A day at the bay.

One of my favorite places to visit in California is Monterey. We used to go there nearly every year (or at least it seems that way) for my birthday growing up. We would wake up in the morning and head over to the two story McDonald's for our breakfast and then begin our day of shopping. There was this great Barbie doll outlet on Cannery Row and my parents would take me there on my special day and I got to pick out a doll just for me (or two, or three). 

I have always been so excited to take my children to Monterey to begin creating their own memories of this beautiful destination. Our first trip was back in September of 2007, but things didn't go according to our plans. We had just found out the week before that Dad had stage IV kidney cancer and though we thought our vacation would be a good distraction, neither Brad nor I were emotionally ready to be away from home.

This summer was different. It felt like the Monterey vacations that I remembered from my childhood. Maybe because Jacob and Abby are two years older, maybe because Brad and I aren't still numb from the shock of Dad's cancer, and maybe because going there somehow in some way made me feel close to my dad after having spent the past year apart from him. Whatever it was, it was truly wonderful.

I loved watching the kids amazement at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. That place really is like another world. It is crazy to me to think that all of this life exists just under the water's surface. It was so great to see the kids absorb all of this and have fun while doing it. There are so many great interactive exhibits now that Jacob and Abby didn't stop going and going the whole three hours we were there.