Monterey Bay Aquarium

About a month ago, Chris surprised me with a day trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! We live about a two hour drive away from Monterey, and the journey out there is absolutely beautiful. California is a pretty place, there's no denying it. We drove the entire thing in our spiffy new Honda CRV, as a matter of testing her road-tripping capacities of course, and I must say she is a keeper.

As for the actual content of the aquarium...two thumbs up from us!! Here are some pictures, because my grasp on the English language is not at its' peak tonight:

 itty bitty jellies!

 baby sea turtle!

 Jellyfish exhibit NUMBER TWO! With psychadellic Hendrix-esque music blasting the entire time. I was stoked. If you couldn't already tell, I kind of love jellyfish.

 these little guys moved FAST. which is weird for a jellyfish. but they looked rubbery and bounced around like crazy bouncy balls and were super fun to watch.

 the octopus was feeling shy today :(

can you spot the crab???

Anyway, I pretty much only photographed jellyfish, because I love them and also because my phone died. But luckily I wasn't the only one documenting our adventures that day....

 Chris brought a sketchbook along! :) I love his sketches.

And okay, I guess we both kind of love jellyfish.

There were a lot more awesome things in the aquarium - apparently they even had a Mantis Shrimp in one of the exhibits! We went on a quest to find it, but failed, because apparently it was in the kiddie "Coral Crawl Tunnel" that we didn't venture into because we thought maybe we were too old for that business and also we were taking turns wearing Daisy.
Speaking of Daisy, she looked pretty darn cute, but in the only picture we remembered to take of her, she looks kind of stoned [it was just the sunlight, I swear!]:

Our little explorer is still kind of upset about how the sun gets in her eyes.

Anyway! We both loved it. I think Daisy even enjoyed it - especially the super long nap she took in the sling...the aquarium lighting was dark and the sling was cozy so she was a pretty happy camper.

We'd love to go back to downtown Monterey and explore some more sometime - it looks so interesting! Unfortunately we were so beat by the time we finished the aquarium, all we had enough energy for was to pop into a cinnamon roll bakery that was on our way back to the car and grab a couple rolls. Which were extremely delicious, by the way.

Those were the days. What a great way to celebrate Chris' last week of freedom before heading back to work. [he ended up having the entire month of May off, due to film schedule shifts, and we were able to use the rest of his "paternity leave" and hang out with him every day! It was soooo nice. So so so nice. Sometimes I miss those days, but I'm glad to have a schedule back again too :) ]

Quite Lovely

Today was a fine, fine day. 

We set out bright and early for the coast, with the intent to stuff ourselves full of delicious strawberries [and possibly bring some home in boxes as well as our stomachs]. If you've never been to California's Slow Coast, I'd say it's bucket-list worthy. The drive out there from our home on the Peninsula is full of gorgeous, windy, woodland roads [that remind me of the Pacific Northwest]. And then once you reach the coast, well, there's things like the above picture. Gorgeous clear ocean waters and the raddest farmland dotting the coastal slopes. I love it. It's invigorating. One of those places that makes you feel more alive just for visiting.

I tell ya what - if any of you make it out here to visit, we'll make a day of it. Deal??

So, anyway. I've waxed poetic enough for now. On to the berries!

 that box Chris is holding right there?? yeah, we filled it. to the brim. above the brim, actually. nearly five pounds!!

blurry, but this strawberry was shaped like a jalapeno. so many fun berry shapes!

 my berry-pickin' pal. Daisy wasn't a huge fan of the bracing ocean breezes up there, but I think she was pretty intrigued by all of the goings-on.

it was so gorgeous!! rolling hills to your right, and the ocean on your left. pretty darn picturesque.

Stacey and Steve Truman! our very dear friends. we love these guys to death. Stacey went to BYU with Chris, and they both work at Dreamworks now! she shares my obsession with nailpolish, among other things. it's wonderful.
[also, my Dad's sister and her husband are also named Stacey and Steve, so I really appreciate how easy it is to remember our friends' names ;) hahaha!]

                                                   
a few of the more interestingly-shaped berries. after we filled our 5lb box, we discovered that the OTHER strawberry patch closer to the ocean is where they were hiding all of the gigantic monster strawberries! so we picked another basketful...and ate them all before we left. [did I mention that you're allowed to eat as many as you want while you pick?? it's lovely]

some of our other dear friends, the Greene's! Stacey's cousin Lauren and her family. they are the cutest.

have I mentioned how stinking pretty it was?!

this berry. this berry was huge.

we should be models, I know. we get that one ALLLL the time.

our little fam-damily! [and some port-a-potties in the background! we didn't even have to pay to have those props in our picture. they came absolutely free of charge.]

oh, and we found a ladybug on Steve and Stacey's car when we got back!

And now just a few words about the farm we picked at:

 

 and a quick photo I snapped at the SlowCoast Airstream store [which was exactly what it sounds like: a little shop set up inside of an Airstream RV. so neat. all the things they had were made by local artisans]:

 Yep, it was a pretty fabulous day. I can't wait to go back for more! I'm really intrigued by Ollalieberries. Definitely want to pick some of those when they're in season.

After we picked our fill of berries, we meandered back towards home to pick up our new car and stop by Costco with the Truman's, who also happen to be our #1 Costo Pals. Then we went home to cool our sunburns and take naps and be generally lazy for the remainder of the day.

Oh, what's that? You want to know more about that whole NEW CAR thing I mentioned?!

TA-DA! 

She is beautiful. 2003 Honda CRV. The previous owners loved her a lot and took excellent care of her...so she both looks and smells like a new car even after ten years. And the previous owners also got the "fully loaded" option when they bought it brand-new, so it's all tricked out with things like a 6-CD changer. We are rollin' in style. And we need to go dig out all of our CD's so we can use them in the car and they can have a life again.
I guess I should also mention that Chris thinks the CRV is a "he", because he will probably take offense to my choice of anthropomorphizing pronouns in that previous paragraph. But I am pretty sure she is a girl. She speaks to me. We have a connection, her and I.

So, our Memorial Day weekend is off to a great start! I hope yours is too - let me know what you're up to! Love you all!

PS - I am not sure the "follow" or "subscribe" feature will work with this blog, since it's all private and such! BUT, if you add it to your bookmarks, it will be easy to find on a regular basis and maybe you will remember to check it occasionally :) I'm planning on updating at least once a week!