[Oh Monterey we love you....]

We've been to a lot of places on the Californian coastline, our daughter is named after one of them, but neither of us have ever been to Monterey. My husband Jason needed a vacation BADLY so after the kids got out of school we packed up and took a leisurely drive to the coast. It was the first vacation that we've ever been on just the FOUR of us! I won't bore you with the hundreds of snaps I took, but here a few favs to sum up an awesome family holiday.

First we stopped for two nights in San Francisco so that we could take the girls to the Exploratorium. However Avila fell under the weather that day and spent most of the day in bed, luckily she bounced back that afternoon and we managed to squeeze in some time at the Exploratorium before it closed.

The girls got such a kick out of this display... talk about blowing bubbles!

And I was shocked at the temps in San Francisco, it was a gorgeous 87 degrees!!??! Say what? Yes! I've got pictures to prove it! What a glorious site. The girls could have stayed there all day!

We drove out on Sunday morning straight to the Monterey Aquarium, the girls had such a wonderful time exploring the deep blue sea. Our favorite exhibits were the seahorses, turtles and penguins. Again I won't bore you with a ton of pics, here is a quick highlight of our favs, you have to go experience it yourself. Alannah was delighted to discover, a great crepe place by the big parking garage, its her favorite kind of food.

The hotel we stayed at in Monterey was amazing, Casa Munras was built in 1824 around the original hacienda of Don Esteban Munras, the last Spanish diplomat to California. We loved it, the beds were ultra plush feather down pillowtops and their pool was heated to 80 degrees! Fresh towels and beds made daily, oh my heavens we did not want to leave!

All around the hotel were huge bougainvillea vines that were in full bloom, they were breathtaking, the whole hotel was so charming and quaint, we totally recommend staying there. Its only 2 miles from the Monterey Aquarium in Old town Monterey.

The kids and I spent every spare minute we could at the pool. It was like a HUGE bath-tub, I just can't stand cold water, so you hardly ever see me in the water, but this time even I couldn't resist jumping in, the kids and I had swim races and I showed them I could still do somersaults and handstands under water! Even when it was 60 degrees outside we were still able to enjoy the swimming pool, it was well worth the price we paid, which mind you we got a great deal on hotels.com. On our last scheduled day there, Jason and I lounged by the pool and couldn't bring ourselves to go home so he went down and negotiated a rate for another night, and he got an even better deal than hotels.com! What a guy!

Right next to Monterey is Carmel and we stopped there briefly to see the mission, gorgeous.

Then we dosed everyone with Dramamine and continued down California Highway 1. The scenery along the coastline will knock your socks off!

This was my favorite image of the whole trip. It sums it all up. LOVE IT, can't wait to get it printed BIG!

And another MUST do while you're in that area is to visit Point Lobos State Reserve in Carmel, we had the BEST time there. So much wildflowers, wildlife and a gorgeous secluded beach with tourquoise waters and tide pools to explore. Again we could have stayed there all day!

Further down the coastline near San Simeon you can find these fun creatures, doing what I love to do best... sleeping by the sea...

These elephant seals are there most of the year! They were a crack up. Check out the information board below for the months they hang out there.

And the girls made me take a picture of this friendly squirrel. Seriously, when we pulled into the parking lot, the little rodent ran up to our car and held up his hands for food... NO JOKE! Again I have proof... I am sure if we opened the car door and invited him in, he would have jumped right in and buckled up! LOL!

Hehe... a unplanned family picture taken by a nice French couple along the way. On our last night in Monterey we dined at Casa Munras' new restaurant ESTEBAN, we wanted to expose the girls to Mediterranean style tapas cuisine, but Alannah ordered ribs and Avila had a hot-dog! LOL! But Jason and I enjoyed the mussels, shrimp and clams with yummy spanish rice.

And lastly, my husband surprised me with this amazing shot! LOVE IT! My new FB profile Picture!

What an awesome start to the summer. We are so excited for this summer my little SISTER is coming to visit from down under, we are counting down the days. We miss her so much. It will be her first summertime trip to the USA and we plan to show her how much fun it is so that she will want to come back EVERY YEAR!!