Day 8: Take me out to the ball game!

After a delicious breakfast (I just love going out to breakfast) which included french toast with a special caramel/banana topping (I'm salivating just thinking about it) we went back to the beach for more fun! It was a little more chilly than we would have liked (as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm wearing a jacket) but we still enjoyed ourselves.

No comments on my white legs allowed.
Let's just say it's a touchy subject.

Tom and I managed to stay warm by sprinting along the shore and trying not to get "caught" by the waves. That may seem like a childish game, but we thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Don brought his binoculars and we were able to spot some sea lions basking out on a rock. Tom wanted to get a better look so he scaled a hillside of large boulders to get there.

Yep, that's my man!

Sea Lions











That night, we headed to the baseball game: the Oakland Athletics vs. the Boston Red Sox. I had been looking forward to this game so much, and it sure did not disappoint! Have I ever mentioned how much I love baseball?? This was by far the most energizing and exciting baseball game I had ever been to! We whipped, creamed, annihilated, trashed, and smashed the Red Sox: 20-2! We were yelling, jumping up and down, and dancing throughout the game. And few things rarely get me that excited. It became almost ridiculous as the A's hit home run after home run and scored
9 runs alone in the bottom of the 7th inning!

Round Table Pizza has this deal that when the A's hit a grand slam during a home game, the whole stadium gets a FREE personal sized pizza. Cool right? So when I found this out, I didn't really think anything of it, because I doubted there would be a grand slam that night at the game. Well, I was wrong! Thank you Mr. Reddick for hitting a grand slam, and thank you Round Table for the free pizza! We were only allowed one topping so I chose green bell-peppers. Is that weird? Everyone seemed to think so but me.

At the coliseum, we were actually surrounded by quite a few Red Sox fans. Not entirely surprising since they are such a big team, and usually a favorite. Throughout the game, the fans become more and more depressed, and hence became more and more obnoxious. It's ok Red Sox fans, I probably would have been a sore loser in your situation as well. Sorry you lost. (Ok, that's a lie. I'm not really sorry we stomped* you.)

*Stomper the Elephant is the A's mascot



As you can clearly see, I had a hard time containing my excitement. It was a very, very good night.

#53 reason why Stacie and Don are cool: They took us to the best A's game ever!

Day 7: Monterey Bay Aquarium

 We traveled down to Monterey the next day to visit the aquarium. This is by far the nicest aquarium I have ever been to. I think Tom was quite impressed with it. My family used to go once in awhile when I was younger, but I think it had been about 10 years since I had last visited.
We really enjoyed our time there.

The cute sea otters were our first stop. We got to watch them eat lunch.

Who knew that sand dollars were naturally all fuzzy furry like that?

Touching the bat rays has always been one of my favorite things.

My favorite part of this visit to the aquarium was getting to watch through a window as the fish in a giant two-story tank were fed. The sardines were so fascinating, the way the whole school moves together and can instantly change directions in unison. We got to watch as the tuna were fed. Did you know that tuna are like, huge? You could probably get 50 cans out of just one fish. Ok, that's a really rough estimate. But these guys were big. I had no idea. We also watched them feed the sea turtle and the sun fish, which is really ugly. No offense, Mr. Sun Fish.

 I took this picture and I am quite proud of it.

Just a floating piece of seaweed you might think? Look again, it's a sea dragon!

 

My second favorite part was this interactive place where you could create your own jellyfish and then watch them float/swim on the screen in front of you. I could have seriously stayed at this station all day long drawing jellies. It was so fun!

This was Tom's jelly. I think it was supposed to look like me??

Later that day we took trip #1 to Capitola to buy tons of salt water taffy and visit Mr. Toots (a cute little coffee shop) where we enjoyed live music performed by a guy at the piano.

We also went to the movies and saw The Bourne Legacy, which was so intense I think it shaved off 2.37 years of my life. I was literally shaking during the whole movie. Ask Tom. Maybe I should lay off of the intense action movies for the time being.

#3 reason why Don and Stacie are cool: They have a hot tub which we got to relax in that night. To create the perfect ambiance, they even had twinkle lights and soothing music playing.

Day 6: Rolling into Santa Cruz

 

My Aunt Stacie and Uncle Don picked us up Wednesday morning and we headed south for their home in Santa Cruz. We stopped along the way to visit a yarn shop, and eat lunch and gelato. The gelato was super delish!

 We have arrived in Santa Cruz!

 Don, Me, Stacie
They are so cool.

 We are standing in front of a large whale in case you couldn't tell.

Obviously not a real one.

 #1 reason why Stacie and Don are cool: You can walk to the beach from their house.

THE BEACH!!!!!!

 #2 reason why Stacie and Don are cool: They shop at the farmer's market.

They had the most delicious plums I have ever tasted!

Then if was time for, you guessed it, more food! Two nights of sushi in a row about did me in.

 Tom was nice and gave his second dum-dum to a homeless guy on the street.

At first glance this may just look like someone's dirty laundry, but apparently it was a piece of artwork. What the? California is weird. And just take a look at their crazy gas prices . . .

Sadly, this wasn't even the most expensive we saw while out there.