Our Getaway to the Bay

It wasn't Guam, which we were hoping to visit this summer, but our trip to Monterey Bay was so amazing. We decided not to take the kids with us so Jed and I could have some alone time together before he leaves in July. It was a last minute decision since the Air Force cancelled the flight to Guam the day before we were supposed to leave. We drove down to Monterey and found a really nice hotel in Pacific Grove.  I know I said I'd love to retire near the woods, but after this trip I'd like to revise that to the woods and the beach. Maybe we could get a summer home? lol :) We were cold the entire trip since we packed for Guam and Hawaii, but besides the temperature there was no other complaints. This trip was so relaxing and so much fun!

On Thursday we went to Carmel and visited Mission Santa Clara. It was such a beautiful mission. (Sorry these pictures aren't going to be that great since they were taken with my phone camera) We didn't understand what a lot of the different statues were of, but it was still really pretty to look at and read about the various people who founded the mission.

After visiting the mission we drove through some of the neighborhoods and went downtown to eat lunch and visit the shops. They have such cute homes through the neighborhoods! The food there was incredible! It seriously was some of the best food I've eaten. And the shops were so cute! But we had fun viewing the different art galleries and antique shops. We got a little carried away when we found this antique gun and cannon. We had to talk ourselves out of buying them for Elijah's room (we're planning on doing a pirate themed room for him later). Maybe one day?! We ended our day at the beach just enjoying the view.

 Don't these adorable shops look like the seven dwarves should be living here?

I really want these for Elijah, but of course they're not practical... too bad

 And I thought this was a cute lamp, not one I'd ever buy but totally dig :)

The beach was super chilly so we didn't stay long, but it was so pretty

Friday, we hiked through Point Lobos State Park. I loved this hike. It was so beautiful! Jed's favorite thing about this entire trip was looking at the tide pools. I loved seeing all of the different views of the ocean and enjoying the trees. It was also a lot of fun finding all of the animals. We saw seals, sea lions, otters, and even saw a cute family of quails. At one point of our hike we had a squirrel following us wherever we went, he was stalking us for our trail mix. We ended our day at the beach again.

Our last day of our trip, Saturday, we went to see the Point Lobos Lighthouse, then drove on the 17 mile drive. It was such a pretty drive and led to a lot of the beaches along Pebble Beach. Jed went out to look at the tide pools again. After enjoying our drive, we went kayaking in Monterey along the bay. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures, but it was so amazing! This was my favorite thing we did. It was a bit windy so the swells got a little big a few times, but we were able to get so close to the seals and sea lions and otters. We are supposed to stay 50 ft away from the animals but they kept popping up out of no where. We actually were about 15 ft away from a huge group of seals at one point. It was so much fun!

The best part of this trip is that I got to spend alone time with Jed!

(I love him! He's such hotness!!)

Marine World

With all of this rainy weather, we've been having to cancel a lot of our trips that we had planned. Fortunately though, there was a small break in weather so we were able to take the kids to Marine World with my brothers and their friends.

The kids had so much fun. They both were so excited as soon as they saw it. Chloe was the first to react and all she said was "Whoa!" and that set Elijah off. He started jumping up and down in his seat and couldn't wait to get out and get into the park. As soon as we got into the park we saw Wile E. Coyote and Porky Pig so we took the kids over to say hi. Chloe's reaction was so funny. As soon as she saw Wile E. Coyote she started to scream, so he walked away and pretended to have his feelings hurt, then she calmed down until she turned around and saw Porky Pig on her other side and the screaming started over again. Elijah was just so happy to see them, even though I don't think he really knows who they are.

After getting the kids pictures with the characters, my brothers took the kids over to Looney Tunes Town so Jed and I could go ride on some roller coasters. We were only able to ride on Medusa by the time the kids rode on all the rides they had in Looney Tunes, but it was still a lot of fun. After lunch we took the kids to see the different animals. Elijah's been so excited to see the whale. He's been getting into whales since he watched Little Einsteins and they had a whale on the show. He also really enjoyed the tiger show.

We found another part of the park that had toddler rides so Elijah raced to each of them and had a blast. We tried to get Chloe to ride on some of them but she just screamed the entire time, so we only tortured her with two rides. Elijah wanted to ride on cars the entire day so when he found the jeeps he was so excited and even Chloe loved the ride.

( Elijah kept yelling"ribbit ribbit" on this ride)

 (Chloe's too fast for her own good, so we had to get a leash for her)

Everyone had so much fun and it was a great family day.

Date Night With My Boys

I have been wanting to go to the drive-ins for awhile now, especially before we move to Utah. I still remember my first time going to the drive-ins when I was about 5. We went to see Arachnophobia with some friends. I really don't know how I didn't think that was a scary movie at the time. I remember having to put the speaker on the side of the car window and setting up lawn chairs and sleeping bags outside. I don't remember what the double feature was, but since then, my family would go occasionally and we always were able to bring friends. Jed and I have only gone once or twice, so it'd been years. We thought it would be fun to take Elijah with us. Jed wanted to take Elijah to see Kungfu Panda and it was playing at the Drive Ins, so we thought we'd make a night of it. We went to this super yummy Korean BBQ place (and it's all you can eat...score!) that we went to the last time we went to the Drive Ins. We thought Elijah would like it since you get to grill your own food, and we went to one in Japan and he really liked it.

The night started out great, and Elijah was so excited. He took a long nap and so was wide awake and he was just so excited for the movie and the prospect of "sleeping in the car". We hit a snag in the night though, when Elijah wanted to stay in the car instead of go into the restaurant for dinner because he wasn't hungry and he just wanted to go to the movie. Jed told him he needed to go inside, because little kids can't stay in the car by themselves, and if they do, the the police would come and have to take him back to us anyways, so he should just come in with us... yeah that was a HUGE mistake! After that, Elijah was so freaked out that the cops would come and take him away. He stayed in my lap throughout dinner and started to cry a few times at the thought that the cops were going to come to take him away. Poor little guy!

But as luck had it, there were some police officers having dinner at the restaurant and so Elijah went up to say hi to them. They were so nice and gave him a couple of stickers. After he met them, he was so much happier and he was excited again for the movie. He was still a little worried about getting taken away but by the end of the night he was over it. He loved the drive-ins. He wanted to sleep in the car and he totally got into the movie and the characters. He was cheering and loved the movie. It was a fun night out with my boys. 

I love my boys!