Fall is Here!

Pumpkins and Carmel Apples!

One of our favorite fall traditions...Homemade Carmel Apples! YUM
Another favorite fall tradition...pumpkins!

Gentry carving her Jack o' Lantern
Count on Calli to make her pumpkin look like it's vomiting it's insides. It's so gross, but so Calli! She thinks it's awesome!

Sadie's puppy, complete with dog food, spots and a patch around his eye...so cute!

Gentry's Jack o' Lantern.

She drew the face all my herself.

"Rise and Shout the Cougars are out"

We always try to get to at least one BYU game each year. But with all the traveling we have done lately we decided our pocketbooks needed a rest and to skip this year. But when my mom called and said that my two nieces were performing at the BYU/UNLV game in Vegas and we could get really cheap tickets, we couldn't refuse.

Calli loves going to BYU games. She sat and watched the entire game and cheered with her cousins.
Sadie loves BYU games for the social aspect. She loved hanging out with her cousins and watching...occasionally.
Gentry on the hand is just excited to play with her cousins.
They took turns sliding down the handrails...

Watched a DVD...

and colored! I think the only time she looked up was to find "Cosmo" and...

to watch Jadyn and Jorrin dance. Way to go girls! What a great night with Family and Football.

MONTEREY BAY!

This trip was an unexpected vacation. Once or twice a year Adam has classes for work out of state and when his schedule is flexible enough we get to tag along and make a vacation out of it. And what a vacation it was. We had so much fun and did a lot of things we've never done before. This will forever be one of our all-time favorite family vacations!

Hotel Fun!

Our hotel was right in the heart of Monterey Bay. Walking distance to the Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row and the Aquarium. It was also the host hotel for the convention, so when Adam was in classes he was just down the hall. It was a cute and quint little plaza with lots of fun shops that the girls and I browsed through while Adam had class.

Here is the back view of our Hotel.

The girls hanging out on the deck. They thought this was so cool, they would come out and just play and play.


Calli relaxing in the Hotel Lobby.

I love this picture. Gentry put on my sunglasses and grabbed her "credit card" (the room key) and said "I'm going shopping mom, I'll be back later."Our first night, there was a power outage throughout the main part of town. The hall ways and the lobby were lit but our rooms were pitch black. We wandered down to the lobby to see what was going on and when the power would be back on. They said it would be off for a couple hours. The lobby was packed so we decided to go walk the streets and shops. We walked around for about an hour and decided to buy some cards and go back to the Hotel. We went back up and played UNO in the hall by our room. About an hour later we asked again and they said it would be another hour. By this time it was 11:00 (California time) so we decided to go in and try to go to bed. We got the girls laying down and gave them the video camera to watch and shed some light. And within a couple minutes the power was back on. It was a fun little adventure.

The sights and sounds of Monterey Bay

Our family in Monterey Bay. This is the Marina which is on the way to Fisherman's Wharf.


Grandpa Peterson met us there and spent the day with us.

The girls and I wondering around and getting to know the area.

The girls are pointing to the Seagull sitting in the water on top.

Anchor in front of one of the two museums right out the door from our Hotel.

The Marina

Fisherman's Wharf

The old Fisherman's Wharf I'm hooked. I loved this place!
We loved the wharf and all the cute little shops and restaurants. We spent hours and hours here each day and ate at almost every restaurant. In front of each restaurant they hand out free samples of their clam chowder. Adam and the girls were in heaven, me on the other hand ate a lot of pasta.

As we walk down the wharf we kept hearing barking. At the end of the wharf we saw what was making that noise. There were seals right there, just hanging out under a restaurant window.

Oops, sorry this one's turned. Sadie checking out the seals and seagulls

Eating lunch at the Wharf right on the Ocean.

YUM! Clam Chowder at every meal. By the end of our trip they all knew where the best clam chowder was served.

Whale Watching!

We decided we wanted to try something we've never done before so we went Whale Watching. It was a 2 1/2 hour boat tour. The girls loved as the boat crashed over the big waves.


