Summer Vacation

We had so much fun last week!  Derek had a week of vacation, and some of our very best friends from Seattle, Nate and Connie Bittner, came to stay with us.  They have two boys (Bryce and Cael) who are about the same age as ours, so we found fun, kid-centric things to do all week. We first visited the Santa Cruz beach and boardwalk.  Traffic was pretty brutal getting up there, but we had a great time when we finally made it.    

The whole group!

Santa Cruz beach.  It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect!  The boys loved playing in the waves and building sand castles.

The water was freezing, though!

Derek and the boys.

The boardwalk  has lots of fun rides that are just the right size for our kids.  Jason was pretty serious about piloting his helicopter.

This is the best ride ever!!!  Yeah, I look like a dork.  Jason was in the car in front of us and I was trying to get him excited about riding the rides.  Maybe I'll tone it down a notch next time :).

We went out on the beach that night and built a campfire.  It was awesome!

The cutest family!

Liaus at the beach!

We were excited to introduce the kids to the magic of smores.

"Are these things supposed to taste like sand?"

Brett's marshmallows always disappeared before they could be assembled into smores.

Connie and Cael.  It was way past a few little boy's bedtimes, but we all survived.

Brett was so tired he was silly (which is better than cranky!)  He kept cracking up for no reason :).  He must have been on a marshmallow high.

We hit the beach again in the morning.

How do you make Brett even cuter?  Put him in some bear ears!

Early morning beach.  It was so pretty out there.

Jason loved collecting shells.

We visited the aquarium that afternoon.  The kids enjoyed the jellyfish and seahorse exhibits.  

Back at home.  Bryce has a birthday coming up so we had a little early celebration.  Look at those silly boys.  All four of them were trying to blow out the candles and take off each other's hats and stick their fingers in the cake.  It was a party!

The next day we went to Gilroy Gardens, our favorite amusement park.

Brett was not too sure about the swan boat.

Paddle boat race!

Nate paddling away like a champ :)

And, of course, the requisite Dippin' Dots.  

We had so much fun with the Bittners!  We were sorry to send them back home.  It was so nice to have Derek home all week, too.  Hurray for summer vacations!