Family Retreat: Pebble Beach, CA

From Pebble Beach Sep09

The peace and quiet, and the beautiful scenery were just what we needed. With 9 people from 3 different households living under one roof, it's not always easy to find time for us to have private conversations, have some family time, or just enjoy some quiet. It's also been just over a year since our last family vacation, and we needed a few days to get away. An awesome friend who is also one of our biggest supporters very graciously offered to open up her family's vacation home in beautiful Pebble Beach for us to stay in for our family retreat, and we gratefully accepted her offer. We set the date a couple of weeks in advance but towards the time of our departure, an urgent need for prayer arose... The possibility of moving to Dallas opened up a few days before we left and we knew that our weekend away was God's perfect timing in giving us time to quietly and prayerfully discuss God's leading.

We arrived late Friday night after enjoying Sonic at Gilroy. They didn't have our favorite sandwich though - the Chicken Fried Steak burger. We'll have to wait to return to Dallas for that. We also bought a few grocery items so we can have breakfast at home before setting out each day, and have a few snacks as well. It was about 30ºF colder there compared to San Jose so we wrapped up warm in multiple layers of blankets at night and in jackets during the day.

After breakfast on Saturday, we headed out to Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf and had a great time walking on the pier, trying various samples of clam chowder, enjoying the Arts & Crafts Festival and live music, and finally enjoying ice cream once Juhee went down for her nap. We then took a stroll along the nearby beach and then went to explore the Dennis the Menace Playground we found on the free Monterey map I picked up. It was so awesome! Juhee had so much fun she didn't want to leave. We had to promise Juhee that we'd return the next day to coax her to leave before it got dark.

From Pebble Beach Sep09

The next day we spent our day of rest enjoying the beauty of God's creation while we cruised down 17 Mile drive in awe of Him who created all the beauty that surrounded us. We played in the lovely white sandy beach of Carmel, and had a chance to reflect on the awesomeness of God. Afterwards, we headed back to the Dennis the Menace Playground until it was time for us to go home and give her a bath before bedtime.

Monday was, sadly to say, a packing and cleaning day with a quick visit to one of the piers, but we had an important visit in front of us - to visit Peter's aunt and uncle in Marina! It'd been several years since Peter visited their home, and it was the first time for Juhee and me. Peter's aunt has been living in that house since 5 years before I was even born! She has all sorts of fruits and vegetables growing in her backyard and all sorts of birds that visit every day too. It was awesome to see so much nature in her backyard, and we were able to enjoy some of her very sweet cherry tomatoes and juicy peaches harvested earlier that day - yummy!!! It was great to be able to visit them on our way back home and spend some time catching up with them. =)

The whole weekend was perfect - perfect place, perfect people, and the perfect timing too. Thank You God for allowing us this time of rest, relaxation, and reflection.