Monterey

To top of our very busy August we hopped on a plane and went to Monterey, California for a long weekend. The flight was quick and easy but Allison's little legs are now just long enough to touch the seat in front of her. The jerk sitting in front of her with his leaned back seat did not appreciate her excitement and outstretched legs. But instead of simply moving seats on our not even close to being full flight he decides the best thing to do would be to yell at me and tell me what a pain it is. So our fun flight resulted in me crying and all of us shifting seats to accommodate the meanie. Whatever, I got over it pretty fast and had a great weekend. And just to be safe, Papa Phillips sat in the seat in front of Alli on the flight home. He said he didn't care if Alli's legs could touch his chair.
To him it would feel like a gentle massage....thanks Papa!

We flew into Oakland and drove down to Monterey. On the way down we stopped in Concord to see where Dave grew up. This was his childhood house.
We also visited with their old neighbors and family friends Tom and Diane aka Daisy. Then we ate lunch at one of Dave's favorite California places, Togo's.
After that we headed down the coast to Monterey!
We spent a lot of time that day on Cannery Row. The first thing we did was go to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.
That aquarium is AMAZING! It had everything you could imagine. There were numerous floor to ceiling glass walls with all kinds of sea life behind them. In them we saw all kinds of sharks, huge schools of fish, rays, kelp, jellyfish, and giant fish to name a few. Standing in front of them was mesmerizing. We also saw seahorses, flamingos, penguins and lots of smaller tanks filled with interesting things. They had lots of different exhibits where you could touch different things that you would find in tide pools like starfish, anemones, seaweed and slugs. We spent some time in the different children's play areas. Which were awesome by themselves. And we all loved watching the "big water", the tide simulation.
The next day we went to the Denis the Menace Park. We explored the train and swung on the swings. It was hilarious to watch Allison try to keep her balance while walking across the big sway bridge. There was lots of really neat play equipment. We had fun!
We stayed with Dave's best friend Mike Pola and his cute family. Allison and Vinnie had the best time together! It was so cute to watch them interact and play. They are both the first and only child in their families so at first they both had a little crash course in sharing :) But by the end they were best friends!!! Mike and Tami are the nicest people. We loved staying in their home and when we got there they had even bought Alli new jammies and a stuffed animal. So thoughtful and unexpected! Thank you, thank you for your hospitality!
The actual reason we decided to go on this trip was because Dave's grandparents were having a 55 year wedding anniversary party. We went to that on Saturday after the park. On Sunday morning we drove back down to their house in Carmel Valley and had breakfast with some of the family. It was nice to visit, see their home and see the beautiful area where they live.
From there Dave, Allison, and I stole Papa away and drove up to Oakland. We had a late flight and the A's happened to have an afternoon game that day so we went to the game. This was Alli's first MLB game. A's vs. Rays. We had the greatest seats. Not because they were super close to the field but because they where in the shade and had this fabulous little area behind them where Alli could play but not run away. It was perfect!
Then it was off to the airport and home. Along the way Papa did get a great little gentle "massage" courtesy of Alli Bear :)