Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk August 2008

The beach boardwalk from the birds eye view on top

of the ferris wheel. You can see the fog moving in

for the night out over the ocean.

YUM! Oreos for dessert! Thank CostCo for wipes....lots

and lots of wipes!

Now this is unconditional love.....only a mom could

kiss a face like this!

Dad and Cam on the ferris wheel. Cam loved being up so high and looking

down at all the lighted rides. Anything round he called a 'ball'. This was

the end of the day so he is a bit worn out. I miss his curls!

John and Ellie

She said she has her tongue out pretending to get

ready to eat the clam just like the otter would.

She is a little hammy!

Cam and Ellie on the huge elephant seal. It was pretty windy and

cool and they both loved how warm the statues were!

This is called a Jeweled Starfish.

After Ft. Bragg, Ellie was an expert wave chaser. The tide started

to come in and a few sneaker waves caught her off

guard a few times, though. She loved that part, too!

Cam and his cool shades.....he finally gave the wave

chasing a shot and loved it.

John, Ellie, and Cam playing in the sand. Ellie and Cam

worked hard to dig this hole!

This is our tent and chairs and deck. KOA really is set

up more for trailer camping. Most of the people

who tent camped here were just staying one night

and traveling thru.

I am standing on our 'deck' to take this pic, looking down the line at our neighboring

campsites. Our decks are about 4 ft apart! How is this for a 'group site'? Ha ha! Well, this was our last big trip of the summer before Ellie started Kindergarten! We had a blast and will make this an annual trip for us. There is so much to do and it isn't too far to drive. We will stay at a different campground next time though. We need more room! We made our plans at the last minute so we didn't have options. We stayed at a KOA and while it was very clean and nice (a little fancy even!) our camping spot was seriously 20ft long by 10ft wide. The next site's tent was only a few feet from ours. It worked out fine as we left in the morning and came back at dark, but it still felt crowded. You got up to eat breakfast and had to say a good morning hello to your neighbor who was sitting just a couple feet away! It actually worked out to be a good thing this trip, however. We found we needed the comforts from home more than we had planned. We had electricity so we brought our heater which made the cold coast mornings and nights comfortable. The campground didn't allow individual fire pits (where would they fit them in?) but there was a big resort style area with a huge fireplace and comfy chairs to enjoy. The bathrooms were very, very fancy and had a very nice, free, hot showering area. There was laundry, a restaurant, internet access and even horse back riding all on site. Our first night there, I was giggling to myself about how spoiled we were at this campsite. Truly, I was thinking this could only happen in the bay area. When, as if God thought I needed to be more thankful and less funny, Cameron woke from his deep sleep and threw up everywhere! Suddenly, I was very thankful for the laundry, the electricity, and the already flaming huge fireplace with comfy chairs to sit and rock Cam in after enjoying the ease of the very nice, free, hot showers. He was totally fine by the next day. I was giggling a little less! But we had a great time. The kids loved the rides and the beach. Cameron braved the waves this time and loved running from them. He enjoyed the boardwalk rides as long as someone was with him, preferably his sissy. Ellie was a little disappointed as she wasn't quite tall enough for the biggest rides, which drew her in immediately when she saw them. She is our little thrill seeker, to be sure. Just as we were about to call it a weekend and head home, a kind lady in the parking lot offered us a ton of free ride tickets (her son didn't like the rides she found out too late). Who could say no? Back we went and ended up getting home about 11pm. It was well worth it!