Spring Break Day 2: Cayucos part 2

The drive to Cayucos from Paso Robles was stunning. It was a tiny, windy, narrow road to get through the hills over to the beach. 

Upon arriving in Cayucos, we again didn't have any set plans so we just went with what came our way. This little beach town seems to be about 3 blocks long with some gorgeous beaches and amazing waves. We watched the surfers ride some incredible waves that we would have had no business even trying to surf like we thought we might try. Instead, we chilled on the beach and the playground on the beach and just enjoyed walking around and soaking in this cute little town. 

Aaron can swing like the big kids. 

Playground swings on the beach. My three babies swinging to the view.
Aaron swinging

The gardens at Cass House. The kids loved playing with Ben the cat in the gardens and playing hide and seek with their walkie-talkies around the property. 

Kyle taking a little siesta in the sun on our patio. 

Cayucos pier

Handsome little Bear. With a monkey in his pocket. Ready for our fancy dinner.

We did a multi-course tasting menu that the B&B puts together. It was wonderful. Kyle and Emily both enjoyed it as well. Aaron's favorite were the abalone balls. Since this was just downstairs from our room, when he was tired and it was bedtime, he went upstairs to bed.  

Nice view

Spring Break Day 2: Paso Robles to Cayucos, part 1

Day 2 of spring break got off to a nice start. We had a delicious breakfast at Summerwood. The kids were thrilled with the place and the meal. It was a bit chilly out so our plans to go to the beach were quickly reconsidered. We thought about horse back riding, but that didn't happen either. Instead, we just winged it and took the day as it presented it self to us. And that was the best decision we could have made. 

We knew we were heading to Cayucos to stay that evening, but otherwise, we let the day dictate itself. About a mile down the road from our B&B toward Cayucos, there was a cute little farm that we saw and figured we should check it out. There were cats, goats and chickens roaming about and other fun farm things to enjoy. 

Driving down the road from Summerwood

The cute little farm

Kyle & Emily LOVED feeding the goats. They were named Vanilla Bean, Butterscotch & Caramel. Their interactions with the goats reminded us of when they were feeding the bunnies in Switzerland after the mirror maze. 

Aaron baaaas at the goats

As we went to the car to leave after spending over an hour there, the chickens decided they wanted to come with us to Cayucos.

Spring Break Day 1: San Diego to Paso Robles

It's time for Spring Break!! This year we decided to drive the coast since we never have done so before and since our time here is running out, we figured it was best to do it while we actually live on one end of the trip. And it was nice to not have to fly somewhere for a change. We packed up the van and hit the road early (for us, 8:30) on Saturday morning. 

We started with breakfast in Del Mar at Stratford Court Cafe with some smoothies and Vermonsters. Oh and a pretty decent view. 

Driving down the hill. That's the Pacific Ocean meeting the sky

By the ocean

Time to hit the road! The kids are watching The Sound of Music. It was glorious! Perhaps the best movie to listen to for 3+ hours. 

Bear playing an iPad game for the first time and LOVING it

Since we have typically had to fly most places, it was nice to be able to just pack up the car with what we needed and not have to think so much about the logistics and regulations of flying. 

After breakfast, we headed north up to Santa Barbara for our first stop, lunch at a taco shop called La Super Rica. Apparently, Julia Child dubbed it the best taco shop there is. It was a tremendously long line to order (we waited at least an hour) and the food was just okay. We were hungry and so we ate, but it wasn't life altering. The biggest stand out to all of us was the watermelon aqua fresca. 

After lunch, we continued on to Paso Robles, our destination for the evening. It was a beautiful drive (minus driving through LA).

Aaron was a bit grumpy when he woke up from his nap and we were still driving. 

When we arrived at our bed and breakfast at a winery for the evening, the kids were pretty happy. It had a huge shower, a bath tub, a large pull out couch for the kids to sleep on and a closet big enough to put Aaron's pack and play in for his own 'room'. After roaming the room and the building a bit, we had a nice, light dinner at Thomas Hill Organics. Kyle and Emily both tried steak tartare. Pretty brave if you ask me! I'm not surprised Emily tried it, but Kyle trying it and liking it was fairly shocking since he is very much a visual eater. 

Apparently in the middle of the night Bear didn't want to sleep in the closet and snuggled up with me. I had no idea. Jeff took a picture to prove it. 

Nennis

Just some cute words from Aaron...

Emmy and Kyle song

Today while the kids were in school, Aaron was missing them. I was making lunch for him when he picked up his guitar and started strumming and singing to the pictures on the walls as you go up the stairs. He sweetly sang to Emily & Kyle. It's so cute to see how much he misses them when they are at school and loves them. 

