They Grow Up So Fast: Thanksgiving Week (Part1)

This year, for the first time, all four of us had the whole week of Thanksgiving off school and work. Yay! We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and go someplace on our way up for our traditional Thanksgiving on Eric's aunt's farm.

So, we decided to spend a few days along the central coast of California.

We began the week in the Lompoc and Solvang area with our great friends, the Mountains.

We started our time with our friends at lunch at Andersen's Restaurant. Eric, Ashlynn and I all got the split pea soup (which, I'm sure is surprising to those of you who know about my picky eater husband).

Eric the very Good was apparently a king of Denmark. Looks way girlier than my Eric.

We then went to Mission La Purisima, my favorite mission. Our time began in the really nice visitors' center, where we started a docent led tour.

All fourth graders on the tour (there were 4 girls) were treated like honored guests and briefly wore an otter cape to signify the honor.

Touring the mission

The silly kids

Eric took a few photos of me at my favorite mission

We then walked around in Solvang and got treats to ruin our appetite for dinner.

The girls played Calico Critters in a planter.

Abelskivers!

Dinner at a place that rivaled Bass Pro Shop.

After saying goodbye to our friends and spending the night in Lompoc, we drove north. We didn't have a specific plan, so we were so happy to happen upon the Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach. It is a wintering spot for Monarch butterflies. There are sooo many butterflies!

It was amazing how many butterflies rested together on certain branches. Other trees, like in the next few photos, we not as full, but were so pretty with the orange butterflies on green branches.

Here's one of the packed branches. Those are ALL butterflies!

After exploring the grove, we walked down to the beach. We just wandered and let the kids explore.

Before checking into our hotel in San Luis Obispo, we checked out the Madonna Inn. Ashlynn said, "If every hotel was like this, the world would be a happier place." I think that I would substitute the word tackier for happier, but that's just my opinion.

We ate dinner at Firestone Grill, thanks to a suggestion from a friend, and then walked Higuera Street. The favorite stop for our family was the soda and candy shop.

We also stopped briefly in bubble gum alley.

Our next day began at Montana de Oro State Beach. So rugged and beautiful!

Looking at all the stones.

We had the beach almost to ourselves

We took a drive to find new spots to explore.

We ate lunch in Morro Bay, which meant I got yummy clam chowder for lunch!

After lunch we shopped at the Shell Shop, just as we had the last time we were in Morro Bay. The kids have loved it both times. We give them a budget of $3.00 each and they have a great time checking out all of their options and deciding how to spend the money.

We also visited the sad Morro Bay Aquarium. Seriously, it is sad! Like we are surprised PETA isn't protesting out front. It looked like the facility was last updated in 1965. Sad. The sea lions were cute, I guess!