Santa Cruz Saturday

For the second SATURDAY of July, we spent the day with our Kester family at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk!

It was absolutely PERFECT weather for a Nor Cal beach. Sunny, no clouds, slight breeze but not windy, probably in the low 80's, and the sand was soft and warm :) Perfect conditions for Kate's first time at the ocean. The water of course was like ice water, so we didn't go swimming, but it was still refreshing to dip your toes in.

We came prepared with sunblock, sun hats, glasses, and flip flops. Kate just wanted to wear Olivia's flower glasses everywhere. She even traded for Judith's "big girl" glasses after a while. I guess her little white pair just didn't have enough flair :) Kate is all about the accessories.

Gavin was such a little flirt. Kate and Gavin had the best time playing in the sand! Kate loves to experiment and see how things react when she squishes or drops them. She had sand ALL over herself. Absolutely everywhere. In her ears, her hair, all over her face, and in every crack. Kids in diapers at the beach = no fun.

Seriously, taking 2 kids under 2 to the beach was A LOT of work.

Kate especially loved chasing the "chickens" (seagulls) and pointed them out to me where ever we went.

After about an hour to find parking (holy cats, that place was EXTREMELY packed. It was lunacy.) we stopped at the Dipper Diner for some corn dogs and fries. We ate lunch on the beachfront and played in the water while Jon tried to nap under our giant umbrella. All of the babies were surprisingly happy about the sand and moved about just fine!

BEST PARTS: experiencing California beach beauty with my favorite peoples and taking in all that Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy. There is nothing like driving through the Santa Cruz redwoods and the mountains just before hitting the gorgeous ocean waves. Absolutely beautiful.

WORST PARTS: leaving 30 minutes late due to our lack of packing well and having to turn back at Roseville to get all the water/snacks/food we had prepped for the day. Then it took about 4 hours to get to the beach because of nursing babies, traffic, turn arounds, and the fact that the Mystery Spot was full so we couldn't go there either. Luckily we were the second to last car let into the parking lot before they closed it off as being FULL for the day! (score) And there was also the fact that we had to carry the strollers across the sand to get to a sitting spot, which was ridiculous and resulted in some french fry casualties and ketchup on our blanket.

Overall, not a bad day for a double set of mini families to enjoy the California sun :)
Enjoy the pictures!