Detour to Santa Cruz

I flew from Seattle down to San Jose on Friday to meet my family for a week at a beach house near Monterey. Luckily, both of the past 2 flight segments went super smoothly- not bad at all! We arrived, rented a minivan, packed up a ton of stuff at mom's house, and were off to the beach. On the ride over, we saw a plume of smoke in the distance, and then when we reached Santa Cruz, traffic just stopped and fire engines were roaring by one after another. We found out on the radio that there was a big fire just off the side of highway 1, and they had closed down the road. Ugh! Not getting to the beach house so fast...

So we decided to spend the afternoon at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. It was a fun thing to do, except that it was 105 degrees. Literally. In Santa Cruz. It is never that hot there. Anyways, we had to have a long lunch in an air conditioned restaurant. Then Aspyn- my niece- played in the waves and we rode a few rides. Finally, around 9pm, we were able to drive down to the beach house.

It is an absolutely amazing place- the beach is right out the back door, and it is so beautiful. They also have a hot tub and pool that we've been spending loads of time in. We spent the weekend getting set up in the house, barbecuing, walking on the beach, and visiting Monterey. My friend Harpreet was able to come visit us as well, which was a great time.

Brian comes down tonight and Mike arrives on Tuesday. We're only sad that my brother Matt and his family weren't able to make it up from San Diego. But we're looking forward to a great week together.

On the Santa Cruz wharf, with the fire smoke in the background.
Caroline with her Oma and cousin Aspyn
On the rides at the boardwalk

Caroline with her uncle Todd