A Weekend in Monterey

Last weekend, Isaiah participated in his second jiu jitsu competition, Rumble in the Redwoods. The competition was held at Aptos High School, which is a somewhat lengthy drive from home, so we decided to make a mini-vacay out of it. I will have a whole new love for these competitions once we start travelling to different, far away places for Isaiah to compete in them! :)

We were fortunate to be joined by Grandma Lovey, Auntie Tracey and Uncle Mike, also known as Isaiah's travelling cheer squad (sans Auntie Jessie). We had a great time at the competition, where Isaiah did a great job, winning one of his two matches.
After the competition (and given a few hours of resting my voice from the screaming and shrieking at the competition), we ventured off to explore the Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. Here, the boys enjoyed a sample of 'THE BEST' clam chowder (claimed by every restaurant) at every five steps until the end of the pier.The boys love ocean life (learning and eating) so they were in awe of the giant squid laying lifeless on the table. Little did they know, the miniature version of that ginormous thing is what the buffalo calamari, which they devoured shortly after at Abalonetti's, was made of. We spent the next day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where the boys were able to further satisfy their curiousity in ocean life. Mikey was able to see a HUGE, life-sized version of his favorite living animal, the humpdat whale (oops, I meant humpBACK). I had to specify living because his favorite animal THAT EVER LIVED is a Tyrannasaurus Rex. lol

Isaiah, and Mikey, had a great time hanging out at the touch pool.

Even Little Liam had a blast at the aquarium!

My little pearls. :)

(Gawd, I never knew I was capable of saying such cheesy things, until I started blogging. lol)
We had a super fun, exciting and educational (we try to throw that last one in there every once in a while, too. LOL) weekend. It's always fun to explore the beautiful places that are so close to home.