Monterey bay

 On one of our (few) non-camping weekends we decided to go down to Monterey bay Aquarium, which is truly one of the most awesome aquariums around. Besides, I had to replace my jelly fish t-shirt, bought in 1980 something...

We started the journey at Willow's turtle toss party, where teams were launching soft balls with hand-built catapults. Bill's team took third, so we now have free movie tickets. Too bad they don't come with a babysitter!

Our grand plan to have the kids fall asleep on the drive down failed miserably, of course, although all in all they weren't too cranky. Our hotel was kinda funky - an older, seen better days place but it had some nice features like breakfast and a TON of dvds. The kids slept in - until nearly 9 (!?!?) which was good after their late night. We managed to get food in them without the kids wearing too much of it. We then walked down to catch the shuttle to the aquarium. Of course, we should have taken a closer look at the shuttle sign, which said it didn't start until 10am.... (we spent the last bit of time in a coffee shop).

 I think the kids liked the aquarium - there's a kid's play area they ran around in for a while. The penguin feeding was only a bit entertaining; the giant octopus more so. The big tanks were also fun. Lunch was pretty good - expensive, but better food than some restaurants I've been in (the kids stuffed their faces). Running around outside was also a hit, as was the interactive jelly fish wall. We left before closing time, since the kids were getting tired. Watched a bit of Curious George on the DVD, had dinner at a local mexican place - played tag on the walk back.

The bigger hit, I think, was the Denis the Menace playground. It had a steam train, a climbing wall, slides galore, a tunnel, a suspension bridge, a maze... we spent all morning there.

 We only left because the kids were getting hungry. They were chasing each other around, going down the slides together, and just generally having a grand time. The best slide was this one made out of rollers - you can see Bill experiencing the joy of going down it below. I think the kids went around it a good dozen times. They went down together, by themselves, with us...

For lunch we asked Isabella what she wanted. She said sushi. Surprise! So we went to a sushi place the other side of highway one. It looked very swank in the entry way, then turned into a sports bar type deal with formica tables in the back. Food was pretty good, though.

 Our grand plan was to have the kids fall asleep on the car ride back to Santa Cruz, to have them well-rested in order to ride the rides in the afternoon. Ha. Ian fell asleep about 10 minutes before getting there. So I sat in the car with him for an hour or so (kindle!) while Bill took Isabella down to the beach. Eventually we all went down, played in the sand, ate some funnel cake.

Ian decided he wanted to ride the carousel, so we did that, too. Then crawled home in the traffic.