Crazy Beach Day!

 The whole family flew out to CA for President's Day weekend (courtesy of Grandma- Thanks!) to celebrate baby Caitlin being blessed. We were all SO EXITED to go to California for some warm weather, and to get away from Utah's dreary winter.

So, we all met at the airport, and the plane was delayed by an hour.  We got to CA, and it was raining- No, more like pouring great torrents of rain.  The rental car we had reserved wasn't at the lot, so they had to send for one. (we needed the big Expedition so we could all fit, and have room for our suitcases.)

We finally got to the hotel where we had reserved adjoining rooms for the kids, and they hotel said "oh we don't have any connecting rooms available. (hello! What does reservation mean exactly??)  They said "well we will have to upgrade you to a suite" and I am like, OK!  But they were all occupied too.  So we finally ended up in a room, where the King room was fine, but the boys room had some "Smelly Issues." But they didn't seem to mind.

Then, we all met for dinner at Kevin's house with all of the Smith's too.  It was sure fun to see everyone and have a good chat.  We had delicious pizza from Kevin's favorite local pizza parlor. Yum!

Saturday morning we all met for breakfast at Kevin's favorite local Breakfast spot.  They managed to squeeze us all in!  The kids had a great time at "their" table, and the adults enjoyed a few quiet minutes.  The food was amazing!

Then, we headed over the Santa Cruz mountains to go to the beach. Crazy, crazy people. It was cold and raining, and it was the only day that we had to go the beach. So, go we did.

On the way over the mountain, it started snowing!  All the Californians, stopped to take pictures. And we just threw it in 4-wheel drive and kept on going!  Maybe we should have stopped too! Just to prove it can snow in sunny CA!

When we got to Santa Cruz Boardwalk, it was closed of course.  But still good for a picture!

It was weird to see the rides all closed up. Kinda spooky!

Then, we drove down to Rainbow Bridge, so the kids could splash in the water.  Our goal was to go to the tide pools, but it was high tide, and raining.  So, we let the kids play until they turned absolutely blue, and then we ran back to the cars!

Grandma was just "one of the kids!"

Crazy Brett and Tom!

Kate found a treasure.

The "sensible" adults - with hoods and coats!

Topher searched for sea shells...

The Water Heroes!

Leah was content to dig in the sand.

Grandma and Grandkids

We stopped at a light house to check it out. It was filled with surf boards and surf board stories.

No trip to Santa Cruz is complete without a stop at Marianne's for ice cream.  The kids insisted we stop, even though they were freezing.  I guess a good scoop of ice cream can fix just about anything!