Beach Day!

So, yesterday we had a super FUN family day. A few days ago my friend emailed and said "hey, we're thinking of going to the beach on Saturday, do you want to come?". My first thought was YES!!! But then, Matt's been helping roof his mom's house the last few weekends and they were hoping to finish up this weekend. So, I thought our chances of going were slim. But, I mentioned it to Matt anyway. He totally loved the idea, decided we all needed a break, and called his brother to tell him he could not help with roofing on Saturday. Thankfully, BIL needed a break, and MIL ended up having to drive to Utah to see her brother. So, in regards to the roofing project, it all worked out for us to go!

Saturday morning we left about 9:30ish, and headed over to Aptos beach Seacliff State Beach. We went with our friends the M's. They have 2 little girls, 3 and 5, that Mia and Mason just adore. M&M have only been to the beach a handfull of times, and they were all short trips. Once in LA on the drive home, and then a few times in Pismo area, but not ever to actually PLAY at the beach all day.

The kids were great on the drive over (about 2ish hours). We got to the beach about 11:45 and it was pretty crouded. We unloaded our things and Matt left to park the car. T helped me haul the kids and all our stuff to where they had already set up. Mia immediatly was so exicted and begand running from waved with the other little girls (K&K). Mason was scared of the waves. He did want his swim suit on, so imagine Mason in a Disney Cars swim suit, a blue and brown striped polo, and his blue and green rubber boots. :) So, for the first almost 2 hours Mason sat on the blanket and ate chips. Finally, when we were building huge sandcastles Mason started to enjoy himself.

The weather was perfect. It was actually mid 80's - which is not normal for Northern Half of CA beaches. I think 99% of the time I have been at a CA beach (north of LA) it has been cold, foggy or windy. But yesterday, it was perfect! Just as it was getting too warm a sligh breeze picked up and made it perfect. It was actually so warm that Matt decided to swim out in the water. He dove in and swam right out there. He was so cute. :) He really needed a break, and he needed to spend some quality time with me and the kids. So, we stayed there about 4ish hours, just enough for all 4 kids to really enjoy themselves, not be totally tired, yet in good enough moods still. It was the perfect amount of time.

So, we packed up, tried to clean off as much sand as possible (sand is the worse part of the beach IMO) and headed to the cars. We decided to head over to Santa Cruz and have a clam chowder bread bowl on the pier then go walk the Boardwalk. So, we ate dinner at a restaurant on the Pier. I had a cup of clam chowder (it was good!) and a cesar salad. Well, after another hour or 2, I realized that the clam chowder did not settle well with me! So, I did have some unpleasentness going on in my stomach. But, everything else was great. We watched the sea lions and sea otters (so cute). We walked over the the Boardwalk and decided to let the kids ride a few rides. We (kids and adults) all went on the kiddie roller coaster. Mason hated it! Poor guy, he's more into calm rides. Seriously, the lamer the ride, the more Mason likes it. Mia was OK with it, but wasn't too thrilled. The other girls, K&K, LOVED it. Then, we were going to let them all ride 3 small rides. We headed to the first, some little boats, and they all enjoyed that. Then, we go to some flying dragon ride and see - oh no, it's closed. Oh no! All the rides have closed!!! It was only 7pm and we had TONS of tickets left!!!! The kids were all really bummed and so were us adults. The whole place was shutting down. What has happened to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk??? As a teem I remember them being open late. We headed back to the cars, and een though all the kids were sad and tired, they did really well. We got M&M changed into PJ's and got them ready to go. Within 30 minutes on highway 17 they were both out asleep. And, somewhere on 580, I was out. Matt had an iced coffee and cola and he was good to drive all the way home. We got home about 10:30ish and all went to bed.

This morning, I am sunburnt (why didn't I think to put sunscreen on the top of my arms once I rolled my sleves up?). My legs are sore from all the walking. But, I'm still excited from the fun day!

Matt got up early to go golfing. He needs that too. He'll be tired......but he needs some nice fun things for himself right now.

Later today we hot to run to Costco and then get the kids hair cut. And I am washing all our sandy stuff from yesterday. :)