Once again, Kyle's work paid to fly him right to us! After meeting with some clients on the coast on Thursday and Friday, it worked out perfectly for Uncle Kyle to get picked up by his family for a weekend in Monterey. He's already off today, but oh what a start to our Christmas Vacation!
Our first bit of time with Kyle was spent eating pizza for dinner and swimming in our hotel's indoor pool. Apparently coastal vacations are not so common during the winter, so we had this great hotel all to ourselves. In the above picture, Delia is modeling an early Christmas gift from Auntie Karen and family-- a talking R2D2 wheelie suitcase. You can probably imagine how excited she was about this cool gift!
The next day we started making our way to the aquarium, stopping at a few of our favorite wildlife viewing spots as we drove.
The day was gray, but the animal sightings were still aplenty. Highlights were the playful otters and the cuddly/grumpy sea lions.
Our second trip to the aquarium on this year's membership was just as great as the first one. Once again we started at the cephalopod exhibit to watch those amazing cuddlefishes and octopuses in action.
On this trip, we also enjoyed the jellyfish exhibit, the big Open Seas tank feeding, and the lionfish. I love how each visit to the aquarium brings a new favorite. You never know what is going to be especially exciting, making each time we go special and memorable.
We had to make the traditional stop at the ocean too. The surf on this day was incredible! We've never seen the ocean so pounding or the waves so huge. We just read about a "King Tide" in this area, which is what seems to be making the water extra exciting.
And a quick stop at the butterfly sanctuary is always a must too. On this day, the butterflies were clumped up in the biggest bunch we'd ever seen them. They looked like a bee hive! A docent told us that about 20,000 monarchs were in this little piece of forest.
Still having time in our day, we spent an hour at our favorite Dennis the Menace park too. Above, the girls are performing a number they choreographed to "You Are My Sunshine." They are singing and dancing on a sunshine...clever, right?
We had a special surprise for the girls that required a little stalling, so we stopped for some Starbucks on the way home. Drinks for everyone were on my generous students, who gifted me with so many Starbucks cards, I probably won't have to pay for coffee for the next 3 years!
This was the special surprise: an incredible dancing lights house in the Bay Area right on our way home. We saw this thing on You Tube and realized it was not far off the road from where we were going to be this weekend. We HAD to work it into our day. Have you seen it? It's getting famous for its last number, which is a light show coordinated to Star Wars music! (Click here if you don't know about this yet.)
The Star Wars song was definitely the coolest, especially when the lasers on the roof fought each other like light sabers, but that was not all. The house also played Christmas music, dance music and Frozen songs, which the whole crowd sang along to. And with this thing going viral, there was quite the crowd!
Sunday was a lovely day of church and relaxation. We watched Muppet Christmas Carol, we played lots of games, we ate popcorn and drank hot chocolate, and we opened Uncle Kyle's thoughtful Christmas presents.
It was SUCH a good weekend. What a gift for all of us to get this unexpected time with Kyle. It kicked off what I hope will be a really excellent break!
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