Morro Bay 2013

For the past two years, our family, along with Doug and Vanessa, has made a trip to Morro Bay during the summer.  We weren't sure what we would do this summer, but Doug and some of his best friends, Geoff and Shanna, decided that we should do this trip again.  Our family made it to the beach first.  After unpacking, we went straight down to the beach.  We had been in 100 degree plus weather for many days prior to this trip so the weather in Morro Bay felt amazing.  

We walked along the beach with the boys while they found sand dollar after sand dollar.  A couple of jelly fish had also washed ashore, which were fascinating to check out.  We had walked along the Embarcadero out to the beach and the boys were getting tired.  Instead of walking back the way we had came, I made the boys climb over a sand dune with me and hike back to the main road.  My boys are typically adventurous and I thought they would love this, but they were tired and whiney about doing this.  After while, we got word that Doug and Geoff and Shanna had arrived.  

We met them at Grandma's condo where one of many Wii Sports Resorts matches began.  Even though this shot is blurry, I love everyone's expressions so much.  The next day, we went into Cayucos for lunch.  We grabbed a bite at Duckies and then walked along the beach until we reached the tide pools.  

We found so many hermit crabs.  I really couldn't believe how many there were.  Ryan caught several but Jack was nervous that they might pinch him.  Ryan was pretty brave and climbed out on the rocks to bigger tide pools.  Phil went with him and Jack lamented that he wasn't big enough to do the same.  

We also found a cluster of sea anemones.  I had told Ryan about them.  I showed him how they can close on your finger and that if you poke the little ones, they'll squirt.  He loved that!

When everyone was worn out, we headed back to our condos for a break.  The next day, Shanna and I took an early morning walk all around Morro Bay.  We had a great chat and enjoyed the scenery.  We stopped at Top Dog later that morning when Phil's mom and Don arrived.  Jack was hungry so he got a "cinnamon almond pancake cookie."  It was super thin and flat and about the size of his head. He devoured it.  

Our group split up after that.  Beth and I took Carolina and Jack to the beach for a walk.  Carolina was unsure of the sand on her bare feet, but soon warmed up to it and enjoyed her freedom to run. 

During our last visit, Jack had a hard time getting along with Carolina because he felt jealous of the attention that I gave her and irritated that she got into all of his stuff.  This time, he got to play the role of big brother and he enjoyed her company so much more.  He started helping her find sand dollars.  

After while, Jack decided to become Carolina's puppy dog and would "fetch" sand dollars for her.  They both loved the game and Beth and I enjoyed watching the two of them.  

Carolina loved taking a selfie with me but Jack...

He enjoyed it too, but he's such a boy.  

Most of our mornings were spent lounging together like this.  I love my early morning snuggles.  

On Tuesday, we took the kids, including Phil, our biggest kid, to the SLO Children's museum.  Phil had a great time.  

He played astronaut.  And brushed his teeth with this giant toothbrush.  Ryan pretended to be a trolley driver and drove us on many adventures.  

Jack dressed up as Spiderman and climbed his web (an indoor climbing apparatus).  He was kind enough to let Carolina and Phil climb too.  

Afterwards, everyone was worn out.  

Georgia and I did a lot of this together on vacation.  I ate up every minute of it.  

On Wednesday, Shanna and I took another walk to the Cottonball.  Shanna found a ladybug placemat pattern right away and some really cute fabric.  I really didn't see anything that I wanted to buy until we were at the cut counter.  I saw this amazing fabric sitting there called "Font-tastic."  I was sold.  I thought these black and whites looked so cute with it.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but for now it will sit in my stash.  

After lunch, the guys, along with Phil's dad, went out for a round of golf.  Shanna and I took care of the five kids.  Five kids, three of them being babies, is a lot of work.  

Before Tom headed home on Thursday, we took the kids out for an impromptu photo shoot.  After many failed attempts to get all of them to look the same way and appear relatively happy, this is what we got.  

We then headed to the Avila Valley Barn.  We had never been, but figured with all the animals and delicious baked goods, how could we go wrong?    

The boys loved this rooster with the crazy hair.  At one point Jack grabbed the ropes that fenced the rooster off and was pulling them back and yelling "caw!" He can make anything into an Angry Birds game.

We had lunch and shared a strawberry cobbler a la mode.  It was amazing.  I highly recommend eating there.  Ryan had a root beer freeze and was in heaven.  

Next, we checked out the animals.  

And then took a bunch of pictures.  

While we waited for the hay ride that never came, the boys played hide and seek in the tree.  I'm not really sure if the tractor broke down, but for some reason, it never came back for another ride.  Finally, we headed to the general store to buy some goods, then headed back home for a rest.  

Since it was our last night together, we decided that we should go to the Madonna Inn.  Pink sugar, pink carpets, pink wing back chairs, pink booths, and gilded chandeliers.  How could we go wrong?  Shanna loved it right away.  She bought a pink water goblet and we both marveled that even the receipts were pink.  

During dinner, we poured Jack's water into a coffee mug since he couldn't handle the big goblets.  We also let the kids watch iPhones so we could enjoy our dinner.  We died watching Jack sip his "coffee" and watch his phone like a man.  

We shared a piece a pink champagne cake, a piece of chocolate cake, and a piece of toffee cake.  All were amazing.  I still prefer the pink champagne cake, but I think most of the rest of the group preferred the toffee, which was also great.  

We finally got a group pic, courtesy of one of the servers.  Sadly, its a bit blurry.  That night we regretfully said our good-byes.  

The next morning, we worked on cleaning up our condos before heading home.  The boys and I headed out to the ocean to play one last time before heading home.  

Ryan found a broken piece of fishing line with a sinker on it.  He decided to go fishing for an octopus.  He diligently tried, but no octopi were biting.  

Good-bye Morro Bay!  We had a great trip and can't wait to do it again!