A Tank of Gas and A Ton of Fun!

 Lance has to go to pretty dumb training once a month for three months in a row as part of his promotion to Lieutenant a year ago.  The only upside is it's in Monterey and one of the benefits of homeschooling is we can do it anywhere! So we decided to join him down there for a few days this week!

 Normally, I wouldn't rave about a hotel like this.   I mean, it was nice.  We were on the 10th floor and that was pretty cool since this was our view.  It offered a free breakfast buffet every morning with seriously everything you can imagine and complimentary snacks and drinks every evening. That was cool, too.  The beds were uncomfortable and the walls were paper thin, but still I LOVE this hotel!  And let me tell you why my friends... two room suites!  Getting a baby to sleep in a hotel is usually very complicated especially with two other kids there.  But not in a two room suite!  We put Riley's crib in the bedroom, put her down at her regular time and SHUT THE DOOR!  The rest of us were free to continue our fun in the living area as late as we wanted!  It was heaven! 

Her favorite thing the whole time was climbing in the bottom drawer with her blanket!

Not too happy about having to do school on vacation! (But still got it done)

 The weather was so perfect. If it would have been like this in January at home I wouldn't have liked it because I really love winter weather, but since we were on the coast it was a nice treat! We played at the park.  Dennis the Menace park was closed so we found another one and got it all to ourselves. 

The ocean was amazing.  It was low tide and so we saw a lot of cool things. We got to touch hermit crabs, sea anemones and even huge starfish.  Who needs to pay to go to the aquarium?

We went to the wharf for some candy and saw two cute sea otters playing right by us. 

The highlight of the trip for the girls though was the hotel's indoor spa and heated pool.  Every night when Lance got out of class they put their suits on and headed down for a swim!  Swimming in January is pretty cool!

The hightlight for me was the night Lance booked me a massage at a spa. It was so sweet of him because he just texted me in the afternoon to tell me he'd made me an appointment.  He gets a per diam and prides himself on being very frugal on days he is there by himself, but when it comes to me he is always so thoughtful and generous. The massage was luxurious!

We had a fantastic time and are already looking forward to going back again next month. Maybe the training's not so dumb after all! :)