Henry Eating Ice Cream

The last night we were in Santa Cruz we treated ourselves to Marianne's Ice Cream. We had heard that it was a locals favorite and not to be missed. While enjoying our ice cream we all remarked at Henry's facial expressions. Whenever he eats anything that is cold or sweet (or both) he makes the most awful face like we are torturing him. Then he opens his mouth and wants more.

Pictures from Santa Cruz

The opinons about Santa Cruz were unanimous. The best part of the trip was "playing with our cousins" or "spending time with the family". The 2nd best part was "going to the beach"! We had a great time in Santa Cruz and hope we can go back in a year or two.

Santa Cruz Beach House!

We are in Santa Cruz! The whole family!

This year Jason and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and my parents will celebrate their 45th! Earlier in the year my mom and I were talking about how to celebrate and we thought a family vacation was in order. In previous years we've had wonderful trips to Hawaii, but that just wasn't in the cards this year. Finances are tight with the addition of Henry and the recent remodel, and time is short with so many people trying to coordinate schedules. We knew we wanted to be close to the ocean, so we looked at places we could go in California. Mendocino was crossed off the list since it was too far for John and the boys to travel. Point Reyes was considered but we finally decided on Santa Cruz. It is only about 30 minutes from Los Gatos so we hoped that John and the boys could at least sneak away for a few days to meet us. It worked out that we found a house to rent that is big enough for everyone and within walking distance to the beach AND the Boardwalk!

For the last few months we've looked forward to the big day! The kids (and I) love spending time with the twins and we looked forward to all being together just as much as we looked forward to being at the ocean. We've talked about what we could do and decided on the beach, the boardwalk and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Yesterday, after Meet Your Teacher Day, we loaded up the car and headed down the coast. After a quick stop at In-N-Out for lunch, we headed down to Santa Cruz. Our GPS tried to send us on a wild goose chase, but for the most part we out smarted it and arrived in town after only a slight detour. We found the street and Grampa was standing out front. We made quick work of unloading the car and then found Mays and Dallas with Grammie in the 3rd floor loft. Up there we found Pillow Pets!

The afternoon and evening were spent playing with our cousins and taking a quick trip to the beach. The beach is only a short walk away and it is beautiful! Unfortunately we can't really see the sunset from the house, but we might find somewhere to see it tonight.

God's Awesome Creation

One of my most fond memories of a family vacation is from our first trip to Hawaii with Emma Jo. She was just under 2 years old. The whole family went to Maui and rented a condo on the beach. We had a great time shopping, eating, swimming and exploring the island. Each of those act ivies were great, but my favorite part of the vacation was my early morning wake up call from Emma Jo.

Early each morning, Emma and I would be among the first people up. (I imagine that Grampa was already up, but I don't really remember. I think he was because I remember that coffee was ready.) Anyway, Emma and I would grab her blanket and walk out onto the lanai. We would sit in a rocking chair, cover up in the blanket, and watch the waves crash on the shore. I remember sitting there in peaceful quiet, watching the waves, listening to the water and the birds, and feeling the warmth of Emma on my lap. She would just snuggle in and let me absorb the wonder of God's amazing creation and his great gift of my beautiful daughter.

I've remembered those moments and that feeling for the past 10 years.

On our recent camping trip, I was blessed with another similar experience.

Henry is not a very good sleeper (similar to Emma Jo). He wakes 2 or 3 times on a good night and is up for hours at a time on a bad night. In anticipation of a lack of sleep on our camping trip, Jason bought a camp rocking chair. After we set up the tent we realized that although our tent is huge, it just wasn't big enough to have the rocking chair inside the tent. Thankfully I brought a down comforter that Henry is used to being covered with while rocking.

The first night of our camping trip, Henry woke up around midnight. I wasn't able to nurse him back to sleep in the bed, so I grabbed him and the blue comforter. I wrapped the comforter around both of us and crawled out of the tent to the rocking chair. It was set up right outside the tent under some massive redwood trees. The campground was fairly quiet and dark except for the huge stars that could be seen between the trees. I sat in the rocking chair, nursed Henry and wondered at the beautiful night. The sounds were different from Hawaii but the feeling was much the same. It was a feeling of serenity, wonder, amazement and peace. How blessed was I to get to enjoy this wonderful creation and this miraculous child?

Our second night camping while I would have loved it if Henry had slept through the night, when he did wake up I didn't dread rocking him back to sleep. Instead I was happy to have a 2nd time to rock and reflect on the wonder of it all.

We're leaving on a Jet Plane!

Well, actually we are driving in a truck and Yukon up the coast, but we are going on vacation! We haven't been on a family vacation in 2 years! All vacation plans went out the window last year when we found out Henry was on the way. This year we have two family vacations planned. The first one starts today.
In a few hours we will load up the vehicles and head up to Leggett and the Eel River. We will be going to "family camp" with our church. This is an annual adventure but the first time we have participated. I'm looking forward to the camping trip with a little bit of dread. While I loved camping as a kid I'm a little bit nervous about being the adult in the situation. We've never gone camping with the kids. I think they will love it but I'm wondering how much work Henry will be. Eating dirt won't hurt him, right?
I'll post pictures when we return, but in the mean time you can pray for our safety and my sanity.

Spring Break - Day 5 - Schoolhouse Beach - Bodega Bay

I promised the girls that on our last day of Spring Break we could have a picnic in Bodega. The kids are amazed that the beach is so close to us and yet we never go. After a lazy morning, we headed to the store to pick up a picnic lunch and some sand toys. We took the scenic route along the Russian River and headed towards the ocean. The first glimpse of water near Goat Rock was as magical as ever. It made we wonder why we don't do this more often.

We drove along the coast taking in the crashing waves and blue sky and tried to decide which beach we should visit. We finally settled on Schoolhouse Beach. It had rock that the waves could crash on but the surf was fairly mild where it finally hit the beach. We were very aware of Grampa's worry that someone was going to be swept out to see by a rogue wave.

We set up our blankets, ate our lunch, played in the surf and sorted rocks for the best ones to bring home. I loved how each of the girls personalities shown through how they played on the beach. Emma Jo wanted to be as close to the water as she could without being too close and having Mommy tell her to move. She jumped over the waves and played in the surf. Grace on the other hand would turn and run if the water was within 6 feet of her. She did get wet on the first wave but a couple of drops got on her skirt which signalled the end of her water play.

We had talked so much about how Grampa was worried someone was going to be hurt that on our way home, as soon as we got to Sebastopol and had cell phone service, Grace called Grampa to let him know that we were all safe and on our way home.

Spring Break - Day 4 - Academy of Sciences

On Thursday, the girls and I headed to San Francisco to visit the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Emma Jo had been here for a field trip last year, but it was a first trip for Grace and I. We made arrangements to meet one of Emma's classmates down there.

The Academy of Sciences was re-done in recent years and it is a very interesting place. One could easily spend all day there looking at all of the exhibits. We were there for almost 5 hours and that was about all I my feet and legs could handle. We'll have to plan on going back after the baby is born.

While we were there we got to watch a movie in the planetarium dome about the life of stars. It was very cool to see realistic representations of the milky way and the formation and ending of stars. We also got to walk through the rain forest. The girls were disappointed that there were very few butterflies in the exhibit, but there were lots of birds including a Macaw that squawked the entire time we were in there. The aquarium was also a hit. It definitely isn't as big at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but the displays are really neat and we were able to see many different kinds of fish and sea life.
The only part of the Academy of Sciences which we were all on the fence about was the "Extreme Mammal" exhibit. It is the newest exhibit and very odd. It featured mostly extinct animals with extreme features. Most were too bizarre to comprehend.