Friday 7-30-10
The road trip was a 10 hour drive, so we all decided that we would leave at 3AM on Friday, July 30th. I went to bed early at 7pm on Thursday night so I could do most of the driving. We got up at 2AM, loaded sleepy boys and blankies into the van, and headed off! The kids and Chris did fall back to sleep, and William and I caravaned for a good 4 hour stretch. Once everyone woke up, we enjoyed talking, playing I-Spy, and listening to Harry Potter on CD.
When we finally arrived, we spent a bit of time exploring Cayucos as the house wasn't ready. What a neat little town! We went into a few little shops, saw the beautiful gardens of a local bakery, a neat restored Victorian house, and ate some browned-butter cookies. Delicious!
We headed over to our beach house and this is what we saw!!
The view from the beach- the back of the house.
Our back deck
There were hardly any people around! It was like we had our own private beach!
Our first sunset!
For some reason, Logan has decided he doesn't like having his picture taken. I can't imagine why not!! : ) Maybe I take too many??? You think???
Saturday, 7-31-10
Our first day Kim and I went shopping for groceries, then we just hung out around the house. The boys boogie-boarded.....it was sooooooo cold! I could hardly get in the water.
We walked the beach, started our shell collection and saw some neat tide pools.
We headed out to have dinner at "The Sea Shanty" because we hadn't planned dinner that night as we were waiting for a repairman to come fix the oven! It was a quaint little restaurant. The food was average. After we ate, we went over to the little park across the street. Here we played on the playground and discovered the original Cayucos Jail! Cool!
Pictures courtesy of Ethan!!
Sunday, 8-1-10
This is such a great, relaxing place to be! Ahhhhh......I am loving watching the ocean out the huge picture windows. We have rearranged the furniture so the couches face the window and we spend the morning sitting on the couches, watching the seals and dolphins swimming along, watching the waves roll in, relaxing. We read books to the kids or to ourselves, sip tea (or coffee for everyone else), play, talk, plan. It is too cold to open the door, so I crack it a bit so we can hear the roar of the ocean. You can feel the humidity and the smell the salt in the air. This "feeds my soul........"
Later in the morning, we headed a few houses down to the house where Carl and Elaine are staying. They are old family friends of Kim's. They have been coming here for years! We visit with them and check out their place. They are so nice! They let us borrow some of their wet-suits so that we can brave the cold water.
Go Beth & Kim!!!
Logan the Master Boogie Boarder!
Dinner at the kitchen table. The sun is so blinding, we had to close the blinds while we ate, then open them later to watch the glorious sunset!
Playing Quiddler. We tried to play games most nights, but we were so tired I am not sure we finished a whole full game of anything- any night! : )
Monday, 8-2-10
I have been working ALOT lately since Chris has been out of work. One thing I have really missed is having one-on-one time with each of the boys. I wanted to try to carve out some time with each boy alone during this trip. I feel like it is really important to build my relationship with each of my children as an individual with their own unique personalities and likes/dislikes.
I started my morning with my early-bird son Ethan. He was up at 6:30am and I got up with him. We dressed and decided to take a long walk on the beach. He had been asking to do this for a few days, but really- who wants to get up that early! ; ) So we set out with a bucket in our bare feet. We walked and walked and walked. We gathered a ton of sand dollars and shells. We talked about school, friends, star wars, Disneyland, and many other things. I love 6 year old minds! Ethan is such a sweet happy boy. He just bounces around and brings so much joy to my life. We walked all the way down to the pier. We went to a little bakery with these amazing gardens. He wanted a cinnamon roll and I had a muffin. We talked with the owner for awhile, shopped in the little stores down in town, and then started the long walk back. We got in trouble when we came back! Apparently we had been gone for like 4 hours and I didn't have my phone. Chris thought we had been kidnapped or something! : )
Ryan was begging for a little snake like the one I had bought Ethan, so I decided to take just him on a picnic to a local playground that the bakery owner had told us about. I packed us a lunch and then we headed off! We first stopped to buy him a golden snake, then we went and played at the park. I pushed him on the swing, we played hunting for dragon eggs, and ran all around on the playground equipment. We laid out on the grass and ate our sandwiches and played some more. Ryan is such a little ham. He just loves having all your attention and soaks it up! He has a very active imagination and can come up with some pretty creative scenarios! We had alot of fun together and I really enjoyed our time.
We headed back and then Logan of course wanted his time! It was mid afternoon, so I took Logan and we headed down (by car this time) to the pier. I had wanted to take him fishing for his "alone time". We rented poles and bought some bait and off to fish! He of course didn't catch anything, but had fun casting and reeling. We sat and talked about life and friends and whatever popped into his head. And sometimes we didn't talk, just sat and soaked up the sun and the ocean air. Logan is a smart, thoughtful boy. He always wants to do the right thing and make good choices. He asks some pretty deep questions that really get me thinking about whats right and wrong, or why people do things or what we believe. He is my thinker! I feel like I don't get enough time with him and am not always able to take the time to answer his questions or let him get them all out, so it was nice to have some quiet time with him today.
This guy wanted to eat our bait! We fed him some scraps!
