Trip to Monterey

As our family summer vacation we choose to do a three visit to Monterey and Carmel.  We were hoping to take the whole family but it turned out to just be Karl and I with the girls.  We had a great time exploring the quaint cities down there and just being tourists.  It had been years since either Karl or I had been there so it was fun to rediscover it together. We stretched our legs at this large park with a huge train engine for the kids to play on.  Then, we went to Karl's favorite restaurant, Bumba Gumps, and after, the girls wanted to go through John Steinbeck's historical wax museum next store (creepy!). I picked out the Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream shop to go to for dessert, delicious!  We weren't excepting it to be so cold so we had to buy sweat shirts to sport for the weekend. 

The next day, we checked out the aquarium and had lunch on Cannery Row. The girls had fun watching the otters and penguins.  Kylie really like the toddler area they had by the seahorses and Natalie got to touch the sea creatures at the tide counters but ended up being a little hesitant, no shocker there! After lunch, we went on the 17-mile drive along Carmel's coast.  After sight seeing, we relaxed at the hotel and tried to go swimming but it was so cold! That didn't last long. We went out later for a quiet dinner and hang out at the hotel.  The next morning, we went to the wharf and had  crepes for breakfast. Then, we headed over to Carmel and check out Carmel Mission.  Since it was Sunday, people were actually attending mass.  The music was incredible! Then we went to the beach  to for a while. Apparently if you live in Carmel, you have to have a dog and take it for a walk on Sunday morning.  Dogs were EVERYWHERE! We wanted to do tide pools but had to go find some lunch and didn't end up going back. We went and found a wonderful place to eat downtown.  The area was so nice, with so many shops to see, we can't wait to go back.  Maybe just Karl and I though...  The girls had a great time and hope to get more time to play at the beach this summer.

So Karl dug into the sand and found it full of worms which his shovel had cut in two! 
It was so sad becuase there were so many and you could see the blood. 
Flies started to swarm the area so he buried them and we moved to drier sand.  He felt so bad!