We took a trip down to Carmel and despite all of the maps, road signs, GPS’s, etc we missed the turnoff. We were looking for the Hwy 1 entrance to 17-mile drive so we can take it down into Carmel and after visiting Carmel we would re-enter 17-mile drive in Carmel and head up to Monterey. We missed the entrance to 17-mile drive and kept looking for it and the next thing we knew we were well south of Carmel… So we turned around and went straight into Carmel.
We parked in downtown Carmel, walked down to the beach. Christian and Evan went down the beach to the ocean, but that wasn’t really in the plan, so we rounded them up and walked back up the hill, walked around downtown a little bit and then got back in the car and entered 17-mile drive.
(yes, that is Christian)
The scenery along the drive is great! We stopped at the Lone Cypress Tree and hung out a bit. Next we moved on to Seal and Bird Rock to eat lunch of sandwiches, chips, drinks. While there we took the opportunity to explore some rocks and tide pools, watched the birds and seals on the rocks and just relaxed.
(The Lone Cypress) (Bird Rock in the background)
We made another stop or two along the way and made it out at the Pacific Grove gate. We moved into Asilomar as it was recommended as a great place to visit for tide pools. Unfortunately, we came into Asilomar at high tide, so all of the tide pools we saw were underwater and not accessible, but at least we saw some at Bird Rock.
We made our final stop at Dennis the Menace park and Christian and Evan went off to play and have a good time while getting out some energy! The park was fun, many different activities – slides, mountain climbing walls, a rope bridge, a train to climb on.
(Dennis the Menace Park - on the train)
After getting home I took Christian and Evan to the beach so they can get wet and have fun in the ocean for a while --- and they did! We ate dinner, played some games and called it a night.
Again, the weather turned out to be fantastic! So much for the “forecast” !!!
The plan for today was pretty simple, my day to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner, a trip to the Aquarium, including a behind the scenes tour. A fun day.
I ended up switching breakfast duties with my brother. I had forgotten the syrup and the griddle (though there were a couple of pans that could be used). So he made his eggs, bacon, fruit, etc. Very good, of course!
Then we headed out to the Aquarium, got right in since I pre-purchased tickets through AAA. We had a later start than I was hoping for, but such is life. I had heard that the touch pools are best visited first thing in the morning as the rays and skates will be more active and willing to be touched… We missed the time and when we were there they were hard to get a touch of them, but with a lot of patience (which Christian lacks) we eventually were able to feel them and move on.
We did lunch at the aquarium café, convenient and tasty but expensive – I reimbursed everyone for their lunches since it was my day and it was easier for me to buy lunch then to pack them. Then we hit the Behind the Scenes Tour. It was pretty interesting, worth the $12 per person. They take you through parts of the aquarium and describe why they created them and special features of the exhibits. Then we went behind the scenes and into the feeding parts of the aquarium and they talked about what it takes to run the aquarium. At the end we got to feed the large trout in the freshwater display and that really topped it off.
We followed the aquarium up with some shopping and then dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company. It was delicious and, of course, we came home with some of the light up cups! On the way home we went shopping and picked up several of the items we (I) needed.
Oh, and the weather – fantastic! No clouds, no rain, no thunderstorms, nothing! Sunny and a perfect temperature!
One of these days I will re-visit the past 2 years of vacation – I want to document what we’ve done, where we’ve been, what worked, etc…
This year I wanted to take it easy after having 2 years of exciting vacations, so I talked to the rest of the family about heading down to Monterey for short visit. I knew that Pajaro Dunes had a nice condo near a great beach that was somewhat close to both Monterey and Santa Cruz, so I booked it and everyone was onboard to go.
We had planned on meeting down there on Saturday after a swim meet, so around 5pm. However, Christian was invited to a birthday party Saturday evening that he really wanted to go to so instead of arriving at 5pm and having dinner with everyone we decided we would arrive at 11pm and head straight to bed.
So the Saturday we were heading down there (June 4) was the really rainy Saturday. The day started with a crazy wet swim meet, 6.5 hour in the rain – but it wasn’t that bad, I would even say it was kind of fun J But the rain made us look at the forecast for the days we would be in Monterey --- rain and thunder storms into Tuesday and then clear Wednesday (out last day there). UGH!
After the swim meet we took naps and then went to the b-day party. I was completely unprepared… I packed for the swim meet that morning. We got the b-day gift wrapped and the card made just before leaving for it. I left Christian at the party and used that time to pack for Monterey. I remembered EVERYTHING --- for Christian. I forgot my toothbrush, my laptop plug, my cell phone charger, and some of the food I was supposed to bring. Oh well, I made the most of it and it all worked out fine.
The trip down was uneventful, the rain had cleared up though we did hit some going through Santa Cruz, but we made it down in 2 ¾ hours, faster than I thought. The place was just how I remembered it, and it was great to be there!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any updates… I blame technology! Yes, that’s right TECHNOLOGY! I had an update all set to go for Time Trials, back in late May – submitted it and nothing --- it posted nothing, all of my text was just GONE! I was tired, discouraged and gave up. Anyway, here I am motivated and WAY behind… So you might see several updates (like 10 or so) over the next week!
