Monday was more like a day to get back into the swing of a normal yet with Nauna still here kind of week! Monday started out looking like every other day around here, kind of foggy. So it made being lazy easier! Mom took care of the kids which let me sleep in until 8!! AMAZING…thanks mamma! We all felt as if we’d been hit by a bus…so we took it way easy. Lunch got close and I made mom drink one of my new fruit smoothie drinks and the kids ate their lunchables! SOLD!! She liked the shakes and she’s had them with me the rest of her visit here!! I think she’s even taken it home and made them on her own! SWEET! Anyway, we noticed the sun was shining SO beautifully bright! So we took Nauna to our ‘secret’ beach, Ft. Ord. It was a lot tougher to lug all the beach stuff without Mark there to help, but we managed. Except today we noticed that this beach really isn’t a secret…schools out now and so this area was a bit more populated…still not crowded which was nice, but a ton of guys fishing which was cool to watch. We set up the wind tent and just relaxed. Perfect. Mom totally agreed with just how beautiful this place is. I can’t wait to take our other visitors here! We ran home long enough to freshen up and then we took Mom out to Me & Ed’s Pizzeria…she again agreed with us, this was the BEST pizza she’d ever eaten…hands down! Don’t be jealous – we talked about opening one up in Indy, but it’s only a CA franchise…sorry! Just trust us, it’s awesome!
Tuesday was our big IN-town day. We took Nauna to MY museum, the kids place. It was crazy packed…duh Stacie…school’s out…I guess there was something good about getting us out here when we did cause we really enjoyed things NOT being crowded. But none the less we had FUN to have with Nauna. The kids showed her everything! But for the last 1 or so Keegan and Ella cornered mom into the craft corner while I took Grissom into the toddler corner. The kids created until they had nothing left! We took Mom the The Fish Hopper for lunch…this is a great place also; we sat over the water and got to watch seals play in the water under us – not to mention the excellent sea food! After lunch we walked a few minutes to show Nauna the seal beach then it was time for the ‘Amazing’ famous Farmer’s Market in downtown Monterey…so we decided to try to walk there after all it was a great day for a nice walk and we were told it was maybe a mile away. I know a mile is long, but my kids have walked a lot while we’ve been here. Walking will save us the money and time of having to try to find a place to park…NOT COOL!! Can I tell you what a STUPID idea I had…not sure why my brain wasn’t even working…but we walked…and we walked…and we paused for breaks…Keegan ALMOST died 13 different times, even Ella got tired…Gris did great (but so would you if you had the stroller). I did all I could to encourage…demand…support…bribe, “Come on Keeg…you can do this…and when we get there I’ll get you some yummy ice cream!!” They would work for the next 20 steps or so! Let me tell you even I was super about to fall over…esp. having the weekend walking all around Disney…again…STUPID idea! AND the market wasn’t that great…I mean it was nice and there were some good prices…but it wasn’t the amazing event that I’d been told about…oh, and did I tell you they had NO ice cream!! Crap! Luckily they had kettle corn…all fresh so we grabbed the biggest bag they had and seriously started shoving it down the kids throats as if to say, “Mommy’s SO sorry for making you walk your little feet off…here eat some more!” What good ethics, I know! Ha! Anyway, by the time we’d walked the market we were hungry for real food so mom took us out to the Rappa Seafood place at the end of the Fisherman’s Wharf…it was nice to sit down…but everyone was seriously dreading the walk back. As we left the restaurant a lady told us that we could take the trolley back to our van…we got pumped but realized that they stopped running at 7 and it was 6:58…we saw it…it was totally like slow motion…I took off running and my kids followed suite, heck even mom was running! We didn’t care how we looked we jumped on board and asked the guy to take us to Cannery Row…he replies, “I’m sorry, I can’t. This is my last run. I’m going downtown Monterey…but we can take the bus from there?”
Ok…let’s go back a bit…I do a lot of things. I’m a mom. I’m here living in a shoebox and camping my way through this world called California. There are a lot of strange people here and I’m even friends with a few…but there was 1 thing…1 thing I told Mark in the VERY beginning about…1 thing I asked him never to ask me to do…what was this 1 thing? Ride the bus. Laugh go ahead, stupid I know…but none the less, I know who rides buses…people who can’t drive because they are in trouble with the law, or people who are dangerous…in all the movies people die on buses…they are dirty and smell funny…ok…now back to the trolley taking us to the BUSES!
