I've just uploaded photos to my flickr account.

It was a great 4-day weekend.

Saturday, we went down to Half Moon Bay for a picnic, kite flying and a sidetrip to the plant nursery (where as usual, we were all overwhelmed by the thousands of vibrant plants to choose from). Sunday, we managed to rearrange the living room with a quick run to the nearby store (yep, that was "rest").

On Monday we headed out to the Mendocino headlands for the ultimate picnic: blade chops and tagalog fried chicken (yes, the kind you take along on field trips in elementary) with kamatis and itlog wrapped in banana leaves which mommy lovingly prepared at 3am. As if that wasn't good enough, we were lucky to find a public picnic area set underneath the redwood trees overlooking the rugged but scenic Pacific Ocean. This alone made the 3 hour drive from the Bay Area well worth it!

After lunch, we were off to downtown Mendocino to walk around the little shops. Considering this was well into summer, we were greeted with a kaleidoscope of blooms on the shop doorsteps.

We made a quick run to the beach before dinner at Noyo Harbor (a bit disappointing as it was a little pricey and overrated) but with enough time to capture the sunset at Jughandle State Reserve. The skies were still bright as we headed to the motel around 8:45 PM.

Before heading back to San Francisco the following morning we visited the Point Cabrillo lighthouse. I was glad Kamille insisted we took a quick peek at the exhibit where they had the lightkeeper's home carefully preserved. The half mile back to the parking lot is a long way for kids as it was uphill (OK, adults with large camera bags too). It was a good thing Kamille suggested we play the "first-one-who-talks-looses" game on our way back.

By 5:00pm we were back home just in time to get ready for the fireworks. This year we were able to watch the fireworks at several nearby locations (Foster City, San Mateo, Redwood Shores) simultaneously thanks to Anna's office balcony at the topmost floor!

All good things come to an end (don't we always wish there are more days off) but it's back to reality.

The good thing is it's just a 3-day workweek. Can't wait for Friday! :-)