Grannie, Monterey, and the beach = one great weekend

We finally did it. Three years in the making, Ian and I were brave enough to make the drive up, with the kids, to visit Grannie in Sunnyvale. It was so good to see her and introduce the kids to her. The kids did great and for the most part minded their manners.

We stayed at a hotel in San Jose and thanks to priceline we got located right next to a theme park and of course our window overlooked the rides. We were not there for more than five min when all three kids were at the window, "Is that Magic Mountain?" "Can we go there?" "Can we just go for one ride?" Thankfully they were happy to settle for the pool and the thrill of going to an aquarium the next day, oh and of course the elevator compensated for a lot.

The following morning we headed out for the drive to Monterey and were thrilled to be walking through Cannery Row on our way to the aquarium. Of course there were a few places that Ian and I would have loved to have gone into, but a little three year old hand has a way of keeping you from walking right into those enticing brewery doors.

And there were a few stores that the kids wanted to go into but a thirty year old hand does just as well from keeping them from walking right into those ever enticing candy store doors.

And of course we could not pass by Forrest Gumps shoes.....

Yeah we made it to the aquarium.

We got the aquarium minutes after it opened and for about twenty minutes we had all the glass view that we wanted. (It was labor day weekend and the last weekend before school started so you can only imagine how crowded it got)
Sam loved the shark that kept swimming by to see if he could eat Sam or not. Of course Emma was scared of the shark and did not want to be anywhere near its vicinity.
Sam loved all the hands on activities and touching a sting ray was one of his favorite hands on activity there.
Leah thought it was great as well, well once she knew that they had removed the sting ray.
My little goober of a pearl.
Emma was thrilled to see sea horses. She was a bit overwhelmed with all these live animals and all the people but every so often she would ignore everything and become thrilled of the sight of a real sea horse, "that was for real."
A little peep hole to watch the penguins.
The jelly fish were way cool. I could have stayed there and watched them for hours.
Emma loved this tank with all the pretty colorful fish. She got to name all the colors of the rainbow. A little oriental girl of about 2 years old decided to try and be Emma's friend at this tank. At first Emma tried to ignore her but than just bluntly told her non-English-speaking shadow that she is working very hard to see all the rainbow fish. The little girl just smiled at her and said something in Chinese, to which Emma turned and looked at me with shock in her eyes, "I think she is from Kai-Lan"

My little hand pictures. Love those hands
After our tiring but thrilling day at the aquarium we headed to Susie's apartment to spend the night and scare all her cats and reptiles into hiding. The following morning we headed to the beach before our drive home. Ian found some cool seaweed and tried to have Leah jump rope with it.
Then found that it was a lot more fun to whip the kids instead.
We got Sam half buried (yes he is standing up) but then thought it would take to long and there were too many witnesses to finish the job.
Emma loves her daddy. Through out the weekend mommy was just a ghost of a being as there was only daddy in her eyes.
Thanks Susie we even got a picture of this cute couple. After every family trip I always feel like I want to go for a weekend away, with my husband, just to spend time with him (kids are a little demanding) I just keep telling myself that for everything there is a season.
And finally it was time to pack up and start our long drive home. Great weekend, great family time, and some amazing great memories.
A couple quotes;

"You're horrible sitting in the middle" - Sam

"You know I can't do anything when I'm holding a spicy chicken sandwich" - Leah

"What's perfect?" - Sam when playing apple to apples