Laguna Seca

We had an early morning, and were out headed to the airport before 6 am. Our flight to San Jose was pretty empty so Emi got a seat, and there was no one on the row in front of us (If you have kids, you understand what a score that is!).

Emi eating her foot (pt 1)

When we landed we grabbed the rental car and headed to the Airbnb in Monterey area. Of course we had to grab In n Out on our way there because...California! 

We hung out with Angela, Diane, and Luke for the afternoon and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium together. I was really looking forward to going because we went there when I was little! I still remember looking at pictures of us there in my scrapbook.

Emi's favorite part of the aquarium was the tunnel. She could've gone around and around all day long! 

They also had jellyfish in one area of the aquarium that were transparent (maybe translucent? My elementary school knowledge is failing me) and when you pressed a button the lights behind them turned off and they "disappeared." And then when you pressed the button again, the lights turned on and lit up the jellyfish. We had fun playing "Peek a boo" with the jellyfish.

Emi eating her foot (pt 2)

After the aquarium we headed to the track. It felt like a scene out of "Cars." Seriously, it was so cool! And so different than Utah's or Colorado's plain, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere tracks. 

Today was qualifiers, and Nick did really well! He will be starting in 9th position tomorrow. We surprised him after the race (he didn't know the whole family would be coming this weekend!) but he didn't seem very surprised. haha. We learned later he actually was surprised, but just had a lot going on when we came to surprise him. He was just about to do an interview, had just finished a race so had a lot of adrenaline pumping, etc.

The track is noisy! We were glad Dan had suggested we bring headphones for Emi.

Emi and Diane (Dee-Dee)

It's hard to see here, but Emi's on Uncle Nick's lap. After a full day of lots going on, she was feeling a bit shy around Uncle Nick.

After the race we headed to Tarpy's where we met up Courtney and Michael. I loved the atmosphere there. So many pretty plants, stringing lights, and good food. Grandma Nancy shared with us the story of how Tarpy's came to be, and it was kind of morbid. haha. But I still loved the restaurant!