I’m starting to feel very over-whelmed. It’s more like a fear of mine…I know, I know…but it is! You don’t pick your fears do you…well, I don’t pick mine either! Anyway, we get there and mom basically told me in the loving mom way, to suck it up and get my kids on this bus. We seriously made the last bus going to our van and it was leaving…so again we had to run…yea. I was right…it stunk…and yet my kids were having a blast bus hoping. There was a man I noticed right away as we got on he wasn’t right. I just assumed he was a man with special needs and this was his way to get to and from a job and I was good with that. I was even very proud of him for going out and living life to the fullest. But as we started off he became a little loud, kind of standing up and sitting down, kind of like a panic attack. Mom said he was talking and fighting with something next to him. I was ready to get off the bus, but so was he cause he stood up and pulled the little GET ME OFF THIS BUS NOW string. The driver pulled over and he got right up and ran off…I started to stand up cause we were only about 2 blocks from the van…Mom AND the bus driver lady both shook their heads no…mom says, “stace…sit down…we aren’t getting off yet!” I had NO clue but it was good we waited because the bus stop we did get off at was right across the street from our parking lot! As we got off the bus…you have to visualize this: Here’s mom with her arms FULL of bags from shopping, lunch and dinner left overs, and both Ella and Keegan pulling her off. Each of them wearing these huge balloon hats (I bought them also as apology gifts)…then there’s me…with a few more bags, my big Mommy Bag, the stroller in one hand, Grissom in the other trying not to trip as I walk off meanwhile Grissom’s stealing hearts by yelling “Bye ‘Body!!” and waving at everyone…and everyone all said bye back…so also to confirm my biggest fear of looking stupid and having EVERYONE watching! AHHHHH! Once off that silly bus Mom informed me that the man who jumped off looked either drugged up (which is prolly true) or schizophrenic…or demonic…I could see that…so she made fun of me for being the ONLY mother in the world to want to get off the bus with my 3 kids at the same time this guy did! Yea…I got NO mommy points for that! But it didn’t matter then because there it was…the van…we all hugged it before we jumped in cause we were SO happy to be so close to it without having to walk…btw the walk we took was about 2.3 miles (Mark checked it!)…what a LONG day!!
At leaset we had beauty during our walk
Look...mom's got a store
this was fun @ the market...
Keeg wouldn't do it, but Gris wanted to bad!
Wednesday was again relaxing but a foggy day and cold. We took off for the 17-mile drive so Nauna could see some really beautiful things. We really enjoyed that drive. We had a packed lunch and we sat and watched this cute little Sea Otter eat with us just off the coast...he was super cute! Then Ella got to show off her gymnastics to Nauna and we took Nauna to ‘Denis to the Menace’ park…we took it easy for dinner, pigs N a blanket!! Then a fun movie night with Nauna…we love The Wizard of Oz…too bad mommy fell asleep (shhhhh…):
Our lunch Otter...
Thursday was a day I struggled with, I wanted to be grumpy cause I knew it was mom’s last day with us…so I had to fight that. Keegan was SO excited to show his gymnastic skills off to Nauna!! He did great and mom got a kick out of watching him too! We ran home for lunch and then Nauna took the kids ‘shopping’ which was pretty fun. The kids got to try on clothes and they enjoyed picking stuff out to try on! I even found a fun little dress! Good news was that Mark got off early from work tonight so we were headed to Benihanas for a yummy dinner then Mark and I were out for a movie/date…our first time together just the 2 of us in a good 2+ months! We were pumped! We got ready for dinner and headed out. We couldn’t find parking so Mark dropped us off and went to find a place…did I mention we HATE walking now? Mark called me and told me he found a spot and he’d be there soon…he said he parked a good…oh, about 4 blocks away…but it took him forever to get there…we had a great dinner…ate ourselves silly! But I didn’t feel so bad about eating so much…because we ended burning it off because we endedup walking AGAIN for a least ¾ of a mile to get to the great place Mark found to park! But it didn’t matter; Mark and I needed to drop everyone off so we could have OUR date…so we were on a mission! Mom put the kids down and we went to see the new X-Men movie…it was cool!
playing with daddy...
trying on clothes with Nauna...
New clothes...ready for dinner...
Date Night!!
That next morning, Friday morning, Mom and I got up at about 4:40 a.m. to get her to the airport. I did great until she got out and left…I had to cry all the way home. But I was proud of myself too, because I really am doing life out here very well…mom told me over and over again how good I was doing and how proud of me she was! Anyway, ewe really enjoyed our time with Nauna!! We miss her AND dad!! But we are now looking forward to Carlie and Aiden's visit on the 21st!
I love flowers!
I told Keegan this was where the bears used the bathroom...he wanted to 'Hang' out here until we saw one use it!! ha!!
The bunny we prayed for!
Here's one of the fawns...
Here's mommy...it was kind of scary how close she was! She and I had a talk...she gave me this look and said, "OK...I see you are a mom of those strange 2 footed things...I'm a mom too...leave us be!" I just looked at her and said, "You got it but not until after we get to watch you!"
Resting...a.k.a. potty break for Daddy!
this was me pulling Keegan out of the way...that wave came in just in time to try to get us wet!
