carmel

we took advantage of ryan's time off work and traveled to carmel for a mini family vacation this week. 

after leah's eeg {and some naps}, we packed up the civic and headed south. we stayed at the carmel valley ranch. tweed couches, two fireplaces, wrap-around deck, spacious bathtub, pillow-top mattress, two flat screen tvs and my little family. perfect.

we all slept well and ended up being a little more lazy than we planned due to the cold weather and our poor packing. but we enjoyed strolling along cannery row in monterey as well as the famous aquarium with colleen, claire and chloe. they are regulars there so they showed us the highlights like the ballerina jellyfish and the hot pink flamingos. we also saw otters, fish, penguins, sharks and eels and we got to touch starfish, crab, kelp and lots of other slimy things. we rode the wheelchair elevator {thanks, claire!} and i took chloe on an escalator ride. 

we then met their dad jared at the whole enchilada in moss landing. the owner brought the girls some seriously awesome heart-shaped sunglasses. leah wasn't a fan at first {she hasn't been for almost two years!} until she saw claire sporting hers. she's been all smiles with them on her face ever since. plus, jared made a pivot table joke and ryan understood it and genuinely laughed, so i think they're destined to be friends.

friday morning was lazy as we packed up, swung on the swing and checked out. french braids made their first {and most likely last} appearance on leah in a looooooong time. we gobbled up a grand slam and made our way home ready to ring in the new year. it was a perfect, quick and much-needed getaway.