We had seen an old Victorian house on our first day here and wanted to check it out a little more. Logan thought Grammy would like it, so we took a few pictures to show her. The house was the home of one of the original founders of Cayucos who moved here in the mid 1880's. He built this home along with the pier and some of the other shops. The house was redone in the early 90's by his family and now functions as an Inn and restaurant. We actually were allowed to go in and see one of the guest rooms!
Back at the beach house, Kim and I took the kids out to play and build sand castles. Here is Ethan the mermaid, Ryan the shark, and Kinley- just buried in the sand with her little toes sticking out! What a cutie!
Hogwarts's Cayucos Castle!!
Tuesday, 8-3-10
Today we left Cayucos and ventured north to Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It was about a 2 hour drive full of vineyards and farms and beautiful scenery.
The Aquarium had some really unique exhibits. We had a great time!
The Touch Pools were really neat! We got to feel starfish, mollusks, and other sea life.
I love Kinley's face in this picture! This was showing you what it was like to be "under" a wave.
We arrived at the penguin exhibit just in time to watch a feeding. It was neat to watch them be fed and hear a little more about penguins.
The jelly fish aquariums were my favorite! Beautiful!
Another favorite was the presentation we went to about the Great White Sharks. It was fascinating to learn about the times they have had them in captivity and what they have learned.
After we left the aquarium, we headed to this restaurant called the "Fish Hopper". We pigged out! Logan and I split the seafood platter with crab legs, lobster, and other yummy seafood. I was so full when we left!
We left Monterrey and took the long drive back to Cayucos. It was getting dark when we left and we got back to the beach house around 10pm.
Wednesday, 8-4--10
We spent the morning hanging around and relaxing. Chris and I took the boys to check out this neat old Oak Grove nearby. I forgot the camera so we only have a few cell-phone pictures!
In the afternoon we headed off to a place Kim had gone to many times as a kid. "Dead Seal Beach" aka Coralina Cove. To get here, we had to hike along a trail and then climb down the side of a cliff to this hidden beach. We had it all to ourselves! Not a person in site! There were some really unique shells and rocks here. The waves are pretty rough so some of the rocks have holes in them. There were millions of shells too! I kept getting totally entranced with beach-combing. What a peaceful past-time! The kids explored and the guys climbed out along the walls of the cliffs. They found some tide pools and even Kim even helped Ethan find a starfish! We stayed about 3 hours, but could have easily spent an entire day here. Next time!!!: )
Hiking up out of the cove....
Thursday, 8-5-10
Our last day here! I can hardly believe how fast the week has gone! We slept in a bit this morning, then headed out to breakfast. William had left early this morning to go back on his own to Dead Seal Beach. He was on a quest to find an abalone shell. So we used our free vouchers and ate at the Sea Shanty.
Then we headed back to the beach house. I took the boys on a long beach walk to see pig rock, bird poop rock, and the tide pool one more time. Some pictures from our walk.....
Ethan was so sweet! While I was taking pictures of Ryan with his name, I turned around to find him writing this.............
AAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!!
Our Beach!
We went over to Carl and Elaine's beach house to return the boys wet-suits and hang out for a bit. Elaine fed us some home-made soup. It was delicious! Then we headed back to pack up and get ready to leave.
The Last Sunset
Bonfire on the beach our last night.
Friday, 8-6-10
Today we let our beach house and headed down the coast to Anaheim. We had decided not to drive all the way back to Phoenix, but to stop and spend 1 day at Disneyland to use our Give-A-Day Passes. This turned out to be a perfect way to end our trip! We left mid-morning and got stuck in LA traffic for quite awhile. We didn't mind though- we just listened to our Harry Potter book on cd and relaxed!
We stayed at the Howard Johnson's across from Disneyland. We thought this was a great hotel. They had a really fun kids play/water area with a hot tub. Our room was huge! Overall we were very happy with our stay here. We checked in and then hung at the pool for awhile. Then we went to bed for our early start tomorrow! While I was in the shower I kept hearing a boom! boom! noise. I thought someone in the hall was banging around and wouldn't stop. Turns out it was the fireworks from Disney! Chris and the boys watched them out our window!
Saturday, 8-7-10
Timmy's Birthday! I did send him a pic-text from the Happiest Place on Earth! : )
Today we set out early to our Happy Place.....DISNEYLAND! We upgraded our give-a-day tickets to park-hoppers and set out to enjoy this fun-filled day!
Main Street at 8AM...
I can never go on the Teacups. I get too motion sick!
Gotta love sitting on a bench, eating a Mickey Bar and watching Mickey go by!!!
Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog
The World of Color. This show just opened at California Adventure. I have read alot about it and was so excited to see it! We booked picnic meals ahead of time and picked them up for lunch. We got in line early to get let into the "blue" seating area we were assigned to, then picked a spot farther back along the rail of the bridge. We were right in front and had an AMAZING view! We could see everything with no one in front of us! This was one of the most awesome shows I have ever seen! I cried and laughed and was completely immersed in the show. I can not wait to see it again!
Eating dinner and sleeping while we wait for the showtime. It was getting really cold and we had about 45 minutes until it started, so Chris trekked all the way back to the hotel to get our jackets for us! What a guy!
I couldn't even get a good picture of the show. It was just to amazing for film!
We closed down the park at midnight! We had ridden all of our favorite rides- some twice! And spent a fun-filled busy day at our favorite place. What a great end to our summer vacation!
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