When I first approached Bob with this bright idea to take the girls on their first vacation, he thought I was crazy and said there was no way he was traveling with three two year olds. I was up for the adventure, so I called my Mom and asked if she wanted to go. She and my 19 year old niece decided to join us. We figured an even adult/toddler ratio would work out pretty well. We had also decided to make this trip with no expectations at all. You just never know what is going to happen when you're with 2 year old triplets.
We went on a Tuesday and the plan was to leave my Mom's house at 9am. I was so proud of myself for getting us all packed and in the truck (I'm calling our Chevy Tahoe a truck...because it kind of is one) by 8:45am. This was going to allow me time to get to my mom's and hit the freeway on time.
About halfway to her house, I heard the truck making a very loud screechy sound. At first I thought there was no way it was our truck. I put the windows down so I could hear better, and sure enough, it was our truck. When I got to mom's house, I called Bob right away and told him I didn't think we could go. It's a 4 hour trip and I knew part of the trip was basically driving through the boonies in semi-high elevation. He thought I was just being a paranoid girl and came over so he could prove to me that the truck was fine and send us on our way. Poor Bob..... He test drove it and realized that he couldn't let his family drive 4 hours away in a truck that might break down. He had really been looking forward to having the house to himself for some quiet time, even taking the day off of work to take full advantage of our empty house. So he did what any desperate daddy would do. He called his brother, who is a mechanic for some emergency repairs!
Thankfully, it was just something simple and we were on the road by 11am. It was two hours behind my master schedule. I was pretty relaxed about it though and just decided to roll with the punches. I was thankful we were able to still go that day.
We drove about halfway there and stopped for a late lunch at a Jack in the Box restaurant. It also happened to be the girls' first time in a restaurant other than the mall food court.....um, not that it's a sit down place, but it was still something new. Here are the girls enjoying some juice while they waited for their food. There were only two high chairs so Morgan got to sit at a regular chair like a big girl. She was so good too. She sat there quietly eating the whole time.
The only issue we had at lunch was that the restaurant was very close to the freeway. Every time a semi-truck drove by and made noise, Rachel would sort of freak out. She likes to look at trucks and will even point them out while we're driving. Poor thing just didn't like being so up close and personal with the trucks. The restaurant was basically in a truck stop so it was surrounded by trucks and noises that scared her. She did the best she could. Sophia had her moments of not liking the trucks too. Poor kiddos just don't do so well with loud noises. Other than the noises, the girls did a good job and ate their lunch. We were back on the road in no time.
They surprised me during the long drive. We were pretty much meltdown free. It helped that we had the dvd player going for the majority of the trip. It was good for them, but not so good for me as the driver. The darn thing blocks my view of the rear view mirror and I'm not so comfortable driving with just the side mirrors in the big SUV. I did okay though. I would just make my mom check my blind spots when changing lanes. haha...
After about 90 more minutes on the road, we arrived at our hotel. Thankfully, I had called in advance so that we could check in an hour early. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Seaside just a couple miles from all the action in Monterey. That hotel is awesome for families. We had a two room suite and you get free drinks and a fabulous buffet breakfast. It made it easy for me to get the girls their beloved milk on demand! Plus, my mom and Tiana had their own room to sleep in.
I think we were at our hotel around 3pm ish. We quickly checked in and got the girls (and all of us) changed into warmer clothes. I love that we can go from being in the 90's in the valley to the 60's on the northern coast. The main reason we went to Monterey was to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our hotel sold us two-day passes for the price of one so we decided to head down there right away since we were only staying one night.
The first afternoon we visited the aqaurium, we used one single stroller and 2 back-pack harnesses. We lucked out that it wasn't very crowded since we were there so late in the day. Morgan loved everything about it. She would walk right up to the floor to ceiling tanks and was excited about the giant fishies! Sophia liked bits and peices of it. Rachel wasn't too sure about it all. She would stay happy if we kept the stroller moving or if I was carrying her. She did love this tunnel that was like you were under a waterfall. She really loved when the water would come crashing down over it. You can also view the waterfall from one of the outside decks and she enjoyed that part too.
We got swarmed by people asking about the girls and if they were triplets and you know.....all the fun questions that comes with the territory. It was kind of my fault. I had dressed them exactly alike because I thought that it would help us keep track of them better. It wasn't too bad though. Plus, the girls looked super cute. How could anyone resist admiring them?!
Here are a few pics inside the first day we were there. The first one is Sophia taking her turn in the stroller.
Here's Morgan. She was all smiles the whole time. She kept saying, "Oh fishes."
Here's Rachel. This is one of the only pictures I could get of her out of the stroller or out of my arms. She wasn't too fond of the place. But she did pretty good considering she has some sensory issues.
We ended up staying at the aquarium for around an hour and half then headed back to our hotel for dinner. By this time, the girls were just done. They didn't sleep in the truck on the way down, so no nap meant cranky toddlers. We weren't about to take them into a restaurant. We planned on getting some take out for our hotel room. We ended up ordering from Chili's since it was right in the parking lot of the hotel. They said our order would be ready in 15 minutes. So I left the girls in the hotel room with my mom and neice and ran down to get our food. It took over 45 minutes.......I was NOT happy. Thankfully, I had brought a lot of snacks so at least the girls weren't starving by the time I got dinner up to the room.
I had prepared myself mentally for a terrible night's sleep. The girls really surprised me though. It was just a few minutes after 8pm when we were done with dinner, milk, and getting into jammies. I brought one pack n' play from home and the hotel provided two more for us. I thought the girls would be all fussy and not go to sleep. However, they went right down with no problems at all........and then slept all night until 7am. Morgan did have a little cough, but other than that, we all slept really good.
We got up the next morning, had breakfast at the hotel, then were on our way back to the aquarium. This time, we used the double and single strollers. It had been exhausting the day before chasing the girls all over. Plus, we knew it would be more crowded before noon. I have to say, I was so amazed by the sea horse exhibit. It was really neat to see. We went to that one first since we knew the girls wouldn't last very long being inside a crowded space.
Since my neice had never been there before, after we saw the sea horses, my mom and I took the girls to the large outside decks so that Tiana could actually see the other exhibits. Here's a pic of Mom and the girls enjoying the outside waterfall. The girls LOVED it when the water would come crashing down. They would count until the water would spray out, and then they would just laugh. It was fun to watch them.
Here I am with my precious sweeties. I'm so glad we got to take this trip.
I had some moments of nostaliga being in Monterey. Bob and I took our very first vacation together here as well as our honeymoon. The last time I'd been here was for our honeymoon. I wished Bob was with us and that we had a babysitter so that we could go to our favorite romantic places. Ah well, someday!
We didn't really do much other than the aquarium and walking around on Cannery Row. The girls were a handful and they weren't always happy travelers at the same times. They kept asking to go home all morning so we just stayed until around noon. We made a stop at a Carl's Jr for lunch. We didn't want any meltdowns so we went through the drive thru and ate in the parking lot. It was actually nice since it was only about 70 degrees outside. I think we were on the road heading home by around 1:30 or 2.
Overall, I'm glad we made the trip. Would I do it again while the girls are still 2 years old? Um, no thank you. hahaha... but we did have a lot of fun moments and the girls learned some new words, like shark, tunnel, ocean, parking garage...hahaha. It was fun bringing my sweet babies to my favorite CA town. We made some good memories. I can't wait to bring them back again one day.
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