This is a LOT of pictures. I tried to compact it by making collages but the truth is, we fit a ton into our time in California. I hope we can go again someday.
Packing for the trip the night before we left. I seriously love this picture. She put the strap (seatbelt, Mom!) across herself and her babies all by herself. She has the best imagination at this stage!
I probably shouldn't have let her do this but she was so stinking bored I felt bad. We'd already walked the airport several times, gotten lunch, etc etc. She found ways to entertain herself!
Mia did fabulous on the plane and Brad was pretty excited about the convertible we rented!
Birthday Breakfast
These aquarium pictures are out of order with the others but that is what we did after breakfast. She did a great job with the touch pools and loved watching all the animals
Going for a birthday treat!
Birthday celebration number 1...
Since I wasn't exactly able to bake her a birthday cake, we went to Pink Berry, a frozen yogurt place, instead. She got to pick out her toppings and we had the place to ourselves! It was such a cute shop and they even had dairy-free options for me!
I LOVE Great Pyrenees dogs. I think they are just the coolest. Mia also likes dogs, but typically gets pretty intimidated, no matter the size. So when she went right up to this dog on her birthday I knew he was a special one. The owners were so kind, maybe because she and Mia shared a birthday! They stood there and talked with us for a long time and Mia just loved this dog. That is surprise on my face!
Going to the beach pretty much every day. I love these two so much! Mia's favorite game at the beach is getting super close then running back from the wave. She laughs SO hard!
Brad knows how much I like to explore tide pool so I had hiked pretty far out on this one. It's hard to tell but yeah it was a challenge to get way out there. I was out there for awhile watching a sea otter play in the waves. They are so cute!
Tide pooling every day. The water was the most amazing turquoise color. I was totally not expecting that!
Brad is such a caring, tender father. I love watching them together
Hiking around the tide pools together<3
She eventually was distracted enough not to care as much about the sand touching her. It was better with her tennis shoes on and as long as we were playing games
This girl has my heart!
Another day at the aquarium. It is large- this picture in the upper left only shows a small portion of it. It wraps around the cove and it was fun to see wild sea otters, seals, and dolphins just right there in the kelp. Whales frequently come through here and apparently we missed one by just a few minutes. Oh well, next time! Mia was too little to go on whale watching excursions but next time she will be big enough and I'm sure we will go.
The aquarium had many animals and I thought they did such a great job of incorporating the inside with the outside. They even had an auditorium type set up with seating facing the stage only the 'stage' was the ocean. It made you think and it was lovely to just sit and watch the animals play in the ocean right there in front of you!
Brad had a great idea to go to to the Bubba Gump (the first one built, although they have several locations now) Restaurant. They had heaters outside so it was pleasant and the food was good. This was another spot we got to sit and eat and watch the dolphins.
This girl. She picks her outfits, right down to how I'm to do her hair. I love her smile and laugh and personality and amazing spirit more than anything!
The day we left Monterey we got up early, packed, and headed south down Hwy1 to Big Sur. This was the day we saw more dolphins and wildlife and explored more tidepools. Mia even tolerated the top down for a few miles!
Driving south to Big Sur
Bixby Bridge- even more beautiful than I had imagined!
Birthday celebration number....? lol. We rented another house in northern California for the last leg of our trip. Mia politely informed me no birthday is complete without candles so of course we had to make that happen :)
Exhaustion. This pretty much sums up the trip! We slept the vast majority of the trip home :)
No comments:
Post a Comment