Rafael's Blog: 4th of July

We went to visit Mama and Papa the following day. The last time we saw them was on Rafael's birthday party so we were looking forward to see them and of course, Rafael's cousin, Jenna. She is such a darling and is ready with a smile....As usual, it took Rafael a few minutes to get comfortable but when he did, he didn't waste time checking out every little thing he could get his hands on. He was excited to see his cousin whom he knows by the photo stuck on our refrigerator at home...

We made our way to the SF Zoo in the afternoon hoping to get the two little ones to see their favorite animals only to be turned away as it was almost closing time. We decided to just drive around Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park...we then drove to Morton (at Jen and Anthony's) where we ate yet again another "light" dinner of BBQ Ribs (courtesy of Anthony), corn, salad, oysters and so much more...We decided to spend the night at Morton for Rafael and Jenna to have some playtime and get re-acquainted....

Warning! This post contains what could be the most number of photos in a single post since I started this journal so give it time to load and display on your screens..

We left LA around 730PM on July 2nd...we wanted to be on the road as early as we could as we knew we were in for a long day on the 3rd. We arrived around 2 AM and had Mommy's sumptuous Kare-kare waiting for us...Rafael was surprisingly awake and played with Gra'ma and Ninong Edwin....We were beat and went straight to bed after....The bed in the guest room was heaven-sent...if you've been to his place, you know what I mean...it is just soo darn comfortable that even Rafael had a hard time resisting it..

2001 I think it was. The first time Ed and Aileen took me to Point Reyes. It's around a half an hour drive west of the 101 once you go past the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I fell in love with this place the first time I saw it. I remember going on picnics there with Ed and Aileen with just a bottle of wine, french bread and salami. Once, we decided to hike from the parking lot grounds to the trail that ends with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean. Though it's mostly a truck trail, the distance from the parking lot to the end is a good 4 miles. Not for the weak heart by any means but as long as you're equipped with water, you will make it to the end. You tend to forget however, that you still have to walk back.

Here's a photo taken by Aileen back in 2001 at the end of the trail with a disposable camera. Digital cameras were a rarity back then.

When Ed told me about the plan to hike in Point Reyes, it got me excited. I always wanted to take Angel there when we were still dating but our trips to SF were often short and did not allow much time for ourselves.

Though we didn't make it to the end of the trail (Bam, Joanne and Olga did make it), we will be back soon to conquer it. Here are some photos taken from the hike:

The crew at the trailhead...

we had a lot of help...

with Ninong Ed..

Gra'ma and Angel..enjoying Northern California's cool breeze in summer...

...with Tita Olga..

Olga, Joanne and Bam

Lost!!!

really old trees...

enjoying the stream of water with Tita Bil...

some photos taken by Ed...

dropped by an oyster farm in Point Reyes and took a couple of snaps...

We capped the day with a very "light" dinner in Vallejo. Bam made her killer crab dish while Ed grilled the tasty tri-tip. We also grilled some oysters we bought from Point Reyes.

Bam taking cooking to the next level...check out the amount of garlic in there...yummy!