Yesterday, for Amelia’s “birthday”, we went on a family adventure to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Thank you, Epsons, for letting us borrow your guest passes for the day!) We even took (tiny) Bunny Amelia along for the ride.

This wave tunnel is one of my favorites. I could stand here for hours, and it turns out that Jack felt the same way. :)

We walked a few blocks down the street for lunch at a vegan Mexican food place. I have to be honest and say I wasn’t too impressed (I’d give it three stars). But here’s probably why: I feel like there are two kinds of non-meat-eaters in the world – vegans, and plant-based dieters. I think we associate ourselves with the latter. Vegans tend to eat fake meat that’s spelled wrong (chik’n nuggets, buffalo chik’n, bac’n, etc.), and daiya cheese (which doesn’t even taste like cheese!) Plant-based eaters tend to make veggies, beans and whole grains the star, and occasionally eat meat substitutes like tofu. This vegan Mexican food joint was vegan in every sense of the word. Although, to give them credit where my tastebuds differ, I think my burrito would have been better had I omitted the daiya cheese.

We really loved all of the jellyfish at the aquarium.

Tyler was the one with the brilliant idea of bringing Bunny Amelia along. Jack loved showing her everything he did, and I have to say that she was the better behaved out of our two children… ;) This will hopefully be a new tradition, bringing Bunny Amelia on a birthday adventure every year. Kind of like a traveling “flat Stanley”.

Later that evening, we stopped by Amelia’s little space to say hello. (And we aren’t certain who to thank, but we appreciate whoever dropped by earlier with flowers for her!)

And – per Jones family tradition – we ate a celebratory first birthday dinner at In-N-Out, complete with a strawberry milkshake. (Because obviously that’s what Amelia would have wanted, right?)

Our day ended with Jack tucking Bunny Amelia into bed. He is so sweet and reverent to her.