These are a few of my favorite things . . .

When I was a young child one of my favorite movies was the Sound of Music. I loved all of the music, but the chorus from the song, “My Favorite Things” has been playing in my mind lately. If you are not familiar with it--you have been living under a rock-- and here it is:

When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad

Part of my life’s coping strategy is to do things that bring me happiness when I am going through hard times. So, when the opportunity came during Spring Break, our family took off to spend time at a couple of local places that really are among “my favorite things”. We were able to go to The Monterey Bay Aquarium and

Pt. Lobos National Reserve with some good friends of ours. I feel like getting out and around nature really is medicine for my soul. Here are some photos from two of my most favorite places, starting with Monterey Bay Aquarium.

A friend of ours works at the aquarium, so she took us behind the scenes to have a one-on-one visit with the resident albatross—it loved Burke.
The albatross is such a beautiful bird, and really is intelligent, I don't know why they have such a bad rap of the saying, "Like an albatross around your neck", meaning something that is an encumbrance, or a wearisome burden. Our friend has let us visit this bird a few times, and I will never think negative of a albatross again.

We are soooo very blessed to have great friends as next door neighbors. We were happy to have them join us at the aquarium and later on at Pt. Lobos.

The aquarium has a fantastic new flamingo exhibit that opened the end of March.

Just a few of the new flamingos at the exhibit.

They also have a fabulous new salt water aquarium. If you have ever had a salt water aquarium, you will realize how difficult it is to have a tank like this, with so many fish. It was beautiful!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is also very famous for its jellyfish exhibits. Who knew there were so many different types of jellies?

Check out this exotic looking seahorse--very beautiful!

And some more seahorses. They look like floating lettuce leaves. There are three of them here, can you find them?
After a day at the aquarium, we spent a day at Pt. Lobos State Reserve, just south of Carmel. This is one of my most favorite places on the planet. I would go here every day if I could. The scenery is breathtaking. The weather was so warm that day, the kids played on the beach for hours. Ahhh, as I said earlier, medicine for my soul. I love, love, love this place!

The kids exploring the beach. A Canadian Goose kept landing in a fresh water river nearby, so the kids went to check it out.

View along Pt. Lobos.

I hope you enjoyed the photos of just a few of my favorite things. If you ever want to spend the day with me, now you know where I will take you :-)