July 4th Trip to CA

We were blessed with the opportunity to go on leave on July 4th weekend, which coincided with our anniversary, so we jumped at the opportunity and milked it for all we could. Our weekend destination was Carmel Valley for our friends Mike and Alli's wedding. We flew into Oakland late Thursday night, hopped in a rental car, and headed south to spend the night just short of the Carmel Valley/ Monterey area. Friday morning we awoke to seeing some beautiful mountains and trees for the first time in several months (what a nice change). We headed to Cannery Row in Monterey where I went kayaking with the guys that were in the wedding. Meanwhile, Michele was able to enjoy a nice pedicure. Afterward we headed to the Stonepine Estate where all the rest of the wedding festivities took place. Stonepine Estate in Carmel Valley is gorgeous and Mike and Alli hooked us up with an awesome house that we stayed in for 2 days. A great place to spend our first anniversary!

Although we forgot to take pictures of the rest of the house, the bathroom was perhaps the most impressive part, complete with a large jacuzzi tub, glass shower etc. Michele enjoyed it so much she commented that she would be fine with a very small house as long as we can have a large bathroom! (I must admit it was very nice!)

After getting situated in our dream bathroom, it was off to the Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner- which was at a nice restaurant in Carmel by the Sea. The groom’s cake was there in the shape of an aircraft carrier- very unique (although Michele and I think we may have helped out on the idea!)

It was also at the Rehearsal Dinner that we took the opportunity to present the cookbook that we had compiled for Mike and Alli of all the recipes submitted by their family and friends. Michele did an awesome job on it- so I wanted to show a few of the pictures.

The first pic on the left above is the cover, the right is the spine, bottom left is the back cover, and bottom right is the letter that we included on the first page.

After the Rehearsal Dinner, there was the usual confusion as to what exactly was going to be done for the groom's last night as a bachelor- we ended up in Cannery Row once again at a place called Bubba Gumps (Yes, named from the movie). It was a coed thing but we had a chance to haze the groom just a bit.

Mike Ross in his last few hours of bachelorhood

Saturday morning we were able to take a little walk on the Estate and enjoy the view of the beautiful CA valley area.

This is a picture of the deer that were hanging out at the equestrian area just outside our house.

Stephen on the green at the Estate

Michele with a beautiful picture of the valley

Michele with Mr. Ed

Below, is a picture off the back porch of our house. We had a nice outdoor jacuzzi (on the left), a beautiful view, and you can see the race track just below.