Our Vacation

Every year around this time, we like to take a "vacation".  It really is just a weekend getaway and is usually nearby - Palm Springs, Carlsbad, San Diego - that sort of thing.  This year, we got crazy and went to Santa Cruz and Monterrey.  It was a blast.  The kids had a great time and everybody was in good moods, even Lucas traveled like a champ.  Last road trip I took with him, he cried basically the whole time he was awake.

First we stopped in Santa Cruz, and visited a place called "The Mystery Spot".  I definitely recommend it next time your up that way with some time to kill.  It is a house built on this gravitational anomaly.  I don't know how much of it is an optical illusion, and how much is actually the gravity but there is definitely something going on there.  In one room of the house, near the center of this gravitational spot, if you let go of the railing along the walls, it will literally pull you (quickly) to the other side.  As it is, while you're standing there, you stand at a 45 degree angle because of the gravitational pull and you don't fall over.  LL hung from the door way and came out to a 45 degree angle as well.  It's pretty nuts.

Next we headed to Monterrey and visited the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and a children's discovery museum called, 'My Museum'.  We also stopped at the Dennis the Menace Park and the boys rode a paddle boat, we visited the Wharf and spent a lot of time at the hotel pool. 

On the way home, we drove the 17-mile drive at Pebble Beach

and then drove to Oxnard to spend a little time with Lucas' godparents.  It was a great trip but we were happy to get home and spend one last day with Jacki before she left us. 

 
Jacki spent most of the month of July with us and she has been missed terribly and she's only been gone 2 days.  We want her back.  It was amazing how quickly she just became a part of our household.  Never once did it feel like we had house guests, we just had another member of the family here and her absence is deafening.  We loved having her and can't wait to visit her at her home in the near future.