2018 Family Vacation Part 1

After driving back and forth to and from Avila for a couple of weekends we managed to stay put at the coast for over a week - our longest family vacation ever!!! We had a great time exploring the Central Coast with the boys, had a few more visitors, and most importantly some nice mellow down time! Gran and Papa stayed with Nonna and Pepe for a few days and it nice for us to all spend time together.

We adventured to check out some tide pools during low tide one day. The kids were in awe of the sea anemones and loved rock hopping in the ocean.

We also went to check out the monarch butterflies in Pismo Beach. There were around 3,000 in the eucalyptus forest we visited - sometimes they peak at more than 20,000 so we will have to go earlier in the year next time. It was still fascinating to see the butterflies nested together in huge bunches.

Kieran wasn't the only one that passed out, one night Reed tried to stay up watching the Olympics and just couldn't hang. Of course we decorated him just like we'd been doing to K. We had seals come visit us at the beach every morning and I joked that one was in love with Jon because it seemed to always follow along with him and stare at him when she popped her head out of the water. Also beach carts make the best toys!!!

On Valentine's Day we continued our annual tradition of gifting an animal adoption to the boys, which they were ecstatic about. We also found a really cool driftwood/kelp heart someone had made on the beach. Then for dinner we made heart shaped pizzas and had Aunt Di Di, TJ, and his girlfriend Carrie over dinner. The boys loved playing with TJ, it was fun getting to know his girlfriend, and Aunt Di Di was treated to a very special massage from Reed!