Taking advantage of David having another 4 day weekend, we packed up and headed to beautiful Monterey. First we stopped in Santa Cruz at the Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve and Natural Bridges State Beach. It was amazing. This is where the Monarch butterflies come temporarily on their migration to Mexico. The beach here is one of my absolute favorites. I wish I could freeze time when we're at the beach. It's so much fun. 
We got to our hotel in Monterey and ordered pizza. It was pretty funny because the kids couldn't believe that someone would come find
us at this hotel and bring us pizza! I guess they didn't notice the exchange of cash. :) We all enjoyed our pizza and then stared as Karsten ate more than any of us - including David!
The Monterey Aquarium was simply amazing. We spent all day there viewing sharks and jellyfish and octopus and schools of sardine... They have a great white shark in one of their tanks right now which is very rare. When the kids were so exhausted (or was it the parents...) we headed back home, but not before hitting a cafe on Cannery Row(which I'm now inspired to read this novel by John Steinbeck.) It was a great get-away and the best part was it only took us 2 hours to get home.
We got to our hotel in Monterey and ordered pizza. It was pretty funny because the kids couldn't believe that someone would come find
us at this hotel and bring us pizza! I guess they didn't notice the exchange of cash. :) We all enjoyed our pizza and then stared as Karsten ate more than any of us - including David! The Monterey Aquarium was simply amazing. We spent all day there viewing sharks and jellyfish and octopus and schools of sardine... They have a great white shark in one of their tanks right now which is very rare. When the kids were so exhausted (or was it the parents...) we headed back home, but not before hitting a cafe on Cannery Row(which I'm now inspired to read this novel by John Steinbeck.) It was a great get-away and the best part was it only took us 2 hours to get home.
