Santa Cruz Beach Trip

The weekend after we moved to Orem into Heidi and Jared's house for Sheldon's second rotation we packed our bags again for a week long vacation with my family to Santa Cruz. We had so much fun. My aunt Pam let us stay at her beach house which was amazing. It is beach front so we had a view I have never experienced before. Below her deck were boulders with waves crashing against them. She has a fire pit on her deck so we enjoyed many nights outside listening to waves crashing while we were seated around the fire. We only had to walk a few minutes to get to the beach and we spent a lot of time out there building sand castles and playing in the water. We also enjoyed the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We went for a train ride from the boardwalk to a nearby Redwood forest and also enjoyed the carnival rides on the boardwalk. We went to a bakery called Gayle's Bakery which was delicious. We also went to a mystery spot where supposedly gravity was defied, but later found out it was all an optical illusion. We also saw a nearby lighthouse, surfing museum, and a small aquarium. The kids loved all of it and it was so fun to be with my family enjoying such a beautiful place. We could see dolphins swimming outside our window from the beach house. Sheldon and I also enjoyed running along the coast. Overall it was an amazing and relaxing vacation. Exactly what we needed after our stressful move!!


This is what we were able to see when we walked down the stairs from the beach house. We had a lot of fun watching the waves come in and were always looking for the biggest wave to see if we would get sprayed.



We rode a train from the boardwalk to the forest. Jace loved the train ride and was so happy the whole time.

I love this pictures because it shows how massive the trees really are compared to our little Jace walking by them.




This bakery had the best fruit tart. I still dream about it. I wanted to go back again and again. But we all restrained and only went once. But I ordered two different desserts when we did go!!
Here's the view again from the "backyard" of the beach house.
My aunt had her beach house decorated really beautifully. Sheldon and I could look out our window from the room we stayed in and see the ocean. Amazing!!



This is where Sheldon and Thomas spent the majority of their time.
We opted for the beach more than the ocean. It was cold and we enjoyed just playing in the sand.
My mom bought two matching swim outfits for the little boys and they looked so cute!!


Here's the Mystery Spot. Supposedly Cali is standing crooked and the house is straight up. But we found out it's really the other way around, or something like that. They had lots of other optical illusions like balls rolling up hill. It was fun to experience it.


We went for a little hike after the mystery spot. The kids loved it.
Our last day at the beach it was really cold. We were lucky to have so many warm days before that.
We celebrated my mom's birthday while we were there. I'm glad we could be there for that!
Our last day we drove to aunt Pam's house and went swimming. Then we got ready and headed for the airport. We had a great time!!