Santa Cruz

We took a trip to Santa Cruz this past weekend.

We stayed from Friday until Tuesday, and would have happily stayed longer!  

I never wanted to come home (except for the sand everywhere thing, that gets old quickly).

We stayed in this cute little beach house right across from the wharf and boardwalk, so everything was in walking distance. It was perfect. Check out our view:

Pretty amazing.

I tend to get a little camera happy when we do new things, especially outdoors, and especially with my child.

So, please excuse the picture overload.

Anyway, we got to Santa Cruz in the late afternoon, and after unpacking everything we decided to walk along the wharf to see the sea lions.

I'm a sucker for sea lions, I love them. So did Kenna, she barked back at them each time they would "talk."

I love that serious face she gets when she sees something new... like she's soaking it all in.

After seeing the sea lions we chased the "beer-dies" around for a while and then ate dinner at a yummy seafood restaurant on the water.

My good little eater loved the calamari, salads, and clam chowder!

After dinner we took a walk down to the ocean.

I love the ocean... and I LOVE the ocean at sunset.

We let Mikenna put her feet in the water.

It was freezing, but since it was her first time at the ocean, we couldn't wait until the next day.

She LOVED the water. She would laugh, jump and dance each time a wave hit.

Favorite picture. Ever.

We had to pull her away from the water kicking and screaming.

After getting a much needed good night's sleep (I'm referring to you miss overtired Kenna), we ventured back to the beach the next morning. 

We spent a lot of time building sandcastles (or dumping the sand on our pants, either way) and playing in the water, then went for a walk on the boardwalk.

The excitement on Mikenna's little face melts my heart. She loved that ocean!

Heather, Randy, and the boys came up that night and stayed with us. 

We enjoyed more seafood (yum) and played on the beach together the next day.

Ok, so Heather and I laid on the beach while everyone else played. 

Laying on the beach with my sister while the boys played with the kids = best Mother's Day ever.

My beautiful sissy

Mikenna playing with her cousins :)

Jalapeno loved the beach too, see:

We jokingly buried him in the sand but he loved it. He almost fell asleep.

Such a weird dog, I love him...

Corn dogs and fries on the boardwalk are a must, I'm glad I could share these amazing things with my little.

Beautiful girl back at the house

We were supposed to leave the next day but decided to stay another day and take another trip back to the beach and then the boardwalk.

Would you want to leave this? Me either.

Grammy and Aitachi came to stay on our last night and we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach and dinner on the water.

Kenna and her "Gee" aka Grammy

Seeing things through the eyes of my little boo for the first time is amazing.

I can't wait for our next vacation together!