California, Day 2

I had high hopes for Day 2. On the agenda was something I wasn't sure I'd ever have the opportunity to do in my life. We were going to see whales in the Pacific Ocean. We started with a delicious breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Elle and I shared pancakes topped with beautiful berries and homemade whipped cream. She had hot chocolate while I had a much needed latte. 

Then we were off to Fisherman's Wharf to get our whale-watching on! Something happened to my equilibrium after I had children and I tend to get motion sick whereas before, I never did. I seriously cannot get on a backyard swing without feeling unsettled. I'm not sure why I thought going out on a boat a few miles in to the Pacific Ocean would be ok. My desire to see whales was overpowering my common sense. Now, I had purchased Dramamine before we left Alabama and could not find it anywhere in our stuff that morning. 

Things were so smooth as we headed out of Monterey Bay. There were all kinds of birds, sea lions playing on bouys, and boats everywhere. Beautiful, pleasant scenery. We kept going out and kept going out and the swells got bigger and bigger and bigger. We were already at the back of the boat where our guide had so graciously pointed out was the calmest and best place to be if you started feeling sick.  There was a kid sitting down on the steps to the upper deck. I shared my "gin-gins" (a natural remedy I purchased back at the dock) with him.  I was keeping my eyes on the wake of the boat and trying to stay optimistic. When we reached the point and whales were spotted, they stopped the boat. The motion was too much for me. I could hear the guide, "And there it is folks, 11:00 on the left of the boat!" and she keeps on talking about the humpback whales. I am leaning as far over the back of the boat as I can get, losing that delicious breakfast. At one point, my mom came over and I forced myself to get to the side of the boat and look at the whale surfacing for air. Then I resumed my position at the back. 

Elle and Mom (and Maddie and I, even more briefly!) had gone inside the boat for a few minutes when we were almost to the viewing point. It was so hot in there compared to the outside temperature and Elle came back out feeling bad herself. She sat down on the other step where the boy had been sitting and put her head down. I sat with her for awhile but then had to get to the back of the boat and Maddie sat there with her. I'm not sure she ever saw the whale:(. Once we were moving back in, it was better, but I still managed to get in one more good episode. I wasn't the only one who got sick, but I was the first and the last:). I'm certain I've never been happier to get on solid ground.  Even though it was a bit disappointing, I can say I've seen humpback whales in the Pacific!    
            

                            

The day got much better thankfully. We went back to the hotel to recuperate for a few minutes, then walked down to Johnny Rockets for lunch. I had fries and root beer and it was so good! 

Then we walked just a bit in the other direction to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This was the largest before the Georgia Aquarium was built. They had a really cool sea horse and jellyfish exhibit. There was also a place to scuba dive in a tide pool right on the bay. That's something Atlanta doesn't have:).

We stayed at the aquarium until close to closing time. Elle scoured the aquarium shops until she found a shark's tooth mood necklace. She was thrilled with her souvenir and would check it at least 347 times over the next several days to assess her mood. 

We went across the street from our hotel to Bubba Gump's for dinner. I think our waitress was surprised that we were from Alabama and Georgia. Not Greenbow, but Alabama nonetheless. There was only one trivia question we couldn't answer! We turned in kind of early, took showers and watched We Bought A Zoo in our hotel room. A relaxing way to end a somewhat turbulent day?!

California trip, Day 1

Last Saturday (the 21st), Elle and I headed to Montgomery bright and early for an 11:00 flight to Monterey, California. My mom and sister had been in LA for about 5 days and were driving up the coast to meet us there. We would spend 2 days in Monterey, drive to San Francisco for 3 more days before flying back home. Elle had flown twice before, but both times before she was 3. We were both very excited about the trip. The boys were back home with Steven for the weekend, then his mom for the first part of the week, followed by a couple of days with my dad and Sandi while he was at work those days. We had a very smooth trip over. We flew from Montgomery to Dallas, then Dallas to LA, then a short hop up to Monterey. We were literally the only people going through security in Montgomery. LAX was a little bit difficult to navigate but we managed to find our way and not see any famous people at all. 

Getting on the first plane

Landing in Monterey about 30 degrees cooler!

We stayed in a hotel on Cannery Row with a decent view:). We walked around that night, grabbed some dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then called it a night. We had had a long day of traveling and were beat!

Summer of Birthdays

The weekend before July 4th, we had a little family get-together at my aunt and uncle's house in Troy. We were celebrating my grandmother, who turns 80 tomorrow! She loves to play BINGO, so we played a rigged game of bingo where she won every round and every prize. I truly think she thought it was her lucky day:). 

We have a few other summer birthdays in the family and we celebrated those as well. My aunt Patti made these cute name tags (and Granny's birthday banner!) for our May, June and July birthday cakes. We were missing a few, but those present posed with their respective cakes. My uncle grilled some tasty burgers, my brother brought delicious ribs and we had chips and watermelon.

And we spent a lot of time in the pool!

That night, Elle was brushing her teeth and lost her 5th tooth! Pardon the toothpaste mouth, but she was so excited, we had to take pictures immediately!

More beach fun

We celebrated Reese and had lots of fun with the kids (all 9 of them!), but we also had some fun without them. Ever the gracious hosts, Justin and Darby treated us to a beautiful sunset boat cruise to dinner.  The weather was fairly windy most of the day, but was perfect for our time on the boat that night. The company wasn't too bad either! Even though we had a blast and it was such a fun weekend with our friends and their families, I would take them living here with us all the time, rather than the occasional weekend at the beach:). 

Steven helping himself to a piece of his Father's Day strawberry cake for breakfast. 

Reese had a birthday

Well... I was on a short roll there with blogging and then another 2 weeks or so has happened?! And during that time, Reese turned 3 years old. Actually it was even before the roll, on June 16th. We were at the beach with friends for the weekend of his birthday (and Father's Day!) so they joined us in celebrating our little guy. In the weeks leading up to his birthday, we would ask him what  he wanted and all he would say was "cake". And with a little urging from Steven, his wish became "zebra cake". I refused to buy the Little Debbie zebra cakes as his birthday cake and got a 12 layer chocolate cake instead. 

 

When we got back Sunday afternoon, the boys both laid down for a nap. While Reese slept, we put together his brand new Spiderman bike. Just a side note here that I had a little guilt because I was having a hard time remembering when we had gotten Reese something new, just for him. He gets everything handed down, which is not bad and I'm very thankful we don't have to buy new things. But I just wanted him to have something new of his very own. I'm sure that's common for a third born. Anyway, we were so excited for him to see it when he got up, but I think we forced it on him a little too soon after waking up. 

Me: Reese, let's go outside to see your birthday present!

R, upon seeing the bike: No, that's not my bike! I want a snack! I don't want that bike!

Me (trying very hard not to laugh): OK, buddy, let's go get a snack.

After he had a snack and his blood sugar was a bit more stable, he wanted to see his new bike. And he loved it! It took him a few days, but he is getting the hang of riding now. He just struggles a little with looking forward and not at his feet or to the side or behind him or at a bird when he's riding. Sort of an important rule of riding a bike. That's why we are sticking to the driveway for now.

What to say about this little guy?! I know people say it all the time, but I just can't believe my baby is three years old. He is so much fun. One of his favorite things right now is putting together puzzles. He has amazing concentration. He likes being outside swinging or playing in the sandbox, although it's been a bit hot for those things. We have been swimming a lot and he's so much more comfortable with the water. He swims with a puddle jumper, but has done some work with the kick board too. He's still not thrilled with getting his face wet, but doesn't have quite the tantrums his brother and sister did at his age. He loves to jump, particularly off of things. The higher, the better. He has a great sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time. He's definitely gotten the shaft academically (as in, I haven't spent as much time with him as I did the others), but I'm not worried at all. He's a smart cookie and this will be the year for ABC's and 123's. He does know his colors:). I know I've said this before too, but God knew so much better than we did what a blessing Reese would be to us and our family. We love you little man, and are so thankful for your precious life!