My friend Christy’s family is moving so she can go to grad school. Before they leave, they’re trying to do a lot of the things in California they’ve never done. Christy hadn’t been to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk since she was a pre-teen, so our family went with their family. We stayed in a small beach house about 3 miles away from the Boardwalk. We arrived Friday afternoon, after a 3 hour drive. The house was just a short walk from the beach.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Anika didn’t want to go near the actual ocean. She stayed in the lagoon.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Caitlyn and Jack walked right up to the ocean. So did I, with my amazing camera. How amazing? Look at this sail boat:
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Anyway, Jack and Caitlyn both loved running away from the surf as it came up on the beach.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Caitlyn was building a sand pyramid (we didn’t think to buy sand toys). She was squatting in the sand when a wave came up higher onto the shore than she was prepared for. When it hit, she fell flat on her bum. I’m sorry, but it was funny!
Moments later, karma got me when I went into the waves a little bit to get a picture, and I got wet to the knees. Too bad my capris were mid-calf. The cuffs ended up getting full of sand.
Caitlyn was cold – just because this is the California coast doesn’t mean it was 80 degrees. More like 60. So, I persuaded the children to sit on some real driftwood and pose for a picture.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Then we walked back to the house.
Max made us all a lovely barbeque dinner, followed by mini-carrot cakes from Trader Joe’s. The kids did not want to go to sleep, but sleep they did, eventually.
The next day, we headed to the Boardwalk…
Because there are so many pictures, I’m leaving this as a cliffhanger. Pun intended.
Holding to the Ground 