The middle of March I left Texas to go to California and spend time with the kids and grandkids during the kids' spring break. After a couple of days in Redlands Stina, Sam, Annie and I went to Pacific Grove to spend some time with Ken and Amanda.
One of our first stops on our tour of the area was Uncle Ken's office at the Presidio of Monterey. Of course, his desk looks like any other cop/detective/investigator (take your pick).
The next thing to do was to play Mario Cart on Uncle Ken's Wii.
Behind Ken and Amanda's house is a park that covers two blocks. They can go right out a gate in their fence to the park and walk the two blocks to the ball park and playground. People are going through the park, walking their dogs, all day long. It's a lovely park.
When we got to the playground everyone had fun on all the swings and slide.
This is graffiti Pacific Grove style.
We went shopping and had lunch at an outside mall in Monterey. There was a cool fountain with an otter. Stina and Sam wanted to be sure to get a picture with it for their dad.
Next up was to go shell hunting at the beach a couple of blocks from Ken and Amanda's house.
The water was REALLY cold, but the four girls did, eventually, get wet.
Right before we left they were sure to bury their feet in the warm sand.
The next day we went to the Monterey Aquarium. They have added lots more exhibits since last time I was there.
Here, the girls are standing in a glass-enclosed hallway, where every few minutes a wave of water rushes over it.
The one part of the aquarium that I remember from our previous visit was the area where you can touch the fish.
All of the girls touched at least one of the exhibits.
Here is what passes for a group shot when Uncle Ken is involved.
One of the rooms is round and has all these small fish that just swim round and round and round. I saw Christina staring at the group and asked what she was looking at. She said she was looking to see if there was any fish that was swimming in the opposite direction of the group -- and that, I think, tells you a lot about Christina. Incidentally, she did find a fish swimming against the flow.
One of the excursions Uncle Ken and Aunt Amanda had planned was to play glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. It was a pretty cool set-up and everyone had a good time.
When we got back to the house the girls decided they wanted to try out Aunt Amanda's Wii Fit and found out it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.
Everyone then took their showers, had some ice cream and packed to leave for home the next day. I think the girls' visit was just the medicine Daisy needed. She had been so sick and really perked up after getting so much attention from the girls.
The one part of the aquarium that I remember from our previous visit was the area where you can touch the fish.
All of the girls touched at least one of the exhibits.
Here is what passes for a group shot when Uncle Ken is involved.
One of the rooms is round and has all these small fish that just swim round and round and round. I saw Christina staring at the group and asked what she was looking at. She said she was looking to see if there was any fish that was swimming in the opposite direction of the group -- and that, I think, tells you a lot about Christina. Incidentally, she did find a fish swimming against the flow.
One of the excursions Uncle Ken and Aunt Amanda had planned was to play glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. It was a pretty cool set-up and everyone had a good time.
When we got back to the house the girls decided they wanted to try out Aunt Amanda's Wii Fit and found out it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.
Everyone then took their showers, had some ice cream and packed to leave for home the next day. I think the girls' visit was just the medicine Daisy needed. She had been so sick and really perked up after getting so much attention from the girls.
