Last "hurrah" as a family of 4...

We were able to head to Pebble Beach for a week after school was out. It was such a a treat to just move into the house for 6 nights and do everything we love to do there.

On our way to Pebble we decided to make a stop at Casa De Fruita. We quite often stop here for a quick break, but this time we decided to enjoy a little bit more of what it has to offer and ride the train Ethan has so desperately wanted to ride every time we stop.

Posing on a caboose before the ride started. The kids LOVED it. This was Ethan's first train ride and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Waiting for the train to start...choo, choo! (yes we are on the train, it is that small)

We spent a lot of time just hanging around the house, relaxing and playing as a family.

Ethan learned to climb the tree by himself, and Morgan had some help:)

Lots of golfing practice in the back yard!

The first day we were there it was such perfect beach playing weather. It was cloudy, but fairly warm and no wind. The kids had a great time getting reacquainted with the beach.

Ethan has now gotten into telling me what he wants me to take pictures of. Here he instructed me to take a picture of him throwing a rock in the water...there you go son.

The second day we were there we took advantage of our Aquarium passes again and headed into Monterey. We tried to get there right when the doors opened so we had some of the exhibits to ourselves for  a while.

Morgan added some more words to her vocabulary while we were away. Fish, beach and deer. Here she was quite excited to see all the fish in their new tropical fish tank. There were a lot of little Nemo's and Dori's swimming around in there.

Here is another Ethan set up picture, posing with the giant penguin, also part of their new exhibit. This wasn't nearly as traumatic as the picture with the sea horse.

Day three brought us to the beach again. This time we had some more sun and Kevin even got into the water for a while.

Buried in the sand by daddy!

Another favorite thing for us to do when we go to Pebble is to check out the bag piper at Spanish Bay. I've blogged about that experience before. We hadn't taken both kids yet so we thought we'd try it out. It was a gorgeous night, it is usually freezing cold there by the water, but it was actually a little warm!

Day four we headed to the Dennis the Mennis Park in Monterey. The kids had a great time checking out all the fabulous playground equipment.

Probably our most favorite thing to do when in Pebble is to head down to the "rocky beach" after dinner and just unwind. It is amazingly peaceful and relaxing to just hang out on the rocks for about an hour, look for sea glass and crabs and throw rocks. Even the kids totally mellow out when we're down there. Kev and I agreed that it is a very therapeutic activity. If only we lived closer we'd be there every night.

This is one of the few places our "ever in need of a playmate" son will just do his own thing.

Mo checking out the birds.

Hunting for crabs, it's the newest adventure on the "rocky beach."

That night they were able to find a pretty big crab.

This was the perfect vacation to start off our summer. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather, better behaved kids or a more beautiful setting. It was a great time away and a good refresher before life turns crazy in a couple months. Thanks again dad and mom for the use of your house!