12.22.22- The Monterey Bay Aquarium (the MBA)
We have been lucky enough to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium many times. And it is the Gold Standard against which we judge all aquariums. We absolutely love it. And we were delighted to go back again on this trip!
But before we left that morning, Logan lost another tooth! He has now lost both of his bottom front teeth. What a guy.
Th whole party arrived and of course, we had to do some obligatory group pictures, all of us sporting the sweatshirts designed by Clara (which were designed with an ocean theme in part as a nod to the aquarium)
As we we were entering, one of the docents mentioned that they were going to start the feeding for the Open Ocean exhibit in just a few minutes. That is one of our favorite exhibits and so we made our way over there first.
After the feeding, we hung out for a few minutes to just watch.
At this point, our group split up. Once again, we hardly saw Clara and Jonas. Logan disappeared for a bit but then he ended up with us again for a little while. So, we took the twins to see the Jellyfish. This exhibit is another one of my favorites. I could sit and watch them all day. It is incredibly mesmerizing.
At this point, Christina volunteered to wander with the twins and so Jonathan and I got to go (by ourselves!??!) to check out the brand new exhibit Into the Deep. The Spanish title for the exhibit is awesome: En Lo Profundo.
This area of the aquarium has housed various exhibits over the years, some better than others. This one was amazing. We were delighted to learn that it is a permanent part of the aquarium.
It is dedicated to helping people learn all about the creatures found in the deepest parts of the ocean. We enjoyed it so much that when we reunited with the twins and Logan later we decided to walk through again (I’ll just stick those pictures here for brevity’s sake).
We asked a docent about the special modifications that needed for these creatures. We learned that the pressure is actually not an issue at all. The animals are perfectly fine with the change in pressure (as long as it’s done slowly). What they do need to modify is the temperature; deep ocean water is colder than water at the surface. And they also need to correct the composition of dissolved gases in the water because water closer to the surface has a lot more dissolved oxygen and other gases than deep ocean water.
After this, we met up with the rest of our party in the cafe for lunch. (Sidenote: the Mac and cheese at the MBA is freaking amazing. I would highly recommend it.)
After we had eaten, we all went our separate ways again. Jonas and Asher both decided that they wanted to spend some of their allowance taking the Behind the Scenes tour of the aquarium, and uncle Paul was willing to take them. Jonas was gushing about it after it finished. They got to learn and experience all kinds of cool things.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and I took the twins to a few exhibits and let them wander around in the children’s area for a while. I may have needed a caffeine pill at this point cause I was getting a little sleepy…
Logan rejoined us just as we were making our way to the touch pools.
By this time, it was getting fairly close to the aquarium’s closing time, so we met up with everyone. And those who wished to, made a circuit through the gift shop.
And then there was the most glorious sunset. It was amazing. So incredible.
We then made our way back to Salinas, had dinner, and went to bed. It was a wonderful day at our one of our favorite places.
Christmas Adam (Bahaha! I love that so much!)
After a couple of intense days (at the boardwalk and the MBA) we were ready to take things a little bit easier.
Although, Christina was kind enough to take a contingent of kids to the beach.
Cause they wanted to swim. In the Pacific Ocean. In December.
It makes me cold just thinking about it. The crazy critters.
It was nice on this particular day to not be on adventure duty. And I have to say that it has been nice, in general, to not be in charge of the itinerary. It is a lot of work to conceive, plan, and execute all these ideas. So it was nice to have someone else doing it all. (Thank you Christina!)
On this day, I finally finished (with an assist from Christina) in making everyone’s Christmas ornaments. I think they turned out really cute. I’m quite proud of them.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve!! Hooray!! Things today were pretty low key: we hung out and finalized our preparations for our Christmas festivities.
Among the preparations: I prepped breakfast casseroles that could be thrown in the oven and ready to eat after we opened presents.
Evie was desperate to help, so I let her crack some eggs. And she actually did really well. No shells ended up in her bowl. Several other children wanted to join in after they saw what fun it all was.
For dinner, we ordered BBQ from Salinas City BBQ. The food was delicious. Logan (one of our picky eaters) was OBSESSED with the tri tip. And Jonas (our other picky eater) has decided that he really likes ribs.
That is a tradition I can get behind: BBQ. 🤤🤤🤤
After dinner, we cleaned up and we changed into our Christmas Eve jammies. Then all the younger kids decorated sugar cookies which had been previously made (by Beth!) for Santa. Those were some tasty cookies…. I mean I only know that cause Santa told me of course….
After cookies were decorated, we began our evening program. We began with a talent show, everyone who wished to performed a talent.
From our crew, Logan wanted to sing (and insisted that Dad and Jonas help); Clara and Jonas did a Christmas carol duet on their violins, and the twins sang “We Wish you a Very Christmas” (which was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.). Here’s a video if you want to see it.
The Pehrson family also contributed through singing and with a few instrumental numbers as well.
We played a video of Phil reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” played over a backdrop of pictures from the book. (It was very skillfully done! A high quality video!)
After our program, we put all the kids to bed, Jonathan and I put everyone’s stockings together. And we all went to bed.
Christmas Day!
On Christmas morning, we arose bright eyed and bushy tailed. (Fortunately, it wasn’t too early; we may have threatened the children with dismemberment.) I put the casseroles in the oven. And we lined all the kids up on the stairs (a tradition in my family, and we still do it even as adults.)
Jonathan stood at the bottom and taunted them for a while, telling him that he had already opened everyone’s presents and taken the good stuff, etc. (yes, this is also traditional, usually my dad takes on this role.)
After everything was set up and completely ready to go downstairs, we allowed the children to come downstairs. We began with stockings. And then everyone dove into their presents. It was chaos. Fun chaos.
After presents had been opened, everyone enjoyed their gifts for a few minutes while the breakfast finished cooking. And then we ate! And, it was good. Nice job, self!! Thanks, self!
We had a leisurely morning, enjoying our presents and hanging out. (We are leaving early tomorrow morning so I started organizing and packing as well.)
In the afternoon, Christina and Jonathan took the kids to the park. It was a gorgeous, warm day; the kids didn’t even need jackets. And it was great for them to get their energy out.
For dinner, we had ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, rolls, etc. It was an excellent meal.
After we finished eating, Peggy and Phil decided to head home with Nathan as their driver. Phil has been fighting a cold for most of the week and he still wasn’t feeling well. He has also been sleeping very poorly as well because of the bed. A bad combination all around. So they decided to head home. (This turned out to be a very good decision. He slept a million times better at home.)
Meanwhile back at the house, we hung out for a bit, put the kids to bed and then Jonathan and I continued packing to leave.
We wish you a Very Christmas!
