How To: camp with a toddler

Make sure there are plenty of chairs for everyone.

Pack water shoes.

Bring a boat.

Slather on the sunscreen.

Take lots of hikes.

Climb.

Catch fish.

Smile. Relax. Get dirty.

Enjoy the company.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last week Mase and I needed a mini-vacation, so on my day off we headed down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

The jellyfish and seahorses were definitely my favorites. Mase pretty much liked everything and kept saying and signing "fish" as we walked around.

You can't tell from this picture, but these are teeny, tiny jellyfish.

Mason couldn't wait to get his hands into everything. He was petting the starfish and saying "nice", like he was petting a dog or cat. It was pretty cute.

After lunch we walked to the beach and got our feet wet before the long, traffic-filled drive home.

Such a great day, and exactly what we needed!

It's not a good idea...

to have a picnic...

in the park...

unless you have enough to share...

with everyone!

That is our picnic blanket in the picture there.

We had to vacate.

We were surrounded! (And those geese were much larger than Mason.)

Rainy Day Fun

It has been raining this week. A lot. To avoid going stir crazy in the house yesterday this is what Mason and I did...

Have you ever experimented with corn starch and water? It is hard to describe the consistency it has. If you combine the two into a paste it forms this gooey blob of stuff that looks like a liquid and will form little puddles when you drop it on the floor, but you can pick it back up without leaving a trace. Weird huh?

At some point you'll have to let your kids play with it on the kitchen floor. I cranked up the heat in our tiny kitchen, stripped Mase and set him on a towel and let him go crazy with a bowl of water and cornstarch.

He loved every minute of it.

Cleaning up is ridiculously easy. Rinse off your kid, pick up the blobs of goo from the floor and wipe the surface down with a wet rag and you're done.

Everyone is happy. :)