I LOVE this picture that I took. Mostly because they are all smiling and not bugging each other. The reason? THEY asked me to take a picture of them. I wish they were wearing nicer clothes than their swimsuits, but at least they are happy with a good background.
Enjoying the beach the first night in Santa Cruz. Rob's parents took care of everything. It was so nice to be able to relax when we got back from outings instead of trying to make dinner for everyone, while they were cranky and I was tired.
The kids LOVED the ocean. Sadly, on our planned beach times it was windy and cold, but during our impromtu trips to walk on the beach it was beautiful.
Makayla climbing a tree outside our air bnb. There were 2 bedrooms. Rob's parents room had a queen sized bed, daybed& trundle. Our room had 2 sets of bunkbeds (full or queen size on the bottom, plus trundle beds. We actually fit our whole family in one room! It was hard to get the kids to settle down at night, but it was a nice place to stay and really nice to have a house with hot showers to come back to after the beach (and a washer & dryer!) all with in walking distance of the beach!!
We walked along this look out trail.
And found another tree to climb. Lots of people sleeping out of their cars here.
This tree was near the public bathrooms, which were in the perfect place at the perfect time.
Christopher poses in the tree.
Zachary loved the beach. He's wearing shoes because we were at some tide pools, but it was making me nervous because it was on a cliff, so I took the younger kids down to the beach after they had seen enough crabs. Makayla stuck her finger in a hole at the tide pools and pulled out a small sand crab, very excited about her find.
Twins digging in the sand.
I love this picture of Christopher. He wanted to show me something he caught in the sand and the lighting made the colors perfect.
Zachary is seeing who is hidden under the towel. I think it was Makayla and Joseph.
Rob's parents took us to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and bought everyone wristbands so they could ride all day. Well, except me, since I'm pregnant.
This picture cracks me up. Zachary was very excited to be on the ride. Joseph was feeling daring. And Matthew was crying. Later we found out he was crying because he thought we were going to leave while he was on the ride. Still afraid of being lost & left behind. Once we reassured him we would stay and watch him, he was fine. But that didn't happen until after this ride. Whenever he went on a ride where he had to sit next to an adult, he would only sit next to Daddy. Not Grandma or Grandpa. Often Joseph was Grandpa's buddy & Makayla was Grandma's buddy.
They had fun on this boat ride.
And this train ride with Grandma.
The weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold.
Funny to see Rob sitting in the back of this ride...he had to be on it if Zachary was. It even went up! I'm shocked it was made for his weight.
It was nice that there were usually a kiddie ride or 2 next to the big rides so we could be near each other.
At the very end of the day Zachary fell asleep.
One of the rides Matthew was allowed on, but Joseph wasn't quite tall enough. It was hard, so I"m glad it was only an issue once.
The kids loved this ride and went on it like 5 times. I liked that it was near a spot to sit in the shade.
It was next to the bumper cars, where Michael and Grandma were.
A covered wagon before the train ride. The kids were bugging each other and being naughty before the train, but were very good on the train ride.
Zachary talked about the train weeks leading up to the trip, and months after the trip.
It was fun to see them fill the steam engine with water.
I'm really glad we took this train ride through the redwoods. Thanks to Rob's parents for planning and paying for it!
Then we had lunch and hiked.
There were issues on the hike too.
Trees were sooo big!
This was supposed to be our main beach day. But it was so windy the kids huddled under towels (too bad I missed that picture.) We walked back towards our campsite and found some sand that wasn't too windy and enjoyed the sun.
The campsite was actually awesome. Despite it being full, there was plenty of space between sites. The kids could run and dig and climb trees, but still had a hard time being nice to each other.
We stopped at a produce stand, that was actually a building. They had really cheap avocados, grapefruit, kiwi, apricots, etc. We enjoyed the fresh produce with our breakfast the next day, and even brought some home.
We went to a mission and on display was this couch that is similar to one my ancestors brought by boat, sailing past the tip of south america because the panama canal wasn't completed yet. They settled in California for a while, then ended up in Washington (my Dad's side of the family.) OH, and the reason why I know what the couch looks like is because my parents had it on display at their house.
Monteray Bay. We enjoyed the aquareum. (It was cheaper by $9 to buy a season pass, though if we go one more time I would be suprised.)
Uncle Jim took us (I opted out because I'm pregnant) up in his plane. Everyone loved it. They loved staying at Uncle Jim's house and swimming in his pool too.
More tree climbing on a hike. I think we did a hike most days of our trip.
Dirt is a sign of a good vacation, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment