We had some visitors a couple weeks ago. My mom, dad, and aunt Shirley came out for a week. We spent a few days here in Monterey and then went to San Francisco. It was a busy week and we were all tired at the end of it. In San Francisco we learned the way if the city by shuttle, subway, street cars, cable cars (there is a difference), and our own 2 feet. We saw the city, took a boat tour of the Bay, and went to Muir Woods which is an untouched Redwood forest very close to the city but it felt like you were in the middle of no where. We also got to see a "giant real life rat" as Emma put it run in front of us near the subway.

We will be heading back to San Fran this weekend, Brian is running the marathon there...

This picture was taken in Muir Woods

San Francisco..

This is China Town. Emma and Taylor liked it here, shop after shop of Junk!! I have never been to China but it felt like it here! Pictures don't do any of the places justice..

Another not so good pic.. At the very top of the street (looks like green bushes here) is the worlds most crooked street. You could see the cars driving down, pretty funny. They wait up to 30 minutes to be able to drive down it. I guess to say you did??

We took a boat tour of the bay. This of course is the Golden Gate bridge. Hard to get the entire thing in a pic. We also drove over it on the bus tour.

Emma and Taylor posing on a park bench in the forest.

They were in posing moods this day..

The whole group and still not covering the tree..

My mom and dad and aunt Shirley.

This is "The Father of the Forest" I believe it is about 250 ft tall. The Mother of the Forest is over 300ft tall

Trying to give you an idea of how big the trees are. It is hard to do that with pictures...

Daddy's little tree huggers....

Here in Monterey you can drive the "17 Mile drive"

It is a scenic drive that goes around Monterey Bay. It is very pretty and also goes right by Pebble Beach Golf Course.

Taylor was posing at one of the stops, a rocky shore with hermit crabs to catch..

This was another stop called the "Lone Cypress"

It sits out "alone" and has been standing for over 250 yrs weathering all the storms and Earthquakes...

Emma standing on the rocks..

Emma at the creekside in the redwood forest

Taylor at the Creek

always with a goofy smile

Of course this was staged..

We went out on Fisherman's Warf here in Monterey Bay and there a local Bird shop owner letting people hold his birds. Emma and Taylor thought it was pretty neat. Thankfully Shirley had her camera...

Emma

Taylor

There is a very cute town nearby called Carmel. Clint Eastwood use to be the Mayor. You are aloud to have fires on the beach there. It is very nice and something we will do often. Hotdogs and smores!! This trip was cloudy but usually you can see beautiful sunsets on the ocean while you sit around a fire!!

Happy 4th of July!!

Well we made it to California! It was a long trip to say the least and very glad it is done. 40 hours of driving, 7 days in the car and 11 states later. We have been here for 2 weeks but stayed in a hotel for 1 week of it. We are still unpacking but making good progress. The trip went as well as could be expected. I can tell you every nasty bathroom from the east to west coast. The kids and I will not be making that trip again, we will sell a car first!! Monterey is great although we haven't had much time to enjoy it yet. Emma and Taylor will have lots to do, soccer starts next month and tee ball in the spring. We are experiencing our first California fires. There are several fires here, we had a couple days of ash/soot falling like rain. Gas is $4.69 here, guess we'll see that $5 gallon soon!

We celebrated the 4th today by going to the parade here in town. They had music and games for the kids afterwards and then we watched the fireworks from our neighborhood. They shoot them off over the bay, you can see the water from the neighborhood!! Our other bit of news if anyone didn't know, baby Decker #3 is coming in Dec. It will be a California Christmas for us this year!!

Emma and Taylor waving their flags..

What is everyone looking at??

The National Anthem. The excitement was too much for them! That is our friends little girl, Jaslyn

Just a few pics from our 4th of July Parade here..

It was a very nice day so we went to the Aquarium and walked

around Cannery Row. Everything is just a few miles from the house!!

We went down to the beach and Emma and Taylor wanted to put

their feet in the water. Let me remind you that the Pacific ocean

is very COLD here. They didn't want their pants to get wet..

About 2 minutes laters Taylor tripped and went chest first in the water. It took her breath away it was chilly!! We had to have Dad come down and bring us more clothes..

Emma and Taylor at the Aquarium.

Two Pearls....

We are lucky to live just a few minutes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is a view from it.






A couple pics taken of Jelly
Fish.

These are all pics taken in the area just a couple miles from our house.

Fishermans Warf

This on Cannery Row which is a tourist area with shops

and lots of Good Eating..

Harbor Seals..

We spent some time at home in Ky before braving the trip to California. The girls had lots of fun playing in MaMa's backyard, at her park (swingset). They mastered swinging on swings by themselves and got to catch a few fireflies before we left. We saw lots of friends and their kids and got to play with Matthew and Mason. Just under 6 yrs before we are home for good. We also got to tell everyone that we are having another baby!

We had a fun and exciting day at Kings Island while at Ma Ma and Pa Pa's

Emma and Taylor were still talking about the trip there from the year before.

There were plenty of things for the kids to ride. After 12 hours at the park you would think 2 little girls would crash on the way home, not our girls they were ready to play when we got home..

Scooby Doo!

The most exciting part of Kings Island for Emma and Taylor. They brought their scooby dolls and he rode everything with them.

Blues clues..

Thrill Rides!!

Emma braved the monster with dad. She claims it was fun but didn't want to ride it again. Taylor wouldn't even think about getting on. She sat with pregnant mom who couldn't get on anything..

Little Bill's Giggle Coaster..

Such a small coaster but big screams..

Dad and Ma Ma got to ride this one.

One of their favorites.. Swiper.

This one whips you around the corners and is sure to tickle some bellies

We got plenty of swimming in Ma Ma's backyard. Emma and Taylor did good swimming with just swimmies, lessons will be in the near future!!

Emma with uncle Rob.

Taylor playing on the steps, aunt Suzanne and Niko (dog)

Emma doing tricks with her tall uncle Rob.

"I can see everything up here"

Taylor posing with her pink swimmies and Matthew.

We spent a week at Nanny and PaPa Decker's

It was filled with fun, playing outside, fishing, a waterpark and spending time with everyone. Nanny and PaPa have lots of fun toys to ride on, lawn mowers and 4 wheelers for starters. Emma and Taylor had fun playing with Ashleigh and Reagan. Nanny has lots of things to pick, strawberries, apples, berries, flowers. You name it, it grows there.

We got to go a fun waterpark with Ashleigh and Reagan. It was perfect for all of them, 2 foot 6 inches all the way around. A nice lazy river and some stuff for bigger kids that Taylor made sure we knew she was too little for.

Emma wading in the water

Taylor swimming

Taylor having fun at the waterpark..

It isn't a full day unless someone has a meltdown..

Emma done for the day..

Little miss Attitude