A Few Whales in Monterey

I think all of us would say our favorite part of our mini Monterey vacation was our whale watching trip.  It was a beautiful day and we saw tons of gray whales, sea lions, dolphins and jelly fish!  I'm pretty sure the kids would say they saw a shark too if you asked them!

Real men wear pink owl hats...right!?!

Someone got sleepy on the way back to the dock!

 

It was a great trip and the perfect addition to our holidays! 

Someone please visit so we can have an excuse to go again!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Since we didn't get to spend Christmas at "home" with all our family, we decided to take a quick trip for the holidays.  We headed to Monterey for a quick two night trip and family fun!

One of our stops was to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! 
It was really busy - but the kids really enjoyed it. 

The Wave Simulator - When did this little guy get so big!?!



I think somone likes his hat Grandma Donna!



Christmas Day

After opening gifts from Santa, we had a little breakfast and then headed back to open the heaping pile of gifts under the tree.  The tree surrounded by all those gifts was an unusual sight for us.  This is the first year that we have done our entire Christmas at home and not traveled at all.  The UPS man and our Post man have gotten very familiar with our door this year! 

We got some gifts that we Loved...

And some we weren't so excited about...("Really mom - Sheets?" Chase said!)

 

Even the Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles got in the Christmas spirit and took a spin in Santa's sleigh!

 

It was a Very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Morning

Santa finally came and we couldn't wait to see what he brought.  I think Zach was as happy as the kids were this year for Xbox that Santa brought!  (More entertaining pictures on that to come!)

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to our new church for their Christmas Eve service.  Quite different from the late night services my traditional Lutheran Church back home, especially considering it was daylight and almost 70 degrees outside when church let out.  We're used to it being close to midnight and probably 10 degrees in Iowa after Christmas Eve church services!  We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and getting ready for Santa to visit!

Someone wasn't very happy to be taking pictures...

but she came around!

We opened just a few gifts on Christmas Eve and then waited for the big guy to do his magic overnight!

Christmas Cookies

The last few months have been a little crazy, so it's been a while since I have posted.  But I'm back!

 

This week was all about family and Christmas.  In true Hensley fashion this year, we had another first.  Our First Christmas in California.  We weren't able to travel back home this year.  We definitely missed our families, but had an amazing holiday anyway!

 

One of our family traditions is to back sugar cut-out cookies for Christmas.  We have to make them for Santa of course! Enjoy a few pics from our baking session this year...

House Tour - The Boy Room

 

So this is the little man's room in our new house.  Since the photos, I have also finally found him a new large area rug so he now has a plush place to play in his room.  He loves his new room!

My sister gave me this dresser when we moved.  It was a great find for $3 - and with a little paint it looks amazing!  Thanks Carrie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His bookshelf and headboard also got a new coat of paint.



And these guys watch over the entire room.  It is the safest room in the house for sure!