Don’t Have A Cow, But…
We went to Monterey California and did not go to the Aquarium… Take a moment to allow the shock to absorb…. Spring break week – we decided to take a trip to the beach, because I love the beach! Although, for the children there is not too much to do at the beach when the weather is cool, so we broke it up and spent half our time in Monterey and then the other half of the week in Vallejo, California at Discovery Kingdom. Saturday, April 4th we went to Sammy’s T-Ball game and right after grabbed some food and headed out for Monterey. A five hour drive – it was amazing that we didn’t need to stop but once for Sammy to potty on a tree in the mountains. We meet up with Scott’s parents at our hotel on the beach… I was in heaven! The sounds, the smells… it was amazing!
(ME w/*I love you* (signs) and the pacific)
Sunday we hit Fisherman’s Wharf and walked around all over. We then went to a pretty famous park called the “Dennis The Menace Park” designed by the creator of “Dennis the Menace” TV show. That was awesome! The Boyz got to climb on everything! Nothing was off limits – no old people yelling at them to “get down from there!” or “Don’t do that!” They climbed all over a train – no limits. There was a rope bridge they got to run across like mad men – no one yelling, “Be careful!” There was a small tree maze with a tower in the center. There were two big toys with slides and things – one for the bigger kids and one for the smaller kids. This park was really just perfect – and the kids enjoyed every second of it!
Monday we finally did something we have only been talking about doing for years – we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk! I was totally freaked out by the city of Santa Cruz – but that’s just because it looks scary! The boardwalk was awesome! We had so much fun spending the entire day walking around and going on rides. Sammy got an all-day pass, but the rest of us shared a ticket book – and by the end of the day we were able to use all 60 tickets and Sammy’s pass had paid for itself a couple times over! Yeah – we are the nerdy family that keeps track to make sure what we’ve gotten was worth it. There is this sky line ride thing – I don’t know the name of the ride – where you sit in a seat and it carries you up and over the boardwalk. At the end of the day we had just enough tickets to ride this contraption back to the beginning of the boardwalk. I don’t like heights, but I am not phobic about them either, so I took Jack (the baby) and hopped on! Holy shit! It was a few seconds into the ride did I realize what a bad mistake I had made! My entire body stiffened and I had death grip on Jack. I was trying not to freak Jack out so I was trying to talk to him, with calming tones – I started out saying things like, “Oh, look at the ocean.” and “Do you see daddy and Samma behind us?” I ended up saying, “Jesus this ride goes on forever.” and “Oh look – there’s the end!” After the boardwalk we needed to get some food, but not knowing the area we looked online and picked a random place on the pier next to the boardwalk…. I will not go into it because it was weird and not good.
Tuesday we woke up and got all ready for Cannery Row (where the aquarium is) when Grandpa (Scott’s father) knocked on the door announcing that Grandma had been sick all night and they think it might be food poisoning from yucky food the night before. We ended up walking around Cannery Row without the grandparents. It was really nice – it was raining so that gave me a good excuse to buy a jacket with “Monterey” on it. I found my brother a couple birthday gifts and we went to eat at Bubba Gump’s on the water! The Aquarium was jam packed! There were lines coming out of every door and up the street. We walked around and looked around, but in the end we were probably the only family that walked away without going inside. The Aquarium was not only a dry place of refuge but they had this new Sea-Horse exhibit.
We went back to the hotel and went to the beach – it was cold but damnit I was going to spend time at the beach! I spent a little more to stay in a hotel on the beach – and I was not going to waste it. Plus, it’s the beach and cold or not – it’s awesome! So we went down and played in the sand, ran from the surf and had a wonderful hour on the beach. Sammy wanted to go swimming in the pool – really in the hot tub. We ordered Chinese take-out and kicked back in our room while the Boyz watched Sponge Bob… *no comment* After, we went out to the pool but ended up having to cut it short as Sammy wanted to swim in the hot tub but the other guests were not loving that. We told him a few times that he needed to swim in the pool only, but his final escape and jump into the hot tub ended his night.
Wednesday we had to say good bye to our beautiful beach and Monterey as we headed to Vallejo. We stopped in San Jose at OSF and Scott’s mother claimed to feel 110% better (as I am sure she did). We went straight to Vallejo and checked into the hotel, then we ran over to Discovery Kingdom to get our season passes and have a few hours of fun. Thursday, grandma decided she didn’t want to go to Discovery Kingdom because she was still not feeling 100% (you do the math). Grandpa decided he wanted to go with us, so we piled into the hotel shuttle and headed over to Discovery Kingdom. When we got there Scott’s father told me he wasn’t feeling too great and thought he had the same thing his wife had. Right away I took two big steps back and told him that any time he wants to go back – just let us know. We went to the Orca show, a dolphin show and a tiger show and then we went to the kiddie play area that had a few rides. Grandpa wanted to sit down while we took the Boyz around this area. Sammy had to go potty and so we walked out and around the area to the bathrooms. After we were all done we decided to go see how Grandpa was doing and we noticed he was no longer sitting where we left him. Our first thought was that he got up and was looking for us. Then we saw the stroller was still there, and we saw a group of people and then we saw Grandpa’s shoes…. He was lying on the ground and the medic was hovering over him! Holy shit! We ran over and started asking questions about what the hell happened. It sounded like he was sitting there and got this sudden urge to lie down, so he went to lie down on the ground when two ladies tried to help him back up, but then he passed out. The ladies were yelling at the park guy to call someone or 9-1-1, but the moron just stood there and shook his head. Another park guy called the medics at the park and they came. They also called 9-1-1 so there would be an ambulance waiting. Grandpa convulses when he passes out – which makes it look like he’s having a seizure and was totally freaking these ladies out! I have to say these ladies were amazing and were right there when Scott’s father needed help – not like us in the bathroom… *wink* The Medics all wanted Scott’s father to go to the hospital, but he declined and just wanted to go back to the hotel. The really nice security man from the park drove him back. We stayed the rest of the day – at first it felt weird to go back to having fun after that, but it was fine after a little while.
Friday was our last day at Discovery Kingdom. We decided to drive over so that Sam could ride the tram – he had been begging to ride it! It was a busy morning as everyone was heading to Discovery Kingdom! The sun was out for the first time in three days and the weekend was just getting started… It was very exciting. We hit as many rides as we could and we went to the Orca show again – it was Sammy’s favorite! Sammy and Jack rode the Thomas Train ride another thousand times, and we all got to ride the kiddie coaster a dozen more times before the park closed on our last day… It was a ton of fun and I really hope we get back there soon with our season passes! We went out and got Olive Garden take-out and by the time we got back to the hotel Sam and Jack were both out! Sammy had been going swimming after we got back from Discovery Kingdom until the pool closed every night, but this last night he did not make it down – poor little fella was super tired!
It was a nice fun-filled week (but not for the grandparents) and we were a little sad that we had to come home. Saturday we packed up the car, said good bye to Scott’s parents and headed back home…
