Marina State Beach

After the aquarium, we went back to the hotel and the kids and I napped while Richard watched a game on TV. We then packed up and headed to the Marina State Beach (literally a block away) and played for about an hour. It was SO COLD but Carter of course loved it. We bundled up Drake really well and he did so good. This is definitely my new favorite beach. Honestly, I'm more of a mountain/lake person because there always seems to be less people and commercialism. However, this beach was surrounded by sand dunes instead of a bunch of tshirt shops and had such beautiful water and sands. It also wasn't crowded at all, but that's probably because it was 6:00pm in  April ;)

^^ story of my life

^^ the boys got their feet wet. Drake and I were happy to just watch

Monterey Bay Aquarium 2017

After two weeks in a hotel - we decided that we needed to get out and try to make good of the situation we were in. Turns out, as long as you stay within a certain budget, insurance doesn't really care what hotel you stay in. Sooo...we left for Monterey! It was our first trip as a family of 4 and I thought it went rather smoothly all things considered. We left Friday after work and spent the first night just hanging out in the hotel. The next morning we headed off to the aquarium.

 

^^ Richard was REALLY pumped about that fish. The photo does not do its size justice

^^ I have such a grumpy face on for some reason. However, I think Drake's face more than makes up for it. He had just as good of a time as Carter, if not more! He was kicking his legs and laughing the whole time. Such a cute little tater-tot









Afterwards, Richard chose our spot for lunch. He chose this SUPER fancy restaurant which was super inappropriate for us and our two kids. In fact, there was a sign up front that specifically told parents to take children out of the restaurant if they were being loud. Umm......

...so we chose a spot outside, lol. Luckily Drake was asleep and we made sure to get Carter a lemonade as a bribe to be obedient. It worked okay ;)

^^Richard's fish and chips

^^My poached pear and scallop salad

^^Afterwards we went back to get a brownie and ice cream at Nestle per family tradition