interstate travelers

We've been away for a few days. Pic is turning five in just three days (oh my!) and we surprised her with a trip. Actually, Cardo kind of surprised both Pic and me: he had gotten a bonus at work and didn't share this information with me until the morning we left. "I don't want you to worry about how we're going to pay for this," he told me. Yes, he definitely knows me, because I hadn't stopped worried about it since we began talking about the trip.

Pic was surprised and she let us know several times after our time in California that she was very happy and she loved her surprise. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Pic's at a great age for visiting and enjoying the children's exhibits there. The next day, we visited My Museum, a children's museum I hadn't known was there until I saw it in the guide in the hotel. I think next time we go to Monterey (it's one of the very few places we visit), we'll go to My Museum and go hiking (easy hiking...the kind that's like "Hey, this is a nice walk outdoors."). The museum was awesomely fun and it makes me wish that our nearest children's museum wasn't in Carson. I love to visit the aquarium, but, well, it's pricey.


We didn't get many images from the aquarium, at least not many clear images.


This was a somewhat hilarious exhibit. There was a farm area with a kind of industrial works on the wall. You feed the colored balls into it and turn the crank. The balls eventually travel through a tube and into the cage above the stationary tractor below. The tractor "driver" pulls the cord and then the balls all dump out on her or his head.


I love that the actual fire extinguisher is right next to the firefighter exhibit.


There's a whole area for crafting. These are our creations. (The card was already illustrated, I just added some ribbon and wrapping paper.) Cardo and Pic made the lady, whose name I can't remember.