A Day In Monterey

This weekend I took Aubree and Liam to the MY Museum in Monterey. Sydney was gone on a camping trip with her youth group. This was actually a good thing because she got to have her fun with her youth group and I could take the kids to this museum which is designed specifically for children 9 and under (obviously NOT Sydney's age range). Everyone wins. I had never been to this museum and always wanted to take the kids. It is newly remodeled and located in downtown Monterey. At first, Liam was unhappy that he was not going with Dad to work, which is what normally happens on weekends. After a little convincing we finally headed out to Monterey. Our first stop was California Pizza Kitchen for lunch-YUM. When the kids had their fill of pizza and soda we were off to the museum. The museum was pretty cool. There was a special kid entrance, and everything inside was interactive. There was a giant tree house, dollhouse, theater, fire truck, ambulance, golf course, and of course the greatest feature of all (according to Liam) was the farming exhibit. It was actually quite an impressive maze of "conveyor" belts that distributed little plastic balls (meant to represent produce) being packed in a packing plant. The only thing that stopped Liam from staying and cranking those belts round and round all day was the fact that I was parked in a 2 hour parking zone. They both had a lot of fun. I think the coolest thing was a butterfly display in which the kids stood on a mark and there was a metal hoop around them setting in soapy water. The hoop was attached to ropes and when you pulled the rope the hoop went up and made a giant bubble all the way up and around the kids. How cool is that?? What kid doesn't want to be inside a giant bubble? By the way, in case you are wondering what a giant bubble has to do with butterflies?...it was supposed to imitate a cocoon. We went down to Fisherman's Wharf after for some ice cream and of course look at the ocean and some boats. Aubree was very impressed and wanted badly to get on a boat, any boat. She saw some guys kayaking and said she wanted to go on those too. Liam being the old crotchety man he is deep down inside told her she couldn't do that because she was too little, the boats were too dangerous because they can flip...what happens if a big wave comes?, there are no motors in them, blah, blah, blah. That kid cracks me up. I can see it now...he's going to be Mr. Safety, you know don't go outside without sunblock, and she is going to go base jumping for her 21st birthday or something. So, besides the fact that I had to listen to Kidz Bop, (which by the way, is like listening to bad karaoke singers with a bunch of kids as back up singers,) to Monterey and back we had a really good time.