mom & shay visit again!

I'm mostly going to photo dump from our amazing week with my mom and Shay! All I can say is we just love having family come visit! They are the best!

Tuesday Highlights: Six Flags

• Watching Mckai on the rides was the best! His favorite was the driving the jeep! He couldn't stop smiling and saying "vroom" :) He also really liked the carousel. The rest of the rides he was kind of skeptical but still seemed to have fun! We did a balloon ride, his first rollercoaster (he held my hand so tight, I loved it!), and his first experience with a mini rocket (this was the best! He covered his eyes the entire time but he didn't cry for a second.)
• My mom and Shay went on all the big rides during the morning so when Mckai fell asleep in the stroller, my mom let me go on a few of the big rides with Shay!
• Mckai was obsessed with the dolphin show, it was adorable! He kept saying "wow", screaming from excitement, and pointing when they did tricks.

 ^ first ride... the balloons ^

 ^ he loved the penguins! this six flags is an amusement park/zoo which Mckai thought was so cool ^

 ^ waiting in line as a toddler is so hard! ^

^ Mckai's heaven was driving the jeep! ^

Wednesday and Thursday: Monterey, California

• We knew Northern California beaches would be cold but that didn't stop us from hitting the beach! It wasn't too cold if you laid on the towel so you couldn't feel the wind and just let the sun beat on you :)
• The cold didn't bother Mckai, he still had fun playing the sand and would run away if the water came anywhere near him. My favorite moment at the beach was when my mom was building sandcastles with him he was so excited he just kept clapping and saying, "yay!"

 ^ permanent smile watching grandma build sandcastles for him to smash! ^

 ^ I thought he might fall asleep on me like last summer... ^

 ^ just kidding! :) ^

^ this year... how did he get so tall!!?! ^

^ and a little throwback to last summer because I just can't even handle how big he looks now! ^

^ our view at dinner that night ^

^ shopping on Cannery Row ^

^ the fisherman's wharf ^

• I got to check something off my bucket list... Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was just as amazing as I imagined! I wish we lived closer because Mckai was so excited and happy for the first half... but fell apart because he was so tired for the second half.
• He loved the sea otters, they are so cute! He kept pointing and saying, "look!" so that he made sure we were seeing what he saw :) They were the first thing we saw when we got there and he probably could have stayed there all day if we let him.
• The jellyfish... Mckai was so excited about them that he could hardly stay still. Someone had to have a hand on him at all times or we surely would have lost him as he ran from exhibit to exhibit!
• I loved how when we saw the Open Sea he would turn to whatever child he was standing next to and talk to them in his gibberish about whatever big fish just swam by!
• His final favorite thing was the puffins. There were a few right next to him behind the glass that he kept giving kisses to! It was so cute when he laid down on his tummy to watch them.

 ^ they had amazing tide pools where you could touch different sea creatures. We didn't spend much time there A. because Mckai was tired and B. because he was a bit too little to appreciate it but someday when he is a little older we will have to come back! ^

^ this pretty much sums up the last half of the visit before he finally fell asleep in his stroller... ^

• Our final stop before heading home was Dennis the Menace Park (to get Mckai's wiggles out since he had just taken a nap and we had a 3+ hour drive home!). He loved it, if Shay hadn't been so tired, he probably could have stayed there for a couple of hours.

^ his favorite words right now are "duck" and "quack quack" so I was super excited for him to see them in real life! He loved chasing them and the only casualty was duck poop on his shoes which is pretty good considering ducks can be mean :) ^