Swimming has been great this year. I’ve been really proud of Christian. He moved up to the 7-8 age group which means several things:
More strokes – In addition to freestyle and backstroke he can also swim events with Breaststroke and Butterfly. Two difficult strokes to master, more technical but they also take more effort to execute properly to get across the pull.
More events – At each meet there are now 2 relay events (freestyle and medley) and up to 5 individual events (short free, long free, back, breast and fly)… But a swimmer can only do 3 individual and 2 relay events in a meet.
A younger swimmer – Being one of the 7 year olds he is competing with 8 year olds in the same events.
With Christian being a younger swimmer I was expecting him to continue improving his times while being somewhere in the middle of the pack for the age group. I was hoping he would make a relay event here and there, but I was not expecting it. Well, he has proven me wrong yet again!
At Time Trials he swam really well, improving his freestyle time from last year. He finished last year at 27.58 seconds with the Otters, did a meet at Thanksgiving with the Marlins and improved to 24.46. This year he swim the short free at 22.88 and then 21.12 seconds and the long free for 55.96 and then 53.11 seconds. His short free time has earned him a spot on the B relay teams for both Freestyle and Medley Relay!!
He’s done the same with backstroke, improving from 32.69 and 30.21 last year to 28.04 and now down to 26.29 seconds! With his new and improved backstroke times he has also taken his turn on the backstroke leg of the Medley Relay!!
The new strokes are taking some time to get used to. He first disqualified for both strokes but he can now do the Butterfly stroke correctly and is very proud of that – now he really wants to get his Breaststroke right! He’s improved his arms and appears to be doing them correctly – now we need to get his legs doing the right thing and he’ll be good to go!
He’s having fun with swimming and is still talking about continuing to swim as long as he can (into adulthood). We continue to practice 4-5 days a week without complaint, he loves meets and then comes home and swims some more. My little fish! I had a great picture of Christian after time trials, but another frustration I had at the time of the original posting that never happened – I accidently deleted that picture. So what happens after a day of swimming a meet?? SLEEP! I think it was his first nap since last swim season and it lasted a good 2.5 hours!
Yes, part of this post will about diarrhea but I'm going to make you wait to hear that story...
It's been a busy couple of weeks - The week after Easter my allergies were going away so I stopped taking the Benadryl... BIG MISTAKE!! A couple of days later and my voice was changing --- going away That weekend Olaf and Petra, my cousins from Germany, were visiting my dad so we all got together. With lots of talking my voice went from somewhat okay, to just a whisper. Got back to town, switched to Zyrtek, and now I have my voice back!
This past week swim team practices started again. Moving up an age group means more work --- and it shows. The first day Christian got away with a lot - doing 3/4 laps, not listening so he was doing the wrong strokes and messing around with his friends that he hasn't seen... The coaches didn't see it but I did. We talked that night after practice and he got better - and so did the coaches as the next day they came back with a new "all business" attitude which was good. The coaches are still making it fun, but they aren't tolerating much. But on Friday Christian saw 2 other swimmers pulling themselves on the lane lines - so he proceeded to warn them that they shouldn't do it. Well, they didn't get into trouble so what does he do? He starts using the lane lines to help himself too... Well, I wasn't going to let that happen, so when the coaches didn't see it I stood up and when he looked up and saw me all it took was a shake of my head and he knew what I meant and he stopped. But he's getting a great workout and it shows. He's been eating more and sleeping well. He even took an unexpected nap this weekend!
This was a fun weekend. Mother's Day is sometimes hard for Christian since he has no mom in his life. When school projects come around I tell him he can either make them for Grandma or for me. Well this year he planned ahead and as they were discussing the Mother's Day event at school Christian came home and asked if he could invite Grandma to it... We called and of course she said yes! She came up on Thursday and went home on Saturday, they celebrated at the school with lemonade, tea and cookies. Of couse we also celebrated at home. Turned out to be a good weekend.
And now to the final part of this posting - Christian has gotten into this habit of asking questions whenever they pop into his head ---- including while sitting on the toilet... I keep telling him that nothing is so important that he can't wait until he's all done. Well, today was no exception. I was in the backyard, but near the open sliding door and he was doing his business. I hear him call - "Daddy..." I ignore him. 10 seconds later I hear "Daddy, this is SO funny!" - I still ignore him. When he's all done he comes out and says "Daddy, this is SO funny - I just pee'd through my butt!!" So now Christian knows what diarrhea is...
I was tired, discouraged and gave up. Anyway, here I am motivated and WAY behind… So you might see several updates (like 10 or so) over the next week!
That weekend Olaf and Petra, my cousins from Germany, were visiting my dad so we all got together. With lots of talking my voice went from somewhat okay, to just a whisper. Got back to town, switched to Zyrtek, and now I have my voice back!