our weekend away

i've never done a post on our company trips so i thought i would do one.
jason's company is unique in that it has company trips (even in this economy) for their employees. they pay for the whole weekend and wine and dine you at some fabulous places. my personal favorite (and i wish i had photos) was a the culinary institute of America in napa. it was gorgeous and just delicious.

anyway.

this year was special to us just because we haven't gotten away without the kiddos for some time so it was WAY overdue and just refreshing to spend time together.

thanks to my wonderful parents we were able to go. brave sixty something year olds watching a set of twins and a seven year old for a whole weekend. (lots of love mom and dad)

they switch off every other year between napa and monterey. this year the trip was in monterey/carmel. we got to choose between the "quail lodge" or "the clement" a new hotel jason's company built right next to the aquarium. we picked the later because we had been to quail a couple of times. to say the least "the clement" was just gorgeous. it was modern, new and just cool. in one of the staircases it has this hanging jelly fish light that made all these translucent lights on the ceilings and walls. the coolest part for me was just being able to go downstairs and then exit from the elevators go out a door right to the downtown strip of monterey and just walk. we enjoyed getting away by ourselves so much. on saturday we walked from monterey all the way to pacific grove and had lunch at a little place called the "red house cafe" (recommended by a local) it was absolutely delicious. i had crab cakes and a salad they were soo soo yummy. anyway, it was beautiful that weekend and we enjoyed just walking uninterrupted.

this was the outside eating area of the hotel facing water. for whatever reason i didn't really get a good shot of the entrance of the hotel. i thought this was so cute though with the lights and colors of the hotel. love the colors.

the first night we had a company dinner at the monterey aquarium. it was on the formal side and they rented out the aquarium for the company and had a strolling buffet throughout the aquarium so around each corner there was a different set up like a seafood bar, pasta, clam bar with oysters and clams ect...it was so much fun just to stroll around the aquarium without the crowds.

he second night was at quail lodge for dinner. they do the same thing at quail when it's in monterey. it's a nice dinner and dancing.

sunday morning was a wonderful breakfast buffet at "the clement"

we didn't take many pictures, but here's a couple.
we were having couple time so we didn't spend a lot of time taking photos or getting pictures of each other... but it was beautiful.

the bike trail that takes you along the coast into pacific grove.

of course we can't forget the adorable sea otters that are out and about every time we come to monterey. (can you see them?)