Santa Cruz 2012

Santa Cruz 2012!

Heading to Santa Cruz...with only Cade and Kyle as Ryan and Sean got to go with Grandma and Grandpa!

Cade was quite a good traveler there and back!  He was so cute reading his books.  He is a total jibjaberer...talking away to himself in his own little language!  I tried to not disturb his serious book reading to take these pics...but he found me.

Later we finally made it down to the beach!  Cute Kyle.

And heading down to the beach, Cade saw the sand and ocean and stopped in his tracks.  He couldn't remember seeing anything like it!  In talking to him, he was nervous even to go closer.  But we went down and he had so much fun kicking his feet in the water with dad!

And here's a cozy kid by the fire!  Cute, but from then on he was very cuddly in my lap at fire time:)

Day 2:  Kyle making funny faces for me...Scott digging our pit!

Grandma's new toy...a wind shield!  Super nice in our sometimes windy Northern California beaches!

Kaylin came to play with our boys and was so fun!  What a sweet girl...so polite and friendly!

The pelican's were having a party right in front of us.  I love this pictures cause you can see one close up flying, one diving to get a fish...and others who just came up from getting their fish.  All stages of pelican watching.

And the dolphins came to play in front of us too!

Evening cuddles by the fire!

A tired Cade fell asleep on Grandpa!

The kids had so much fun riding freely through the campground on their scooters.  This time, Kaylin showed up with a bunch of earthworms in her hands...and suggested tieing them in a knot! Fun girl, right?

Sean was anxious to get to whiddle this year.

Cade was in heaven at the beach.  He didn't stray too far.  He didn't eat sand.  He just had so much fun playing in the sandy pit!  Win-Win!

Ryan had a blast hanging out with his friends.

Sean and grandpa found lots of huge sand crabs.  Sean planned on saving them.  The first day when we were packing up I dumped out his full bucket of sandcrabs, sand and water, forgetting what was in the bucket...and when I dumped it over - there were all these sandcrabs wiggling...freaked me out since I'd forgotten they were there...and expected only lifeless sand!

Cade was so curious about these sand crabs.  He spent so long playing with them!

Later we attempted to do this funny beach picture.  Kyle's legs were too short...and I forgot to get the adult hats out of the way...but still funny!

Then Cade was so confused by Sean's head sticking out of the sand...so he started to bop him!  And pull his ears!

Then we thought it'd be funny to see a pinhead man.  Tall body, little head!

And Kyle wanted in on the fun too!

Later we hosted a small taco feed with a few Lincoln friends.  And these boys toasted and tasted their Sand Crabs!  There was a miniscule amount of meat if you pulled out their legs.  

And Charlie taught Kyle to make a whistle {recorder like} with his red vines.

 My boys then tried to sell their toasted sand crabs for 25cents each.  They often come up with money making strategies...just not very smart ones...either something no one wants...or charging too much for something regular.  We try to teach them good business practices....

 Our 2012 Taco feed crew.

Then Scotty Favero found a magnifying glass and the boys all tried to burn stuff.

And Kyle wrote his name in the sand All By HIMSELF!

Ashley and Kyle were a fun pair riding around on scooters.  At one point, Ashley was on her bike by our camp site alone...so I asked her if they left her behind.  She replies, "No, I'm like the fastest bike rider ever, duh.  I beat them all!"

And during dad's campfire story of which Kyle begged for while saying he was soooo tired, he fell asleep!  But his cheek made a super nice pillow!

Again, such fun!  Camping - good.  Beach - good.  Family - good.  Friends - good.  Food - good.
What a great weekend!