Monterey Bay Aquarium

After arriving in Aptos at 11pm the night before (thursday) we were all running on about 6 hours of sleep (kids included) so I knew that there was a chance of Cole melting down early afternoon. We arrived at the aquarium at 10 am just shortly after opening. We had bought our tickets on line hoping to avoid any lines that would have forced us to stand still with a toddler. Great way to get in real quick!
Our first stop (after the bathrooms) was the Otter feeding. We attempted to get a view of them playing before breakfast but it was so crowded we decided to move on through.

Our next stop was at the GIANT tank with the kelp forest. Cole was pretty amused by it. He would get right up to the glass and stare at all the fishies.

After a walk through the kelp forest and then on to the "bird viewing" and bat ray petting station we stepped out side and right into the middle of a "magic show" which had the most enthusatic actors I have ever seen. I am thinking they must act that way so they can survive their boring job. We all decided that was the last job on earth we would ever want to have.

The waves kind of put Cole in a trance.

With all our wandering we all started getting hungry so we decided to break for lunch.

All I can say is that I will never spend money at that restaurant again. The burger was probably the worst burger I have ever ordered. Major bummer!

We walked back to the aquarium along the water which was just beautiful.

Once we got back it was time for my all time favorite aquarium section...The JELLYFISH!!!

Isn't Mike and Cole's jellyfish silhouette so cute.





Then it was time for some little kid activities. Cole attempted to be a whale.

He played nicely with other kids!

But of course when it was time to leave he did what he does best...

So while we all ventured to the Seahorse exhibit, Cole played on the slide.

The newest addition to the aquarium is The Secret Lives of Seahorses.

It was pretty amazing. I had no idea that they took on their surroundings to blend in.

After we finished up at the aquarium we headed down HWY 1 to Carmel. Mike had not been there before and we thought it would be fun to walk down to the beach. Cole decided to finally fall asleep and stayed that way until we got to the beach.

This is just an example of why I love these little coastal towns.


What my life is like. Nursing all the time, everywhere.
Cole was wondering around finding glass and other non child friendly objects.
Siena was belly laughing over the ocean breeze hitting her bum.

Beau couldn't catch a break with the sun and tried everything to block it out.
Just some beautiful agriculture on our way back. Mike is super bummed that we missed the 10 for $1 artichokes .
Later that night Mike and I got to go out to dinner with out the kids! Megan and Beau watched them for us! What a treat! We even "celebrated our anniversary" early! haha! Megan made the reservations and told them it was our anniversary so we could get free truffles. You can see them on the plate with the candle. I kind of think they didn't believe us because we got told many times (like 6) "happy anniversary". The restaurant was Shadowbrook in Capitola and it was so good. I had the filet minon with bacon wrapped prawn because everything is better with bacon and Mike had the prime rib which was so bloody red it made me want to puke. I am sure the chefs were cringing when they had to cook my filet medium well.

So while we enjoyed a meal in peace Cole and Siena had a blast playing with clay, dancing with glow sticks in the dark and running around.
Siena fell asleep like a good little baby does to the sound of "mini sirloin burgers" being sung to her.