Out of town

Poor Talin has been working his booty off these past few weeks.  

So, Ezra and I decided to plan a little get away for him this past weekend.  

We debated and debated about where to go, but we kept coming back to one of our favorite spots. 

MONTEREY!  

It's just far enough of a drive to feel like we're out of town, but not so far that we spend the whole weekend in the car.

Plus, I found a GREAT deal on this little Victorian inn. =)

Of course, our adventures had to start off at the aquarium!

I am always in awe of the beauty we find at this place!

Ezra was excited to find the trout exhibit....still not sure why.....trout are his new favorite fish. HA!

We looked for whales off the aquarium porch and ended up seeing TONS of little floating sea otters enjoying their lunches, a HUGE floating jellyfish, and a pod of migrating dolphins.

After hours and hours of exploring....

.....and oohing and aaaahing....

It became pretty obvious that is was time for our whiny little adventurer to head back to the room for a break.  We lit a warm fire (it was SO chilly this weekend!).....

...read a bit and had a snack...

...then headed back to squeeze in as many exhibits as we could before closing time.

(these jellyfish were amazing!!  have you ever seen a turquoise jelly?)

Ezra scrambled to play with EVERY hands on display he could find!

We had such a great time!

The day ended with Mexican on the beach (well at least with an amazing view of the beach)...

....and my favorite part, enjoying a dark room with a crackling fire, listening to my boys softly breathing in the GIANT king bed....and feeling so content. =)

The next day we headed out to Carmel, but stopped in at the Dennis the Mennis playground.

It really was worth the stop!

Not only was it HUGE....

...and filled with play structures...

...there were SO many new friends to meet, ready to play and have a good time!

My favorite was the giant rope bridge.....soooo wobbly! =)

Hoogle zoo flashbacks!

We will definitely be coming by here again the next time we're down.

Carmel had the sunshine, and the beautiful clear water....so even though the temperature was still on the freezing side we shlepped our picnic lunch out to the sand and enjoyed all the sunshine we could soak up!

Oh how I love this face! 

We laughed and were entertained by the HOARD of dogs having a great time in the surf.

Ezra, of course wasted no time finding a stick....why do little boys love sticks so much? 

It was a wonderful afternoon of enjoying.....

.....relaxing....

.....and loving our time together.  

As we drove home 

(with Ezra asleep the WHOLE way)

 I reveled in that blissful, quiet, after vacation feeling.  

Even teeny trips can be filled with TONS of happy memories.

I'm so glad we got of out town. =)