Monterey Bay from the boat as we headed out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

We were all fine going out but as soon as the boat put it in neutral to watch for whales we all got a little queasy. Three out of the six of us ended up throwing up over the side of the boat. Along with about 15 other passengers. (I won't tell who the three were.) BUT, it was all worth it.....

We saw a Blue Whale. It was crazy. They said we'd probably see humpback whales and that blue and gray whales are a rare sighting but we saw one. We sat in one spot and would watch as he would come up for air and squirt water in the air through his blow hole then he'd arch his back and go under. We'd wait for about 10 minutes and then he'd appear again. At one point he was coming right towards the boat and we could tell just how huge these animals really are. We ended up seeing him come up and go back down 5 different times. It was sooo cool! The girls couldn't believe that saw a real whale in the real ocean.

Cannery Row and the Aquarium

This is Cannery Row. A mile long strip of shops and restaurants all along the ocean. It was just such a cute little town. Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is supposed to be the largest Aquarium in the Nation and the 3rd best attraction for families in the Nation.


Calli and Gentry in the wave room.


Calli petting a "Ray"

Calli, Sadie and Gentry taking a rest! It was huge. It took us 5 hours just to see everything.

The Coast!

Gentry enjoying her souvenirs as we leave Monterey and head down the coast.


The drive and view was incredible. Three hours of driving right along cliffs above the ocean.

We had to pull over and get some pictures....

and to see the elephant seals.

As we were driving along we saw this beach and thought it was covered with big logs, but at a closer look we saw that there were hundreds of seals.

Hearst Castle!

If you are ever in the San Simeon area I highly recommend stopping by this castle, it is amazing!
It is a house built by a man named William Hearst. It was built in the 1920's with all the modern day amenities: phones, electricity, bathrooms, swimming pools, theater rooms, game rooms etc. but he built it with materials dating back Centuries from Rome, Paris, Germany, Italy. So as you walk through it you feel like you're walking through an old ancient Castle, but then around the next turn there's a pool table. It was so interesting. He loved to entertain the stars. Anyone who was known for doing anything wanted that invite to come to his place for a weekend. He had visitors like Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Emilia Erhart, Charles Lindbergh, Clark Gable Etc. It was a very coveted invitation.

This is the Hearst Castle sitting high on top of a mountain. To get there we rode a tour bus and switched back and forth for about 20 minutes all the way up this mountain. To see the entire castle you would have to take 4 different tours. Our tour was the "first time experience" tour It was 3 hours long and we only saw 1/4 of the castle. I would love to go back and see more someday.


The view from the top. Most of what you see is owned by the Hearst's. He had his own private zoo on his land with bears, zebra's tigers etc. Some of the animals descendants still roam the mountain.

One of two swimming pools. This pool was redone 3 times before he was finally happy with it. He was known for changing his mind.

The front door.

This is where the limo's would pull up and the guests would enter the house.

(Sorry this picture is blurry) This is the dining room. It reminded me of a scene out of Harry Potter. It even had the flags hanging from the ceiling.

This is a 24 karet gold tile floor. It was justt so mind boggleing to walk through this beautiful massive place. It was so incredible. Adam and I both agree that this was our favorite part of the whole trip.

The Beach!

We found the best beach ever just across the street from the Castle in San Simeon.

Being a Saturday we thought it would be so crowded but there were only about a dozen people there. The beach had a pier with smooth sandy beaches on one side and rough rocks on theother. It was the perfect beach!

The girls loving the waves and looking for seashells. They each fund a sand dollar and were so excited.
Adam and the girls going under the pier to the rocky side.
Calli found a live star fish stuck to one of the rocks the waves were crashing up against.

Gentry keeping on eye out for pirates.

Gentry was hilarious, she just came unleashed and ran and ran and ran. She was so happy she couldn't even contain herself. Maybe she's just been holding back all these years.

And Sadie chasing the birds. We spent almost two hours playing on the beach before heading home. What a fabulous Vacation!