Daddy's time off

Gordon gets 6 weeks of paternity leave at this job, and he can take it anytime throughout the child's first year.  We took 2 weeks when we first brought Daniel home and then another 2 weeks this summer for a long trip to introduce him to our extended family.  We still had 2 weeks left and only a few months to use them!  We planned a little stay-cation for the end of October and first week of November and it was SOOO great.  

The first week we took our friend, Louis, to the jellybean factory with us (in the last post) and then Gordon got super sick the next day and was down and sleeping most of the days for Wednesday-Friday of the first week.  Totally stunk.  He was off of work to play with us and he was sleeping all day!  We tried to help him as best we could - made him lots of juice and healthy snacks, kept the heater running, lots of Dayquil, Nyquil - and yay!  It was kicked out of his system by Friday night.  And it was a good thing, because we were leaving for Monterey on Saturday morning.  We were all so excited to get away and do some fun outings and stay in a hotel!!! Well, I'm not sure if Daniel was excited, but he had a great time.  

On our way down to Monterey!!
 It takes about 1 or 1 1/2 hours to get down there, but we stopped in Gilroy at the outlet malls on our way down.
It was on the way … 

We got to the hotel at about dinner time, so the boys and I played and laughed while Gordon went to grab some sandwiches.  Then, Spencer and I promptly hit the pool.  It was right out the back door - so lovely for two fishes like Spencer and I.  :) 

  

I'm not sure what G is doing in this picture, but the room was pretty super sweet.  They upgraded us to a suite because Gordon is a gold or diamond or something member with all of his work traveling last year so we get spoiled.  It is oh, so awesome.  

The being spoiled part. 

Not the traveling part.  

The front doors.  With an "s".  Uh huh, we are high class around here.  

The living/dining room area. 

It's bigger than at our house.  

And the bedroom. 

It was such a great getaway!  Usually staying at a hotel with kids is kind of stressful - all crammed into one room, you have to go to bed at 8 with the kids. 

Here, we put them to bed out in the main area  (Daniel slept in the luggage closet, so he could go to bed nice and early) and then shut our door and we could stay up later and still have fun hotel nights.  :) 

Spencer and I went on a walk the next morning around the hotel and found this cool chess set.  It would have been even cooler if I knew how to play chess, but we made up our own rules and it still rocked.  

And check out this cuteness.  He is such a doll and so fun to pal around with. 

We found this pretty waterfall and took some photos.  Love this kid.

Then, he was tired so we got some rest.  

It was Sunday, so we hit up a local park and played the rest of the morning and brought sandwiches to eat lunch there.  The boys had a blast.  It's called Dennis the Menace park because it was paid for by the same man who created the comic strip.  It is such a fun park with a huge bridge, tons of play equipment, a maze out of bushes with a playground in the middle, and a huge slide made out of those metal rolling tubes.  Know what I mean?  Angie, they're like the ones at your old park by your house here.  

We had tons of fun and ended the park visit with a drink from this awesome water fountain.  :) 

Next day, Monday -- and onto the Monterey Aquarium.  

We have gone once a year since we moved here (3 years ago - that is crazy) and we all love it every time.  The exhibits are amazing and they also always have really neat films narrated by one of their staff members.  The one Spencer and I went to this time was about Great White Sharks.  Awesome. 

Out to lunch at a mexican restaurant right on the ocean.  It was so pretty. 

This kid had a blast.

Later that evening after naps, we came back and played at the beach.  It was freezing, but still fun.  

And onto Bubba Gumps for dinner. Spencer had shrimp for the first time (I think) and loved it.  We left all of our bags in the car and walked farther than we expected so we had no food for Daniel.  Luckily, they brought us some crackers and he did fine.  He also ate a few of their little drink coasters.  Ha.

Tuesday, we went back to the aquarium for a few more hours before we headed on home.  We were all sad to leave, or so we thought.  Gordon and I didn't want to get back to reality.  But, after we were all packed up Spencer said, "This was fun, but I'm ready to get back to our house."  He's more mature than us.

And when we came home, we found our tree in our front yard had turned this gorgeous yellow! 

And our pumpkins had started melting into the porch. 

So we said, "meh" and walked to Denny's for breakfast.  Always fun. 

And since we had a huge breakfast, we ate a late small lunch.  But at dinner time, no one was really very hungry.  I suggested we go out to Marie Callendars and get dessert for dinner.  

They were in shock. 

And agreed quickly.  :) 

Spencer thought it was the coolest thing. 

I think the older couple sitting next to us thought we were horrible parents.  Oh well. 

Spencer has been so much more into crafting lately (I know, it's shocking!  He used to hate it)

and it is so fun!!! 

At the end of our fun vacation at home, we went bowling with our good buddies and out to lunch.  These kids had so much fun.  :) And we had a good time stomping her parents at bowling.  

Or maybe they beat us … doesn't matter.  

Spencer got creative while playing Pictionary with Nova. 

And then they played upside down the rest of the night.  :) 

We had so much fun with Gordon home, it was super hard to get back to reality and have him gone Monday morning.  Good thing we only have one more week before Thanksgiving is here.  Yay!!!

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!!!!