Christmas Break: Best Break Ever!

Upon completion of exams, the flight home to California was a great moment. Being able to see Kevin again after 3 months would be great, especially since the stress of classes would be put on hold and we could just enjoy the vacation. The 10 hour flight (thankfully, non-stop) was of course a long one, but none other than Kevin was there at the airport waiting for me. He was even dressed up in a shirt & tie with a red rose! All that time of talking on the phone made that moment worth it all. After reconnecting in the airport, we drove into downtown SF for some very yummmmy Mexican food, where I actually ordered fish tacos instead of other dishes. Then we drove back up to Windsor, and I was thrilled to see blue skies! The weather report said it would be cloudy and potentially raining, so to see blue skies was awesome. A few pictures from the drive back are below:

Over my first weekend home, there was much relaxing, sleeping, and of course, eating! On Saturday we enjoyed a nice dinner at Kevin's parent's place, we also went wine tasting at Limerick Lane since the previous time we were there we enjoyed delicious Zinfandels. So, we tasted again and purchased a few bottles of Zin as well as a Zin/Syrah blend (called 1023). Both are highly recommended! A picture of Kevin at Limerick Lane is below, along with more roses Kevin had waiting for me at his place =)

Sunday was Kevin and my 6 month anniversary, so we remained up in Windsor, chilled out and then enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner, along with some Turley Zinfandel (a big time favorite). Then on Monday, we headed down to Paso Robles to spend Christmas with my awesome Family! The Monday - Saturday in Paso was spent enjoying family, eating TONS of food, celebrating Kevin's 26th birthday, visiting the elephant seals at San Simeon beach, wine tasting, etc... Below are some pictures:

On Saturday night, Kevin and I returned to NorCal since Kevin was treating us to a 49er Game the next day! This was my FIRST ever professional football game, and the last one of the season for the niners (as they sadly are not going to the playoffs this year). Turns out the game was fantastic, with the niners winning in the last 3 seconds off a field goal. Pictures are below:

For New Year's, my family, along with the Duncans (my godparents) and the Karbousky's (Kevin's family) were planning on hanging out together. Our three families are close friends and we took this opportunity to get together since everyone was going to be in California. On New Year's Eve Day, Steve, Amy, and Kristen Duncan, along with Dan Karbousky and myself went on a little wine tasting trip through Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma (everyone else was either working or still traveling up to Santa Rosa). Below are a few photos:

On New Year's Eve night, our three families got together for a delicious dinner of stuffed chicken and wine, followed by a game night consisting of Cranium. I must say the best part were the team names and each team's winning "cheer" - highly amuzing! Below are photos from dinner and the game night:

At midnight, my dad rang in the new year with his bagpipes!

On New Year's Day, our families got together again for brunch, and finally got an updated photo of EVERYONE in the three families! Here is that shot:

Alas, the time came for everyone to leave on New Year's Day, and I got to enjoy the last night with Kevin before boarding a plane back to Dublin for the next school term. We got some great Chinese food for dinner, and even found a new great zinfandel in the process: J. Keverson. We are going to try and find this place to get some more of it perhaps. The one we had was a Dry Creek Valley Zin (Sonoma County again).

Then, on Friday morning, Kevin once again took me to the airport and we said goodbye. Thankfully, it will only be one month until I see him again, as I get a week break in the middle of this next term (similar to last term), but this time I am going home to California for a bit of a break and a change in scenery. I truly have to say though, that my time with Kevin better than I could have imagined. It was hard to know how it would be as we reunited after 3 months apart - despite all the phone calls - but it was not even an issue. It only helps reinforce why I love him so much!

At any rate, I am now back in Dublin and got an awesome 13 hours of sleep last night to kill the jetlag. Classes resume tomorrow and I am already behind on my prep reading! At least I can say that I had the best vacation.

EVER. =D