Monterey

Brian, Kara and I went to Monterey for the weekend, and had a ball! We needed a family get away, and thought Kara would enjoy the Aquarium, which, of course, she did! Brian booked a fabulous room with views of the bay. It was so nice to go to sleep at night listening to the waves breaking outside. Kara thought the hotel was a blast! She was jumping all over the bed, and running around like crazy. Brian and I thought it was nice that it seemed like Kara felt as though she was on vacation too. Brian and I did do a little wine tasting and bought two bottles, one red - for him, and one white - for me. We thought that when Kara was napping, and after she went down, we would have a chance to sit on the balcony and enjoy a glass or two!

The first night, we just checked in, and went to dinner. The weather was not all that great, and we wanted to go to bed early for an early start in the morning. The hotel brings breakfast to your room every morning, so we requested it at 8:00. Once we ate, we got ready to go to the Aquarium. The aquarium was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel down Cannery Row. It was a nice walk, as we could go to all of the great little shops along the way.

Before we started out our journey, we went to buy our tickets at the front desk. The woman working asked if we were planning on going tomorrow as well. We told her no, and she handed us some tickets that were good for the day. Apparently someone had two day passes, but only went on Friday, making the tickets good for Saturday as well. We gladly took them, and thought how lucky we were to try and buy our tickets at the front desk!

When we got to the Aquarium, I don't know that Kara knew what hit her!!! Stimulation overload!!! She could not get enough. As soon as we took her out of her stroller, off she went. She had SO much fun. We started off by the Kelp Forest tank, and went from there. Kara just loved looking at all of the fish, and certainly had no fear! Brian and I just loved watching her laugh, smile, and take it all in.

Upstairs in the Aquarium, they have a great kids area. Kara played in the water, walked on a water bed, crawled through a tunnel, (mom not far behind - thank God I am short), and had an all around blast!

We left the Aquarium to go have lunch up the street at a place called "Archies" it was nice to just have a small break from the crowd, and I can only guess, pay half of what they would charge in the Aquarium. When we went back we decided to check out the "Seahorse" exhibit. It was AMAZING!!!! Kara couldn't get enough of the Seahorse statue, and just had fun looking at the silly seahorses. Right next to that, we went into the million gallon tank room, and Kara could not get enough of the "BIG" fish.

I think that Kara's favorite part of the whole trip was when she got to get her hands on all of the kelp, starfish, and other animals of the sea! She had a great time getting her hands wet, and checking out all of the sea life. Like I said, NO FEAR!!! Brian and I also had an opportunity to touch a bat ray. I haven't done that since I was a little girl. They felt like velvet to the touch, pretty neat!

On our way back to the hotel, Kara was very sleepy. We put her down for a nap, and enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony. We then got ready for dinner. We went to a great restaurant - The Fish Hopper. I had the most AMAZING clam chowder EVER! Brian had some Abalone, Prawns, and Scallops. This was Brians first time having Abalone, mine as well. It was sooooo good, imagine Calamari, but 100 times better!

Our last day we woke up had some breakfast, and then took another stroll downtown. We went over to the outlet shops, and I bought 3 new pairs of shoes. We then ate at "Bubba Gumps" before heading back home. All in all it was a GREAT family vacation. The room was the right size for all three of us, and we all enjoyed our time together as a family!