Spring Break-part two

Disclaimer: This is Dave writing for the installment of Spring Break - part two.

Today, we woke up early because Amanda wanted to go whale watching off the coast of Santa Barbara. The humpback whale is in full migration right now, but I forget if they are headed north or south. But the important point (especially to Amanda) was that they were in the channel between Santa Barbara and the channel islands. We set out on the Condor Express and right before we left, a whole bunch of loud and . . . . annoying kids boarded the boat. Yes - it was a middle school field trip. Mason immediately wanted to follow these kids wherever they ran, which was fun to deal with because after the boat started moving, Mason started walking like he had gone wine taste testing all night beforehand. And of course, he wanted to exert his independence at the same time and did not want any help from me - so, he fell a lot. Amanda took a ton of pictures as we saw 8 humpback whales and the pictures really don't do it justice. They are huge creatures. Mason, between his periodic interest in the whales - ate an apple, tried to run away from me countless of times, and said hi to all the middle school students (who in their social awkwardness had no idea how to respond). Before I continue with the recap of the day - let me apologize to my brother and brother-in-law who work with middle school students. And may God give you both an inordinate amount of patience because I was ready to 'feed' some of them to the whales. Seriously, anyone who works with middle school students - you deserve a lot of vacation time.

After whale watching, we jumped back into the car and headed further north along Highway 101 and Highway 1. The Central Coast is beautiful during this time of the year as everything is green and there are lots of rolling hills. We stopped in Cambria, which is a favorite little town of Amanda and I. We were going to stay in the city when a helpful store owner told us that during this time of the year, the ocean side resorts have good deals. So we checked it out - and found this incredible deal. We are staying in an oceanfront suite for half the price. It is originally over $350 - but thanks to it being a weekday in the off season and that we were a walk-in - we got it at a tremendously reduced price. Later that night we ate our favorite Cambria restaurant - Robin's. It has all organic foods and Mason did a great job, as it is not exactly toddler-friendly. The older couple sitting next to us (the tables are close together) commented on how well-behaved Mason was. That was nice to hear and I think our going out to eat way too much in his young life has helped (huge weakness of mine). That's it for now and as I close this blog, sitting in our luxury suite, watching the ocean - I hope that the snow has finally left you all in the Midwest.:)

Stay tuned . . . .