Sunday, May 5, 2013

April Adventure Recap!

April was a pretty busy month, which kept me from blogging but also gives me a lot to catch up on.   Let's do a week-by-week recap.  :)

The weekend of April 13th took Steve and I on our next hiking adventure.  This time, we went east to Danville, CA and the mass regional park that Mt. Diablo calls home.  I had no idea there was a 3,000 foot hill in the middle of the Danville, but there as we drove up it to the summit, it's awesome views that were touted on bahiker.com presented themselves.  We went early, so as not to repeat the problem that we had in Muir Woods and found it kind of odd that you could drive all the way to the summit.  In fact, the actual highest point itself was housed under a man-made roof in the park building, which Steve thought was kind of odd.  He likes to feel a sense of accomplishment when he hikes up something and stands on the highest rock.  But, as I pointed out, we hadn't done any hiking yet.  So, we set out for our first trail, the Mary Bowerman, which was a really easy walk around the summit.  It was nice, because we could get our bearings and take some great shots of the views.  Then came our more strenuous work-- we were already at the top, which means we'd have to hike down and then back up. But, we found a great route down the Summit Trial, and back up the Juniper trail.  It was strenuous going to back up, to be sure, but the views and the wildlife (we saw a coyote!) were amazing.  It took us around three hours and really made us feel like true hikers (even though we did almost give up when we saw a misleading sign saying we had 20 miles to go to get back to our car!).  We finished our day with a sandwich and yogurt in the ritzy downtown area.  I can't wait to see where we head to next to hike!

With our Lawyer's League softball season right around the corner, Steve wanted to get some practice in with me, my dad, my brother and my grandfather.  So, we headed down to Monterey and spent the Sunday immersed in sports.  We took some batting practice and grounders at the field, and then headed up to the tennis courts at MPC to hit the ball around a bit.  The weather was perfect and it was great to get out and get moving.

Last weekend was my grandmother's 75th birthday, so we celebrated in style.  I headed down to Monterey on Friday night to join my grandmother, grandfather, uncle and great aunt on a trip to San Francisco to see Jersey Boys, which is one of my most favorite plays of all time.  It was really fun to hang out with my family in the city.  I hope we can all get back there for a baseball game again.  The show was amazing and the bus ride home was made that much more fun with wine and snacks (although-- because I was the youngest on the bus by at least 20 years, I almost didn't get any!  The lady thought I was under age!).  We had my grandmother's actual birthday at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch-- the same place as our wedding.  It was fun to do a birthday outside of the usual houses and bring our family shenanigans elsewhere.  A family trip to Yosemite is in the works for September, and I really hope that we can get everyone to head up and hang out.

This last Wednesday, we had our first softball game with the lawyers league.  Our team won 17-6 despite having only 8 players.  I didn't field the greatest, but I hit well, and Steve had a good game too.  It's really great to see everyone again-- I love the social aspect of softball and hanging out with Steve's co-workers in a casual environment.  We have a great time after the games hanging out upstairs in the bar and having beers.

In a general sense, things have been going pretty well.  Work moral was boosted considerably with our Cinco de Mayo party that I helped plan last Friday.  There have been a lot of changes in the company recently, and it was nice to see everyone take a break from worrying and hang out with friends.  Uncle Mike, his mother Trudy, and my great aunt Alice are all healing well from their respective procedures, and it was good to see them up and around and visiting last weekend.  Lastly, I'm SO looking forward to my relaxing week-long vacation coming up in this Thursday.  I'm heading back to Sisters to hang out with mom for Mother's Day and recharge my proverbial batteries a bit.  I'm also on the planning committee for our 10-year high school reunion coming up this August, so I'm hoping to get some things sorted out with that as well.  It doesn't look like Steve will be able to join, but I still fully intend to enjoy my time off.

Resolution Update:
1. I'm hoping to catch up on my blogging during my vacation next week!
2. I've still only been averagely active at lunch.  This week was busy, so I didn't get a lunch break a lot of the time.  I'm hoping to work out every day while I'm on vacation, just to get back on track.
3. This week, I did go to bootcamp on Monday, but Wednesday was softball, and while it's some exercise, it's not enough.  I hope to get outside today for even just a bit today to make up for it, since this will be the norm for the softball season.
4. I'm kind of falling off the wagon on junk food, so I need to start really trying to make healthier choices with my eating habits.
5. Flossing is still solid!
6. I still haven't really eaten anywhere to blog about, as Steve and I are trying to cook more at home.
7. I'm hoping to catch up on back-blogs while I'm on vacation!


I'll end with some pics of Mt Diablo hiking and my grandmother's birthday: