The Chronicles of Tadpole and Little Cub: California Part One

We had a whirlwind of a trip down to the Golden State earlier this month. Our flight down was pleasant and both girls did amazing on our flight. Us girls all wore Little Mermaid shirts to make our take-off adventure more fun. After landing in SJ, we were able to have a brief visit with my best friend, Alison, and her two kids. We finally got to meet baby Asher, born just a few days before Shilo, and Shilo got to meet her “extended” family.

After that it was straight to Andrew’s folk’s place where we spent a few enjoyable days with them enjoying the sun, ocean and sea life. We had a fun picnic at a park, played at the beach, explored the Monterey Bay Aquarium, watched a parade, lit sparklers, and hung out at the house. Andrew and I also went on a date to celebrate our 3^rd anniversary.

While at the beach Kayley discovered she loved to run in the surf, but was unsure about crabs and kelp. Shilo decided she hated the ocean water (probably too cold for her taste), but loved to eat sand. You couldn’t stop the girl from stuffing fists full of it into her mouth. Kayley had a fun time building sand castles with her daddy and grandparents; a much better use of sand in my opinion.

Running on the beach

Daddy! Save me from the crab!

Yummy sand!

The aquarium was a blast! Andrew and I love going to it, and our girls really enjoyed their experience too. Both girls were amazed at the fish and other creatures we got to see swimming around. The turtle really caught Shilo’s attention so we ended up buying Shilo a little turtle we named Monty (Kayley has a seahorse from her first MBA visit). Kayley loved everything. If you were to ask her what she liked the most, she just started listing everything we say: fish, turtle, otter, etc.

Checking out the sea life

Looking out at the bay

Fun times with grandpa and grandma

For the fourth of July, the city of Monterey celebrated our 3^rd anniversary by throwing a parade. Okay so the parade was for celebrating Independence Day, but we were there celebrating both. Kayley loved that the parade opened with a helicopter leading the way. Her favorite float though way the Ariel themed one. She really liked the fire truck too, and waved and blew kisses when it went by. Shilo I think just loved watching all the floats and people around us. She was wide-eyed the whole time.

Helicopter!

Watching the parade

Andrew and I had a lovely date on Cannery Row. We had an early dinner at Bubba Gumps where many shrimp were consumed with great pleasure, had some fresh makes cookies at the Toll House store, and had fun in a few of the knickknack stores. We ended the evening with our girls and their first sparkler experience.

The next day we packed up, let the girls play and have lunch with their grandparents one last time, and then hopped in a rental car and drove south to Irvine/OC. Our drive took a little longer than we guessed it would, but that’s primarily because we took two long stops to let the girls get out and stretch. We are thankful to McDonalds that have a play place, and for Chick-fil-A for making delicious food (and having the best service I’ve ever had at a fast food joint inside the states). We got to our hotel well after bedtime, but the girls did great and went to sleep in the hotel’s pack-n-plays really quickly.