"From the Mountains...to the Oceans White with Foam..."

God certainly did bless our travels this summer!  The time off has gone lightning fast and I think back on some of the cool stuff we got to see: canyons and crevices in New Mexico, Redwood forests in Mount Hermon, snow-capped mountains in Mammoth, and a churning ocean, home to wildlife galore this past week on the Central Coast.  It was a wonderful decision to conclude our summer with one last getaway, just the 4 of us, to soak in some epitome-of-summer activities.

  

We visited a string of 4 different beaches at Moss Landing, Aptos, Capitola and Santa Cruz, finding different treasures at each: jaw-dropping wildlife, fun beach play, scenery, surfers, etc.

We attempted to get this year's Christmas card picture one night.  Above and below are some shots to tease you.

We strolled along the Boardwalk WITH Dave for a change!  Since we already did rides at the beginning of summer at Mount Hermon, we just took in the sights and sounds this time.  And ate corn dogs and ice cream for lunch!

The girls were most excited to just play, so we spent one afternoon jumping waves and getting buried in sand holes.

A church friend was kind enough to let us borrow her boogie boards for this little trip, so we could test out if this was a summer ocean activity we wanted to invest in.  Dave went first, making it look so cool and fun.

But, when Delia went to try with him she was "tackled" (to use her word) by this huge wave.  She came out looking like a swamp creature-- covered in sand and tiny shells and with a bit of kelp even hanging off of her.  She was scared and wouldn't go back in the ocean after this.  Ella understandably wouldn't try either.  We will not be buying our own boogie boards.

A little snack and some snuggling fixed everything!

We also had to make a visit to our favorite ice cream place.  We tested the behind-the-counter girl's patience as we slowly made our choice from a board of 50 options.  We all went pretty classic, though flavors like cantalope, lavender, pina-colata, salted caramel, and s'mores were sampled or considered!

We did head back to Santa Cruz a second time.  The girls got to play on the obstacles that were left from an adventure race that was run the day before.

  

Then we tried out the neatest mini-golf course ever on the Boardwalk.  Delia called it "pirate golf" for all the cannons that kept going off and animated pirate guys.  We especially liked the 3 holes that were "underwater" and lit with black lights.

One last thing that made this little getaway really nice was the great hotel we stayed in.  It had gorgeous grounds and gardens and a great pool that the kids loved nestled in the middle of them.  Breakfast was included and we ate each morning outside by the waterfall and koi pond.

We are down to less than one week of summer left and most of those days are full of teacher inservice for me.  I think this time to relax on the beach and soak in 3 full days of quality time with each other was just what we all needed to bid farewell to another stellar summer and start our school year fully charged.