Down by the Bay

This weekend we decided to check out the Golden Gate bridge. To reach it, we had to drive through the heart of San Francisco. As you can imagine, that was less than fun. When we finally reached our destination everyone was quite happy to get out of the car and find a place to eat our picnic lunch.

It was a really fun area to be. It's a huge park with a tiny beach, tons of grassy areas, and lots of bike/walking paths. We looked through a small visitor center and then found an open picnic table to chow down.

After energizing ourselves we walked towards the bridge. It was the perfect chance to try out my new Fit Bit. We did lots of walking. There were plenty of great photo opportunities along the way. Forgive the plethora of pictures. It was a beautiful day.

(ready to get my steps in)

We had a great time watching the big waves roll into the rocky shore. We even saw a couple of sea lions. There was a small pier that you could walk out on and see the bridge from the water. It was really gorgeous up close.

Our destination was Fort Point. It is the brick structure that you see in the pictures just below the bridge. It is the only all brick fort on the west coast, and was designed to defend the bay from invaders. The Fort itself was pretty neat to walk through. There were several floors with different exhibits about the past as well as how they continue to maintain the bridge today. I thought it was pretty interesting. On top of the fort was where the cannons used to sit. We were able to walk up there for some truly amazing views.

It was a perfect day. We did tons of waking, but it was great. The weather was gorgeous. It was only a tad cold on top of the fort, where the wind was pretty strong. It would be fun to go back with bikes, shade, and food to BBQ.

New state, new school, first day

We are the Cheetahs! All 3 kids in the same school. I never thought this day would come. All those years of diapers, babies, pre-k stuff.....over. I have to admit that I do feel some sadness about this. As I watched a couple of other kinder moms bawling their eyes out, I felt a moment of tears. This was my baby. No more first days of kindergarten. Our lives have forever changed. It is hard to say goodbye to stages of life.
I am also excited. This marks the beginning of a new stage. One where all of the kids are in school. When this stage ends I will be VERY sad. But for now I am ready. Ready to celebrate each day as much as possible. These kids of mine are all amazing individuals and I can't wait to see the great things they will do. Here's to another great school year. For us, it means a new state, new school, and meeting new friends. Although it is hard at first, we are staying optimistic.

Santa Cruz

We had promised the kids a day at the beach before school started, so it was time to deliver. Upon recommendations from locals, we decided to checkout Seabright Beach which is adjacent to the main Santa Cruz beach. We were pleasantly surprised that it only took us an hour and twenty minutes to get there. Not bad at all.
We walked down to the water and found a nice patch of warm sand to lay on. It was very relaxing! We had a picnic lunch, played in the sand, ran through the water, and even saw a dolphin. The beach itself was really nice. The sand was soft and clean, there were lifeguards on duty, bathrooms nearby, and it wasn't very crowded. The beach also had big fire pits. We'll have to try that out sometime.

We saw tons of sailboats and sea kayacks.

It was really pretty! After we had our fill of sand, we headed to the car to explore the boardwalk area and downtown Santa Cruz. Parking was difficult but eventually we found a spot. We stopped in the Conservation center which has some fun interactive displays about the area and wildlife. It's free admission and it's worth the 10 minutes of exploring. 

After that we hiked out to the end of the wharf. It is really, really long. I was surprised to see they let cars drive out there. It had all kinds of shops, stands, restaurants, fishermen, and even sea lions. We watched a few of the sea lions fight over the best place to lay. It was entertaining. We saw the boardwalk from a distance. They have tons of rides and we didn't want to get to close on this trip. Maybe another time we will splurge and do rides all day. It seemed like a really fun place.

After all of the walking around we were pretty hungry. What better than some fresh fish? We stopped at a small restaurant in town and it did not disappoint. The Water Street Grill was delicious! My fish n chips were made with red snapper and were super tasty! It was a great day at the beach! 

White Lightning

Soccer has started again in full gear. Grace was excited for her first game of the season on Saturday. Her team is the White Lightning. I think it's fun that in this league, all of the teams make a banner to display at all of the games. The coach also made it extra fun with a small "bolt" for the kids' faces.

We are still getting used to the way things are done here, and soccer is no exception. Grace is playing on a much larger field than she was used to and they are doing throw ins and corner kicks now. Although our team was trounced on Saturday, the girls seemed to have a good time. It has been nice for Grace to meet a few girls that go to her school. One girl on the team is even in her class. Here's to a great fall soccer season!

Camping

We have now camped as a family in Utah, Oregon, Virginia, and now California. We went to Del Valle Regional Park which has a big reservoir and campground. It was pretty last minute so we were only able to get a site for Wed and Thurs nights. It was perfect! The campground was about 11 miles from home and plenty secluded. We saw deer, tons of birds, a raccoon, and squirrels galore. It got a bit hot during the day, but thankfully there was a swimming area to cool off at.

Unfortunately, this nice beach area was made up of small pebbles. Kinda painful on the footsies.

The kids didn't seem to mind.

We spent tons of time around the fire. Making smores, talking, and playing games.

The desert hills. Pretty dry and hot. We had some nice shade though.

On our second day we went to the other end of the lake and rented pedal boats. We had a good time pedaling into the wind. It made for a great work out. Afterwards we hit up the other beach area for swimming. Overall we had a lot of fun together. It would have been the perfect place to camp with bikes, but we were without the van so we had to pack super light. We had this little rental jeep and we could barely fit the essentials in it. We'll have to try again another time when we can bring all of the gear.

Jelly Belly

On Saturday we decided to make the drive to Fairfield, CA to see the Jelly Belly Factory. Tours are free and you get to see where and how they make their famous candies. It's interesting, but the kids got a bit bored. Thankfully at the end they hand out free samples. They really get you though in the giftshop. How can you not purchase several pounds of tasty jelly beans? Especially after thinking about them for the last hour. Naturally we succumbed and came home with a few bags of their most interesting flavors. We also discovered an amazing treat in their chocolate and fudge shop. I'm not sure how to describe it other than a ball of chocolate, peanut butter, rice krispie, and marshmallow goodness. It was big enough for the whole family to share and it was heavenly! Note to self, if we ever go back we need more of these for sure.

No pictures were allowed on the tour, so we didn't get much. It was a fun day though. On the drive home we drove through this cool arch of trees.

We came home and relaxed. Finally got to use our hot tub. It's been a giant pain to get the thing up an running. It still isn't perfect. Thankfully though it was good enough to try out. Those jets felt super good!