Santa Cruz 2016

 The Ray Family beach trip happened in Santa Cruz this year and it was a fantastic week of cool weather, beach time, pokemon walks, and hanging out. Sam and Peter spent most of their time digging in the sand.

 

But Andi spent most of her time boogie boarding. The little cove we were in was perfect for the kids. The waves were just their size.

  And I spent my time supervising the fun.

The pokemon walks were mostly done late at night, by the dads. But occasionally they'd let the older kids come along, or they'd be hatching eggs as we explored the area together. It got a little ridiculous, and the guys kept referring to things from a pokemon perspective.  Down the road from our houses was a great walking/biking path that ran along the cliffs, and a butterfly sanctuary, where we didn't actually see any butterflies.

 The best part about Santa Cruz is that 10 minutes from the beach and you are in the redwoods. One morning we took a steam engine ride through the forest and it was beautiful.

This place was fun and I think we could have spent the whole day there on the hiking trails. But there was a beach to get to, so we only stayed half the day.

 We also drove over the the Monterey Bay aquarium one day. That place was huge, and packed, so we really don't have any pictures from there. I spent the day following Peter around because he wouldn't look at a tank for more than 30 seconds. He did love the escalator and elevator though, and we rode those over and over again.

The dads took the oldest four kids to the boardwalk one night and rode rollercoasters till they were sick. Or pretty close to it. Andi has been talking about going to Magic Mountain for her birthday, but after a few crazy rides she's rethinking that plan.

But mostly we just enjoyed hanging out together for a week and eating way too much.

We attempted a family picture in our matchy t shirts, but it didn't turn out. Here's what we got instead.

It was a fabulous week, can't wait to do it again.