I can’t help it, but when I hear the words “spring break” I revert to my young adult days when this meant a week of fun with my friends at a warm destination. Having grown up on the east coast this usually meant Hilton Head Island or somewhere in Florida. Well, now as a middle aged adult, I wouldn’t give up this “spring break” with my family for anything. The week started off with
EASTER
We spent it at home with just the family. First we had to check out what the bunny brought. ‘cuz everyone should have chocolate & candy for breakfast, don’t you think? So here’s the clan…
Sebastian & Lexi. Clearly Sebi’s sugar rush has kicked in.
Mommy & daddy; photography compliments of Lexi (not bad huh?, considering the camera practically weighs as much as she does)
Auntie Fabianna, ‘cuz the kids wouldn’t have it any other way.
We had some great food of course. To start we nibbled on grilled artichokes w/ homemade aioli (my 1st attempt at the aioli- not bad but gotta perfect it, but definitely doable), deviled eggs, sopressata & olives. for the main course we had lamb loins with my mjm rub, cucumber salad & couscous. finished off with key lime pie (I let Lunardi’s take care of it this time- I usually love to do everything myself, but I’m learning in my old age that sometimes you just gotta take a step back).
Very relaxed table. Really enjoyable time. Of course no celebration is complete without the libations. We started off with Lime Rickeys. Matt has truly perfected these & we LUV them. A nice bottle of Meander cabernet with dinner & port to top it all off nicely. Good times.
A couple of fun ones. Yes, we have two characters on our hands. Very different characters, from creative to dramatic, providing endless entertainment. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter surrounded by loved ones. As I stopped to reflect & explain to the children what this holiday is all about (not just candy & toys); I felt truly blessed.
Life is good.
AQUARIUM
We took a quick trip down to Monterey to get out of town for a couple of days and take the kids to the aquarium. We hadn’t been in about five years and we had a great time. This was by far my favorite time to the Monetery aquarium. I’m not quite sure why, but for sure the sea horse exhibit was one of the reasons.
I know the pictures aren’t the greatest but it was very cool to see all the different sizes & colors of the sea horses. & I loved how they all wrap around each others tails. BUT the exhibit went beyond horses to dragons…..
How cool is that?!!? Looks totally fantastic right? Well, it didn’t stop there. Then came his distant cousin the leafy sea dragon….
I thought these were the coolest thing! They look like they’re right out of a fairy tale. So dainty & delicate looking; never seen anything like this before! If I had seen them in a movie I would have thought they were totally make believe. Amazing. The other thing I thought was really cool were all the jellyfish. Very pretty; although normally it’s the last thing you want to hear when you’re swimming in the ocean…
There was also a flamingo exhibit and we saw a bunch of other fun stuff, inlcuding penguins, turtles, eels, starfish, octupus, etc…..
We saw hammerhead sharks, galapago sharks, & leopard sharks in the big tanks along with giant sunfish, tuna, seabass, sting rays etc. but the large tanks were hard to photograph. The lens I was using unfortunately wouldn’t allow for these shots. Of course I was partial to all the beautiful & colorful life form anyway….
Although it was sunny & bright while we were there it was still a bit chilly for my taste, but that’s Northern California for you.
MOVIE
So if we didn’t get enough of the nautical dragons we decided to take the kids to see How to Train Your Dragon. totally cute & fun. I was able to sit through this one without looking at my watch, partly because it was only about 1 hr. 30 min. the way these animated movies should be. I recommend this for parents & kids alike.
Although Matt truly enjoyed it he did wonder when the vikings moved to Scotland? Hee hee. I guess when the dragons started dropping by…. {{{wink}}}.
SHOW
On Friday night Matt & I were fortunate enough to attend a great show at one of our local high schools with our friends Lori & Ryan Lee. Cirque le Masque performed at Dougherty Valley high school. The cirque arts included acrobats, mimes, dancers, jugglers and much more. They were truly amazing & I believe they are accustomed to playing much larger venues throughout the world. We are very lucky to get this caliber of entertainment at one of our local schools. If you get the opportunity to catch this show I highly recommend it.
So although we didn’t take a “spring break” trip per se we had a fun & busy week nonetheless. Now back to reality……….
Sounds like you had a great spring break!