Kyle's tennis tournament

This weekend Kyle played in a tennis tournament. He started really early Saturday morning with an 8am match. For those that know us, being up, ready, out somewhere and ready to play by 8am know that is no small feat in this late rising house. Anyhow, he did great and won his first match. He is playing under 10s because that is the youngest division.

His next march was at 11 so we went home and picked up the rest of the family. The second match didn't go as well but it was a good learning experience for Kyle who did his best. 

Emily and Aaron had a good time there. It was crazy hot out and Aaron was, well, Aaron and didn't want to sit still. So to prevent him from running onto the court, raising a ruckus or throwing a ball into the court we took turns and found a good open field to run and play on with him. In said field, he found a gem. I played soccer with Emily while Aaron played catch with a lacrosse net. Clever little boy. 

Kyle's award

As part of the awards ceremony today, Kyle received an award from his teacher for being a creative writer. 

Em's leadership award

Today at school Emily received a great award from the Navy - the leadership award. Well done Emily!!

Oh what a night

Tonight we had a fantastic evening. We biked downtown to a new (to us) restaurant. It was about 4-5 miles each way, but it was a beautiful 80+ degree day so we rode it. Plus, it turned out to have great margaritas so even better reason to be on bikes. On the way back Kyle, Bear and I rocked out to the Beach Boys and Kyle proclaimed it to be one of the best nights ever. Em has a bit of a tummy ache so she took the ride back slowly with Jeff. I'm sure going to miss where we live. 

Fairy note

Emily sweetly made treats for the fairies and left them a note still hoping that they will stay for her to take care of them. 

Bear Bear word tricks

Aaron is getting more and more verbal. It's amazing to see the evolution of his language development.

Aaron rides his momo

Today was the day Aaron was waiting for! He got to ride his motorcycle!!! He was so incredibly excited!! And he learned very quickly!! Now it's impossible to go in the garage without Aaron wanting to ride. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Aaron!

Happy 2nd birthday Aaron!! Today was a fun day celebrating Aaron's 2nd birthday.

We started the day with a birthday surprise. He was super excited to see what was that giant thing under the blue sheet. 

Unfortunately, we didn't assemble it ahead of time and realize that the battery needs to charge for 16 hours prior to its first use. He was a bit sad to have to wait, but he likely didn't realize that it moves (until he got to ride it the following day). He was so happy to just have a "momo" in his garage, like our neighbor a few doors down.

After getting to see his momo assembled and sitting on it, his best friend Alice came over with her mom and brother, AJ, to spend a fun morning together. Aaron got to blow out some candles and eat cupcakes with Alice and AJ at 9:30 in the morning! Nothing like a cupcake to start your day!

Cupcakes with Alice & AJ

Blowing out his candles, round 1

Alice gave him a cute California hat with a koala on it.

After cupcakes, we went to the Children's Museum for a fun morning. Aaron is at the perfect age and with the right interests to love that place. He went right for the painting on the tractor. 

Painting the tractor
He also loved the bubbles, drawing area and the food play area.

Chillin' in the orange with Alice

We went to Walker Brother's for some pancakes for lunch and headed home for nap to get ready for a fun afternoon / evening of continued celebration. Jeff made lamb lollipops for Aaron's birthday dinner since last time we had them, Aaron seemed to love them. 

Emily wrote Aaron this sweet little note at school for his birthday. Dear Aaron, Happy Birthday cute! I hope you had fun when I was at school. You are going to love your cake. It has a marble maze in it. I love you. You are so cute. Love, Emily

For his cake, we made a marble maze. As you know, Aaron LOVES his marbles so we made him a marble run cake. Emily helped to conceptualize how we'd get the maze integrated with the cake. Here is the cake in action. 

Our friends and neighbors, Jeff, Janet & Simon, came over to celebrate with Aaron. Aaron LOVES them. A few months ago, he had his first sleep over at their house. And just the other day, upon waking up from his nap, I told Aaron someone was here to see him (Emily's friend was over) and the first person he thought of was "Anet" (Janet). And Simon is so brotherly to Aaron. Aaron just loves them and was pleased to have them celebrate with him. 

Simon loves superheroes and was doing his brotherly duties in teaching Aaron about superheroes so he started him off with some Batman pajamas (they have a cape!) and some awesome superhero cars.

Simon's mom, Janet took this awesome video of Aaron eating his cake. Aaron clearly loved the cake. And watching himself on video.

Happy birthday Bear Bear! We love you!

Aaron eating cake

Because this video deserves its own post... too cute!

Ninja Emily

Emily sparring at karate. She looks 10 in this picture.