Day One: Our Vacation

We just got back from our mini-vacation, well actually our Christmas gift. We decided that we were not going to exchange gifts this year, but rather go on vacation. We love road trips and love the Coast, so we decided on San Francisco, Carmel, and Monterey Bay. We were sure not disappointed. However, we did learn many times that traveling with an almost two year old can at times, be very difficult, but in the whole realm of our vacation, it was minor.

Our first stop was the California Academy of Sciences. This is an amazing museum, I highly recommend it to all including toddlers. We were blown away with the amount of exhibits they had and how even Izzy could relate. This museum has a little bit of everything which is nice and it is spectacularly beautiful. It is in Golden Gate Park just down from Haight-Ashbury Street. There is even an area designated for children ages 0-5. Ohh, they had African animals (stuffed of course): lions, tigers, zebras, giraffes, etc. that were so cool to see. We talk about these animals and Izzy was able to see them really close. Sometimes zoos don't always give us that opportunity.

This is Izzy getting close to a penguin.

Here she is looking at a tide pool just next to a four story rainforest. She didn't want to leave this exhibit.

Here she is getting down to look at the rays. She is also copying another child on the other side. She even stood on the floor that is clear and you can see down. (In Redding at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park, she was deathly afraid of this).

In the rainforest, there are butterflies. Izzy said, "Butterfly on Daddy's hat". Yes, we are sometimes speaking four or more word sentences.

Who wants to spend $25 for the museum's picture, when we caught a family picture with a butterfly on Paul's hat and Izzy looking at the camera. Priceless!


After the museum, we drove to Carmel which is about a 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive. Of course, beautiful and Izzy slept most of the way. We stayed at a great hotel, Carmel Mission Inn. It had all the upgrades and amenities, but I got a great price on Expedia. It even had a fish mural on the wall that had a blue light shown on it. We slept under the sea last night. Izzy even slept on her Montessori bed like such a big girl.