We spent our last week of freedom before school starts in Santa Cruz again. We left Sacramento's sizzling heat on Friday, August 28 only to arrive in Santa Cruz baking in 100 degree heat with no breeze. The next day's paper said they hadn't been that hot in 45 years. Lucky us! We got to sit in a house that felt like it was 90 with all the windows and doors open hoping and praying for even a whisper of a breeze. Luckily the house finally did cool down that evening.
Our boys got to spend 4 days with their older cousins Brady, Cole and Ethan, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Kim. When we weren't at the beach, the boys were lined up in front of the tv playing games on our old Xbox. Even the dads got in on the gaming action. Brandon discovered a snowboarding game that he's absolutely hooked on. He could have spent all day playing video games. Then there's Deets who knows the games are too hard for him, so he sits on the couch watching Brandon play all the while yelling at Brandon because Brandon isn't making the snowboarder do what he wants or Brandon is picking the wrong character to play or even the wrong coarse to race. Owen, on the other hand, is sitting on the couch next to D with the other game controller in his lap (unplugged) pressing buttons and thinking that he's playing the game. Big smiles from that one.
Most of our days were spent at the beach digging in the sand, playing in the water (I bet Cole is still pruny), searching for sea shells, eating (Owen: I hungry), or playing frisbee. Oh! And Brady tried out surfing. That was pretty cool to watch him get up on the board and see a smiling Vernon throw his arms up excited for his son. Many a hole was dug. Many a child disappeared into the holes. Many a bucket was filled with water...some dumped into the sand, others made into "rocket soup". This trip our kids became more comfortable playing in the waves. Dylan got knocked over, but managed to get up and play again. A much different story than the beginning of the summer. Brandon was rolling around in the waves, and Owen was confident enough to chase his brothers in the water without having to hold a hand. He'd always come right back to me and hold on when he was done running or if he saw a big wave coming. On our last day at the beach, we stuck the surf board in the sand and had the boys stand with grandma with a copy of Inside East Sacramento. I really wanted all 6 boys with their grandma in the paper together. One photo turned out pretty good, so I layed out the Our Readers Near & Far page today and placed it in the paper. I'll post a link when our October papers are up on our website.
We managed a little Boardwalk time, too. Brandon & Owen hit two separate jackpots on two different nights. Brandon hit a 243 ticket jackpot the first night, and Owen hit a 1000 ticket jackpot the second night. All three boys came home with big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stuffed toys. The cousins, Uncle Vernon and Russ played a game of laser tag, while my little ones pounded their way through the token bag. Poor Russ came out of the game just sweating bullets. He had to stand outside in the cool ocean night air for a good 20 minutes trying to cool down. The boys were all flush from playing tag and looked like they had a good time. I really wish I had my camera with me the second night because it was just adorable watching Dylan and Owen playing air hockey together. At one point Dylan slid the puck into his own slot just so grab it out of the bottom slot and put it back on the table. They played two games and Owen threw the biggest fit when he couldn't play a third game.
When my mom came down we drove down to the Santa Cruz wharf so she and the boys could see the seals. We were also hoping for a crab cocktail, but Stagnero was closed. Mom also really wanted to go walk in the woods so we took her to Nisene Marks. It's one of my favorite places because it's so huge and just beautiful. I also snapped a photo of mom with the boys with the Inside paper as well. I'm saving that one for a few months down the road. The boys were so excited to be in the woods, the last thing they wanted to do was stand still for a picture.
At the end of our trip, Scott Hanchen and his son, Avery, came down to help Russ work on the upper deck. We spent our last night at the house eating sushi and drinking ice cold beers. It was a busy, just plain fun trip. We got to be a family and just hang out (nevermind that I squeezed a little work in here and there).
Now that I'm back in town with the boys, they have been spending the night at mom's house because my cousin Marlyn, her mom and her family are here for the weekend. The boys have spent the last two days playing with their 2nd cousins, Samantha and Brittney. I've been working all day and spending the evenings at my mom's with my extended family. This last week makes me so thankful and feel so blessed that we all have such a large loving family. What more do you really need?
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