in the Peninsula.  So, we helped build a wainscot in a lady's house.  I had no idea what that was until I got there, but it's pretty much a decorative wall covering with fancy trim and stuff.  However, the lady who lived there is blind and in a wheelchair, so she had kind of demolished the bottom parts of her walls.  So, we made a sturdy protective wainscot so she wouldn't hurt herself (or the wall) anymore.  The guys running the operation were really cool and let Bridget and I use the saws and measure the cuts and all, so that was alot of fun.

Rebuilding The Peninsula Together Team

That took up the middle of the day, and Bridget worked that night and I stayed home and worked.  Which ended up working out alright.

Sunday started with church as usual and then we went to a grilled cheese social to meet more people from the church and interact.  It was really fun.  We ended up talking to a woman who works with a group in Africa that does entrepreneurship training for predominantly women.  It was really neat to hear what her ministry is up to.

After church, I went and volunteered with another church ministry that fixes up old bikes and gives them to needy people in the community.  So, we got around 30 bikes from Stanford's impound and did some tweaking and repairing for a few hours.  As an engineer, I (ashamedly) hadn't really fiddled with bikes very much, so it was fun to get my hands dirty with some tools and learn about bikes while helping other people.

After the bike repairing, Bridget and I went to some friend's house for the evening. We had homemade pasta for dinner and then we played a game called Carcassonne.  It was a pretty fun game.  I won, so maybe I'm a little biased... :)

By the time we got home, we were exhausted and rested up for upcoming week!

12/9-12/10
So, I know it's not Sunday yet, but I'm kind of on a roll (of sorts...)

Anyway, my friend Johanna was in the area, and came down to Palo Alto from San Francisco Friday evening to hang out for half of the weekend.  She hadn't been around Stanford's campus, so I gave her a nice tour while Bridget wrapped up her tutoring for the afternoon.  I still like walking around Stanford's campus... it's really impressive.  After the campus tour, we grabbed some dinner at home (Bridget made some of her famous lasagna!) and then went back into downtown Palo Alto.  The city lights the trees at night and most of the shops stay open, so it's fun to just walk around.

Saturday morning was a relatively early start so we could fit a hike in before she flew out.  So, we grabbed a quick breakfast around 7am and headed out.  We went up to the same are we hiked around the first weekend here.  That time, it was really foggy and cold.  This time, it was kinda chilly in Palo Alto (34-ish), but it was sunny and in the 50s up on the ridge, so it was fantastic weather.  We had a nice, leisurely hike for an hour or two.  The scenery hasn't gotten old, and I highly doubt it ever will... :)

Cool Tree

Johanna and Bridget on the trail!

Bridget and Johanna at the top of Borel Hill

After the hike, we dropped Johanna off at the airport and head back home.

So, that's about all for now.  We head home for Christmas next weekend, so I'm doubtful I'll post before next year.  So,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
~ Jeremy