Mr. Cobra and I used to take day trips pretty frequently. Often, when we first moved to the city, it would just be a drive to find some quaint little town that had a good place to eat and some shops to browse. Later, it was to visit our favorite spots with the occasional new find. Then came along our little "critter". Whether he was in my belly or in the few months after he was born, we haven't taken a day trip in months.
A few months ago, a friend of ours gave us tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They expire at the end of this month and we've been trying to use them since June. We decided we'd pack the diaper bag full of tricks and hit the road. Monterey really isn't that far, only an hour-and-a-half from San Francisco. Dexter slept the entire way there. We got into Monterey around 11 am. He woke up once the car stopped. I nursed him and we put him in the Baby Bjorn headed off to find somewhere to eat lunch.
We ate a BBQ restaurant and Dex was a real hassle. It was reminiscent of our anniversary dinner where we had to take turns eating and trying to calm Dexter down. It's really kind of a challenge to be in a restaurant with an infant, but most of the people there had kids with them and just looked at us with complete empathy. The ones that didn't just thought Dexter was cute, so all was good. We finished up and went to the aquarium just down the street.
I put Dex in the Bjorn facing me because I could tell he was tired and that way he could go to sleep easier. Sure enough he was out cold in less than 20 minutes all snuggled up next to my chest. We watched the otters play and checked out the jellyfish exhibit. Dexter woke up hungry, so I went to the restroom and nursed him. They had a chair in a little room with a couple changing tables, so that was quite convenient.
Mike volunteered to try out the Bjorn and wear Dex around since I was starting to get tired. We put a bib on him in case he decided to spit up. It works great to keep the Bjorn kind of clean, though Dex loves to use the Bjorn as a teething ring. At first I thought he needed to be positioned higher, but now I know that he just leans over and chews on it because it feels good, not that the strap needs to readjusted. If he holds his head up, he's perfectly positioned. Mike thought the Bjorn was a bit uncomfortable, but it's easier than carrying him on the shoulder for 2 hours.
I think it took a while for Dexter to see the fish, but after he did, you could watch his little eyes dart back and forth watching. He didn't hoot like an owl like I thought he would, but he did find it entertaining. He saw jellyfish, otters, sharks and all kind of fish. There's one area that has a glass tunnel you can walk through and a wave comes over the top of it. A woman took a picture of all three of us just as the wave was coming over the top of us and Dex looked up with his mouth open, in total awe, like "what is that?". It was pretty funny.
Mike took some awesome photos and I got a few too. He joked that we finally have something to post on Flickr that isn't a baby photo. We had a lot of fun and there were so many kids there! It was busy, but not too bad until around 4 pm. It was just too full to even really see the exhibits at that point. We decided to head out. Dexter needed to nurse again once we got to the car. He was tired, cranky and needed a nap. We headed down the road to Pacific Grove which is a stone's throw from Cannery Row in Monterey. Dex fussed himself into oblivion and finally fell asleep.
We love to go antiquing and Pacific Grove caught our eye as we drove through their historic downtown and saw a few huge antique stores. They have tons of bed and breakfasts in that town and it was on the short list for our baby moon back in June. It's also famous because the Monarch butterflies winter there en masse. We decided to stop and eat there at a little place called Red House Cafe which was a house that was converted into a 3 room restaurant. We went through a huge antique store first that just had such gorgeous pieces, mostly furniture. It was exceptionally expensive, but not uncalled for because of the incredible condition all of it was in and probably what it really was worth. This took us about an hour and Dex slept the entire time.
Just as we were leaving, he woke up again. He has great timing for when we are about to go eat at a restaurant. We went in and sat down and dealt with it. The host was awful. He sat us down in a great place for us, but right next to a crusty old couple who were not too happy to have a baby next to them. Then he sat a couple on an obvious date. I laid Dex on the floor on his blanket by our table so he could stretch out and play. He was doing his pterodactyl for a while, but at least he was happy for a bit. They dealt with Dex ok until the host sat another family next to them with 2 young boys. They asked to be seated somewhere else and I don't blame them. The food was excellent, but the service was awful.
After dinner, we strolled downtown. Dex was in a great mood and hooted at all the lights. I don't think he'd ever been out for a walk at night. It was only around 7 pm, so we walked around and visited the few boutiques that were still open. We stopped into a chocolatier and bought truffles for dessert. It was awesome. Everyone was saying how cute Dex was and mistaking him for being 6 months old. I'm not sure why. I guess there isn't much size difference between 3 months and 6 months. People say he's big, but he's average weight and height.
That was the most fun we've had with Dexter. It was great to get out and about. We were so wiped out on Sunday that we didn't get laundry or groceries done. The 4 day work weeks with 3 day weekends are working great. I suspect there will be many more Saturday outings in our future.
