First Family Trip

Daddy had some saved up hotel points, so we took a weekend trip down to Monterey Bay.  

It was great! So relaxing.

This is where we ate lunch. RIGHT on the water. 

We arrived Friday afternoon before we could check into our hotel, so we went straight to the Aquarium (our main reason for the trip).  Spencer LOVED it!

 Look how cute those little hands are!

There were a TON of really neat displays there, but this was my favorite.

You walk into a round room, look up and there are thousands of them!

Spencer really liked the jellyfish.  The pictures don't really do it justice.  It was a really cool place.

He also liked dancing with the fish. :)

This was a cool display for the kids.  You got to create your own waves and see if you can secure the starfish and anemone to the bottom of the sea so they don't float away.  Pretty neat.

After a few hours, we headed out to lunch.  Just a few blocks down.

Good food.  Good fun.  :)

This was the view out of our window. Seriously.  

Don't believe me?  I thought you might not. 

See? That's the menu.  Proved it. :)

The waitress said Spencer was so polite, he deserved two balloons. 
He was SO excited. 
He loves "baboons". 

We got back to the hotel at about 5 and Gordon surprised me by booking an appointment to get a pedicure.  It was such a treat! I do that maybe once or twice a year, so it was SO relaxing.  I was the only one there, so she just took her time and massaged my legs.  Ahh ... I could go back there again.  And again.

The next morning, we headed back to the aquarium for a few hours. 

The hotel sold 2 days for the price of 1.  Awesome!

We sat by this open sea window for about half an hour.  Spencer LOVED the hammer head shark and the big sea turtle.  Gordon and I did too.  It was amazing to be that close to all of them. 

I had to take a picture of these.  They are REAL sea horses.  SUPER mini sized.

PS Did you know that it's the MALE sea horse who carries and gives birth to the children? 

I can't remember the name of these fish, but the swam straight up and down, kind of bouncing around in the water.  It was the weirdest thing.

These were amazing.  They looked exactly like plants, nice camouflage.

Mission control was another half hour stop.  A boy's dreamland.

On the way out, Spencer found a cute sea turtle in the gift shop.  He loves that thing.

It's a great pillow too.  We usually have it in our bag, and he loves to sit in the grocery cart and lay his head on it like a pillow while we shop.  That is, when he's feeling tired.  Usually he's trotting right alongside me, showing me the things we "need" to get. ha.

After a few hours on Saturday, we headed back home. 

It was a quick, but wonderful and relaxing trip.  And it was the first time we had been able to get away just as our little family - no schedules, no other people to meet up with. 

We feel very blessed to have been able to do it.  

Such a great break! :)