Santa Cruz Camping

-Noah in his element-

Over Memorial we spent the weekend in Santa Cruz.  Our friends invited us camping, so we snatched up the invitation and headed to the beach. 

-Ava and Adelle trying to decide if they want to brave the waves-

California beaches aren't like Caribbean beaches - it's usually cold.  Most of the time was pretty pleasant, but one of the days was cold and windy.  Regardless, the kids loved it.  The dolphins came really close to shore the first day and were jumping all over.  It was awesome.

 -Kelli relaxing on the beach-

Kelli and I spent quite a bit of time sitting in the sand watching kids play.   Great way to pass the day.

 Grant spent most of his time "working", moving rocks and digging sand.

 

About 15 minutes into the trip, Ava was riding the balance bike, and Noah decided to rear-end her.  She went landed face first on the pavement.  Poor thing was pretty banged up. 

 Our camping site.  We had lots of great food and good conversation.  Noah and Stewart got lost at least twice a day when they would take off on their bikes and not tell anyone.  Little rats. 

 Cute little bike rider.

 Flying kites on the beach while we wait for the sun to show up.

 The kids found this log tepee on the beach, and played with it most of the time on Saturday.  Our camp ground was about a 5 minute walk up some stairs, so it was easy to get to everyday.

 The first night was so cold, I almost froze to death.  OK that's a bit drastic, but I was freezing.  The next night was pretty nice.  Even after we've lived in California a couple of years, it's still weird to travel to a beach and have it be chilly.  Most of the time it was nice and warm, so I can't complain........and the coast is so beautiful, so it's worth putting on a jacket.  At least we're playing at the beach in a jacket and not playing in the snow with a winter coat on, right?!

A couple days later, Ava's black eye got pretty sad looking. It was a fun camping trip. So glad we have good friends that invited us to tag along.