Regen and Mom go to Cali....

Regen and I planned a special trip for just the two of us. She had a hard time adjusting to 1st grade, so we thought a little one on one time may help. We had so much fun in Monterey visiting the Hovey Family. It was a beautiful weekend catching up with friends and playing in sunny CA.

Our first stop was at the Monarch Butterfly Preserve at Natural Arches State Park in Santa Cruz. We all know how much Regen LOVES butterflies and when the nice man sitting next to us on our flight down told us about this Regen's eyes just lit up and I knew we had to go see it. It definitely didn't disappoint. It felt as though we were in this magical fairy garden (can you tell I have girls?) There were literally thousands of butterflies flying all around us.


Walking down to the butterflies. They were in a eucalyptus grove, so it smelled wonderful too.


Monarch Butterflies everywhere


Those are big 'clumps' of butterflies


The kids found a nice viewing spot


I am pretty sure Regen could have waited for hours for one to land on her.



Next, we walked ACROSS the street at played in the sand and water for the rest of the afternoon. Gotta love California.












The next day we headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Another must-see for Regen.



Regen's favorite exhibit was touching the rays. That girl doesn't have a whole lot of fear of animals - except raccoons.




They have a pretty impressive jellyfish exhibit



The aquarium teaches kids about conservation and ways to keep the Earth clean and healthy. Here is Regen's suggestion: "We clean garbage up"



What a view


Having fun watching the waves crash


Waiting for the waves to crash over them in the glass tube



After playing at the aquarium, we took a walk and got ice-cream at Ghirardell's and did a little tourist shopping. Regen really loves the beach and wanted to play in the ocean again, so we took one last walk in the sand.






MMMMmmmm - Ice Cream!!




We had such a good time and may have to do another trip next year - but I have a feeling that I will be taking two little girls with me.

On a side note - Colin did just fine with the two other kids. He took them to the zoo - here they are acting like the monkey's that they are. I think it was good for him to get a little taste of what it is like to stay at home with the little monsters all the time. Chase is pretty challenging -and at a difficult age. Now he knows why when he walks in the door at 5pm that I am ready to give him away. :)