California Spring Break {Days 2-3}

Our second full day in California was spent helping grandpa in the yard. Even after all these years, he still plants and maintains a huge garden. Jonathon and I thought it would be nice to help him rototill the ground and get it ready for planting. We wanted to help with whatever we could while we were there to ease some of the strain later on. Jonathon and I took turns rototilling, and Christian mowed part of the lawn. He is just learning how to mow by himself, so we helped him maneuver around tricky corners and made sure he knew how to do it safely. He did a great job, and when we were finished the yard looked great. Grandpa always takes such good care of his yard, so it was fun to be able to help a little bit in appreciation for letting us stay with them for the week.

That day also happened to be my cousin Paige's 2nd grade school performance. She invited us to go, and we knew that we probably wouldn't have that opportunity again, so we made a special effort to be there. It was darling, and Paige was beaming throughout the whole thing. The kids dressed in 50's attire and sang songs like "Rockin' Robin" and "Yakety Yak." Paige wore a cute poodle skirt that she and grandpa made. It was all very charming, and I am glad we got to take the boys and go support her.

The next day was a rainy day, so we decided to head indoors to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The kids had been talking about it for months, so they were definitely excited! In fact, before we left, we asked the kids what they wanted to do during our trip. Christian said, "Play with cousins on the trampoline," Andrew said, "Go to the beach", and Hyrum said, "See sharks at the aquarium." Little Hyrum was so darn excited to see those sharks that his enthusiasm totally got all the rest of us excited too.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a once in a lifetime experience that is just breathtaking. It is consistently voted one of the top 10 family attractions in the world. It is very expensive, but luckily, Grandpa and Grandma became charter members years ago, and they get free passes for all of their grandchildren. So, that once in a lifetime experience gets to be a regular one for us. I have probably been to the aquarium 10 times now, and I love it every time!

We arrived a few minutes before they were scheduled to feed the fish in the Open Sea exhibit, so we decided to stay and watch. The tank is enormous with tons of fish, turtles, sharks, etc. from the open ocean that you can view through a 90 foot glass window. The last time we were there, they fed the larger fish, but this time they said they were going to feed the sardines. Originally, I was a bit disappointed, but it was super cool. They put a little bit of food at the top of the exhibit, and within 2-3 minutes, the entire school of sardines had made its way to the food. They all moved in unison in a huge shiny swarm that filled the majority of the viewing window.

We stayed at that exhibit for about 45 minutes in total. The boys were enthralled, and Hyrum squealed and pointed every time one of the hammerhead sharks passed in front of the window. It is so calming and serene to sit in front of that big window and watch the fish drift by.

We spent another two hours slowly making our way through the rest of the aquarium. We played at the splash zone, ate lunch outside overlooking the ocean, walked through the jellyfish exhibit, watched a diver feed the fish at the Kelp Forest exhibit, and then we headed to a new exhibit called Monterey Bay Habitats. It was my new favorite! I loved seeing the big fish in the exhibit. Huge sevengill sharks, white sturgeon, 200 pound giant sea bass, and leopard sharks swam in the enormous tank that you could see from several angles throughout the exhibit.

I could have sat there for a long time, but the kids were starting to get worn out, so we headed to our last stop, the gift shop. Grandma Ogborn gave us money to get each boy a shirt from Monterey so they could remember the trip. It was such a thoughtful gift, and the boys were thrilled! They each had a little bit of their own money to spend as well, so they anxiously looked through the shops. Hyrum chose a shark sucker and shark shirt. He was happy the whole rest of the trip and insisted on wearing his shark shirt the next day too. Andrew got a matching shark shirt and Christian got a "Hairy Otter" shirt with an otter dressed as Harry Potter. It was definitely amusing and perfect for Christian. We had a very memorable, wonderful day!