California vacation -- Monterey beaches

The beaches at Monterey are lovely.  Not tons of sand, but big rocks to climb on and tide pools to dig in:

A sea slug (gross):

Star fish (not gross):

King of the mountain!

California vacation -- driving up the coast

We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to Monterey.  It took a whopping nine hours given the stops for food:

And to look at elephant seals:

And to take pictures of the pretty scenery:

In true Kansas-kid fashion, Coop insisted I take a picture of this squirrel when we were stopped to look at the ocean:

And finally, we arrived to sit out on the deck and relax:

California vacation -- Los Angeles

Coop and I took a quick trip out to California for our summer vacation.  Waiting in the airport:

On the plane to Los Angeles:

The ocean!!!

The Hollywood sign (teeny tiny in the background -- I promise):

Coop with Hollywood Sign (he wasn't terribly impressed, but someday he'll like it):

We met up with Coop's friend Henry and visited this museum:

Watching scientists who are still cleaning and uncovering fossils found in the tar:

And seriously -- tar seeping out of the ground on the museum campus.  Insane.

Smiles and a time lapse video

What could make Coop this happy??

The arrival of these in the mail -- walkie talkies!!

My phone has a fancy time-lapse video feature.  Coop wanted me to use it while he cleaned off his desk.  This was the result:

Our friend Parker stopped by earlier this summer!

Coop showing off a model pirate ship he assembled:

A pirate game Coop invented, which mostly turned out to be rock-paper-scissors:

Grandma Marlene at her 90th birthday party!

Coop escorting Grandma out of the restaurant:

Texas 6 (and last!)

I figured if we were in Texas, we needed to buy real Texas cowboy boots (or at least the cheap version of them):

Coop picked these:  Black, pointy toe, good design, high heel.  He was thrilled!

The hotel pool:

Dessert in the hotel room:

Breakfast before we headed back home:

Texas 5

I woke up sick one morning so Aunt Mary agreed to take Cooper to the zoo.  They had a wonderful time, judging from the 120 pictures they took!  Even despite the rain!

Texas 4

We visited the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.  Extremely kid-friendly.  A giant light-bright!

Shadow theater:

Dino footprint:

Dino skeleton:

3D movie about natural gas and fracking (though the exhibit was sponsored by the energy company, so they didn't use the word "fracking" at all...):

Herding cattle: