The Trip: Day 4- The aquarium and the beach at night

Spencer had a very late night on Saturday. By the time we got back to the hotel after the fireworks it was pushing 11:00. We decided to sleep in on Sunday and then go to the aquarium in La Jolla. Michael and I wanted to stop at McDonalds to get iced coffee on the way. We figured we were bound to drive by the Golden Arches somewhere on the way. That's not an unreasonable thought, right? McDonalds are everywhere, right? Wrong. We saw at least 35 Shell gas stations but no McDonalds. When you're jonesing for iced caffeine, a Shell yellow shell looks a lot like the golden arches. It was disappointment after disappointment. We finally got our fix right down the street from the aquarium. How convenient.

Spencer's first octopus.

Stingrays

Spencer and Michael being eaten by a great white.

My turn to be munched. It's OK to touch the glass, just don't tap on it. Hugging the glass is fine too. So pretty Spencer is handing me a lobster. Don't worry, he didn't pluck it out of the water- it was fake. When he put his hands in the water it was the first time Spencer ever said "cold". Usually everything is "hot". Do you see the crab on his shirt? It was not an accident that he was wearing this shirt to the aquarium. It says "Pinchy McFinnegan's Crab Shack". I've now taken to calling Spencer "Pinchy McFinnegan". It's a good thing that Spencer got into the aquarium for free since his favorite activity was climbing up and down the concrete steps.Let's go to the hotel and take a nap. When Spencer first started walking at age 12 months, 1 week he HATED wearing shoes. We only made him when he really needed to- at the park, mall, etc. Then he developed a love for his shoes and would ask us to put them on even when we were just hanging at home. He has swung the other way again and is refusing to wear shoes. After battling him through the whole aquarium to put his shoes back on, Michael and I decided that his sandals and crocs are too easy to take off and he needs something that will stay put longer. We stopped at Target on the way back to the hotel and bought some new sneakers.

This is Spencer taking off the new sneakers less than 10 seconds after we put them on. As he was doing it I think I heard him mutter "amateurs" under his breath. We went to the beach after dinner. The sun had just set, but apparently the flash on my camera is not big enough to light up the whole Pacific ocean, so it looks much darker.

The picture does no justice to how pretty it really was.

Spencer got to run around and break in the new kicks.

And Michael reflected on his place in the world.

Then we saw a big fish and went back to the Ramada Inn.