California 2012 - Monterey

Arrived in foggy Monterey and the kids wanted to see the beach again as soon as possible. We told them we'd have to wait until after dinner. After a brief rest in the hotel, we found a restaurant and ordered food. One minute before our waiter came out with the food, Mary spit up again. Partly on Jane and partly in the ziploc bag we had been carrying around. We found out that "Mommy, I need to get a deep breath" was code for, "I am about to hurl". We asked for the check, to go boxes, and left a really nice tip. Ben and Mary immediately wondered if this meant the plans to the beach were scrapped. We figured the sand and fresh air sounded better than a hotel room, so after cleaning up we went to beach for 20 minutes. Ben would have gone swimming if we let him. Purple lips and chattered teeth did not slow him down. Mary was content to dig around in the sand.

 

 Jane eating her dinner out of the to go box.

After a good night's sleep, we decided to brave the Aquarium.  Mary's stomach was fine through the night and her energylevel and appetite was good.  We were glad we arrived when it first opened as it was crowded by lunch.  We all loved it.

Mary really liked the touch pools.  Ben was not interested in touching anything although later he quickly touched a sea star.

 

Seals on the rock.

  

 

Not wanting to risk another scene at a restaurant, we ate dinner at the farmer's market sharing a basket of strawberries and other goods.  Mary was happy to eat and hide behind a giant piece of naan.

Riding the success of the day, we left the market and went to a really great beach recommended by Dirk.  It was not windy (rare) and the waves were really calm. This allowed Ben to venture further out into the water.

 

 

Here was our project for the evening as the tide came in. The waves eventually made it up the moat into our sand crab/shrimp swimming pool. Glad to finally use the barf bucket as a sand bucket.

 

 

The next morning we took advantage of the low tide and attempted to go "tide pooling" at a Asilomar State Beach/Preserve.  We didn't find any sea stars but did find small crabs, snails, and anemones.  This was a great sea shell beach as well.  Perfect morning. (self portrait)



This scene was a surprise.  Deer were on the beach and even went out on the rocks.  The kids thought that was really funny.

 Hey Ben, turn around!  They're coming after you!

We finished off the morning by being stereotypical tourists on the 17-mile drive. Checking out the seals on Seal Rock.

 

Back in town, grabbed lunch supplies at the grocery store and returned to Dennis the Menace Park which was not open earlier in the day.  This park lived up to its reputation.  Very unique and like no other we've seen.  Packed with several hundred kids though.  The slide made of rollers was among the highlights.

 

 

After picnic in the park and blowing off steam, we headed off to San Fransciso stopping first in San Mateo to meet up with a college friend and his family.  Our stay in Monterey was great.