Happy Birthday to Me

This year my birthday was overshadowed by Dave's big Four-oh. It didn't help that mine fell on a Monday. But in all the pictures from my birthday - you won't find a single one with me in it.

The Saturday before we drove down to Santa Cruz and spent the day at the Boardwalk.  We love hanging out at the Boardwalk.  And while the weather reports said it would be cold and overcast - we found the exact opposite!

We started out with the beach having a picnic and then hitting the waves - I admit it was awesome to soak up the sun and do some reading while the boys played in the waves.

After a while we hit the rides.  I only got the wristbands for Dave and Drew (gotta love the 2-pack at Costco).

Drew saw one of the newer roller coasters and was finally tall enough (and brave enough) to attempt it.

The boys in line for the "new" roller coaster

And if you look carefully you can see Dave and Drew in the front of this "new" roller coaster.

Then Drew was happy to hit up a few "kiddie rides".

But he announced he was ready to tackle the log ride again!  We suckered him onto it when he was 4 and he's never let us take him on it again.  When you're "six-and-three-quarters" clearly you're more brave.

But the highlight of Dave and Drew's night was playing Mini Golf - which comes with the Costco wristbands (well several activity options, Drew just likes the Mini Golf). 

This course took TWO HOURS for the boys due to it being so packed.  Apparently they had a really cool couple following them, and the guy told Drew every so often - "If you get a hole in one here I'll give you five bucks."

Guess what on the 18th hole- Drew did it!!

First thing that happened is the Boardwalk gave Drew a free pass for the next game.


And then the guy lived up to his work and handed Drew a five!


Oh but that's not the end of this story... the same couple razzed Dave then about the pressure being on him.  Dave said something that it can only happen once per household.  Well guess what - that's not true.  Dave also got the hole in one, and got the free mini golf pass for his next visit!


Unfortunately he wasn't promised the same $5 wager.

When they finally found me after 9pm - I was beyond famished.  So we walked back to the card headed to our annual pizza stop at Woodstock's.  Where Drew proceeded to eat only 2 slices (which isn't much for him) before he passed out cold.


Not only is pizza at Woodstock's a tradition, but so is passing out in the same booth.

And see - I wasn't kidding. Not one picture of me on my birthday.  It was still a lot of fun, and yes I really was there.

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Beach Wedding

It took for a cousin from Minnesota to get married for us to attend our first beach wedding.  While it was a destination wedding for them - Minnesota to California - it was a 2 hour drive and an overnight stay for us.  And memories to last a lifetime!

At the end of June, here was the ceremony location - Asilomar State Beach

Cutie before the ceremony

Daddy & Drew

Family Photo Courtesy Jodi

After an amazing ceremony we shuttled back to the reception site in Pacific Grove (Monterey).

The Sisters
L-R: Aunt Ardy, Aunt Connie, Grandma Geri

 And then we tried to recreate a family photo from my wedding (more cousins for this one)

Front L-R: Lauren, Grammy Kathie, Me
Back L-R: Katie, Jodi, Grandma Geri, Aunt Connie, Linda (Mother-of-the-Bride), Kristen (Bride), Sandy, Aunt Ardy

My Handsome Guys

Awesome "Guest Book"
Fingerprints with your name on the "leaves"

Daddy & Drew dancing

 It was really special that the Pastor who married my cousin, was also the Pastor who married Dave and I... nine years ago!

Dave, Drew & I with Pastor Karen

The next morning we left Drew with Grammy and GrampC and Dave and I embarked on one of my all-time favorite training runs... through Monterey.

Dave & I at the 1/2 way turnaround
The Dunes

After the run we cleaned up, grabbed breakfast and then ventured down to Cannery Row (Monterey) to check things out.

Drew's first trip to Cannery Row

Bubba Gump with Dave & Drew

Ice Cream on the Brain

We had a wonderful time at the wedding and just staying cool (it was in the 100s at home).  It's always great to have a "family reunion" for a happy reason.

Beach Boy Birthday

For those that pay attention or have followed along, you know that Drew has a September birthday and that rather than give him presents, we prefer to give him memories and do something fun for his birthday.  Last year we let him pick where he wanted to go for the first time, and our little beach boy said Santa Cruz (we had just gone for Dave's birthday and he had a blast).  So when we asked where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do he first said "Go go Embassy Suites" but then relented and said he wanted to go to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

The weather was a little cooler than we would've liked - even overcast for the first part of the day.

But Drew tried to brave the chilly water anyway.  He got a few toes in but that's about it.  He preferred to play frisbee in teh sand and eat the picnic we brought.  After a bit we talked him into doing some rides.  We bought 2 wrist bands from Costco.

I did the rides with him this year because Dave hurt his knee in softball and he wasn't sure how well his knee would hold up all day riding rides.

First up, the Ferris Wheel.

A view of Dave from the Ferris Wheel line

The view of the Boardwalk from the top of the Ferris Wheel...

The beach from the top of the Ferris Wheel...

... and the other side of the boardwalk.  Thankfully the sun started to come out while we were waiting in line.


Drew on the Cave Adventure ride.


Here we are ready to go in...

 

Dave did get a chance to ride a few rides... I don't do spinny.

 

 

Drew and I on the "kiddie" freefall ride.

 

And then Drew and I took a spin on the carousal... Dave waited for the next round.  He wanted to shoot the rings at the clown and those spots were already taken.


Mommy got to take a turn on the Giant Dipper for the first time in years.  Possibly since I was a Senior in High School.


While I was on the Giant Dipper the boys were playing mini-golf.


And we had a great day at the Boardwalk and caught the shuttle back to our car. Not before being blessed with a beautiful view overlooking the boardwalk.


Once we got to our car we headed off to our traditional pizza dinner at Woodstock Pizza.

And the traditional post dinner snooze from the soon-to-be birthday boy.

We just love our Santa Cruz adventures.  It would be great if we could squeeze in one more day at the beach.
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Back to the Beach

Every year for Drew's birthday present we do an event - rather than give him a gift.  This year we played it cool (and inexpensive) and took him back to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - where we also celebrated Daddy's Birthday.  Since I'm a little late in getting blogs posted, this trip was almost a month ago.

This time the big hit of the day was Drew chasing waves.  I think he did this for about three hours!

We did take a break from the waves to eat a picnic lunch.

And at least we don't bury our heads in the sand... although sometimes I wish I could.

And then it was back to wave chasing...

Needless to say the chilly waves won and after pulling/rolling up his pants for 2 hours we finally decided would could be those "klassy" people and let our 5 year old run around a public beach in his underwear.

Clearly Drew wasn't phased.

Our attempt at a family picture.

We did make it for a few rides - we had some leftover tickets from the Boardwalk the month before.  Drew was adamant he only wanted the kiddie rides, not the Log Ride this time.

Back by popular demand, after the Boardwalk we hit up the same pizza joint in Santa Cruz for dinner.  We of course had the same result - food coma.

I think our 5 year old had a BLAST.  He still talks about his days at the beach.  Perhaps we'll need to make more trips next year  - and hopefully getting warmer weather.