A Weekend Worth Remembering

After our last camping trip let-down about a month ago, we were due to have some fun.  This trip was an impromptu one, planned on Easter Sunday.  My husband really wanted to go camping Easter weekend, but we already had plans.  {Plus we moved to a rental house in December that is on 1/2 acre and I wanted to take advantage of our huge backyard for an Easter egg hunt, which we did.}  Talking about it with family on Easter, my sister-friend, Heather, decided she and her kids would go with us.  We knew we wanted to stay at the Santa Cruz KOA and made reservations right then and there.

We left on Friday afternoon, hoping that we would be traveling the opposite direction of the rain.  We did drive through patches of rain, but by the time we arrived in Santa Cruz the storm had passed.  Our campsite backed up to the playground which was very convenient.

The boys loved this play car, especially James!

Amada & John on the swing at Heather's cabin.

Friday evening after we set up camp, we drove down to the beach to watch the sunset.  And took advantage of all the stairs as this is one area James is working on in therapy.  We were a little slower than everyone else, but we made it!

The older boys found jellyfish that had washed up.  Unfortunately Johnathan can't stand anything that is slimy as it makes his gag-reflex work in overdrive.  He can't even *think* about it or he will throw up.  We headed back up to the car quickly while the older kids played for a few minutes.

The beach is my favorite place on Earth!

The campground also had this huge bouncing pillow for the kids.  There were so many kids on it and every time the older kids bounced, the younger ones either fell down or flew up in the air.

Of course we ended the night with a campfire and s'mores.

We decided that Saturday we would go to the Beach Boardwalk.  I had seen discount tickets at Costco so we purchased those ahead of time.  Boy did that turn out to be an excellent deal!  Two unlimited ride wristbands, as well as two additional attractions (bowling, miniature golf, laser tag, etc.) per person for $54.99.  {I wasn't aware of how many rides they had for the younger children or I would have bought wristbands for all of them as well.}  We arrived around 10:30am even though the Boardwalk doesn't officially open until 11am.  This gave us time to exchange our tickets for our wristbands and look at the map.  The older kids headed for Fright Fest and we took the younger ones to the rides.  This was great as there were no lines!

Amada was not very happy on her first ride.  I think she was upset that the boys weren't with her because as soon as we met up with them she was fine.  {Plug for homeschooling: Since your children are around each other more often, they learn to rely on each other and form stronger attachments with their siblings.}

Can you see a common theme?  The kids love pretending to drive.  I though these little Pepsi semi-trucks were so cute!! 

We stopped for a little snack and Amada found some flowers to admire.

  Next it was on to the Cave Train Adventure.  Johnathan was not too sure about this one.  He loves dinosaurs but was worried they were going to jump out at him.  And he is absolutely terrified of the dark.  I want him to be able to go on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland so this was a good trial run.  And he survived.

Daniel, Johnathan, & Alex

James & Heather

Amada and me (Love Daniel in the background!)

Then we met up with the older kids and Alex was able to go on some "big kid" rides.

After lunch, we decided to take a ride to the other side of the Boardwalk on the Sky Glider.  This was so scary for me.  I was riding with Amada and she kept wanting to scoot forward.  There was no lap belt and the gap between the seat and bar in front was wide enough for her to slip through.  I kept a firm grip on her.

 

Remember we also had tickets for additional attractions?  We were feeling a little wind-blown and sunburned at this point so we decided to go bowling.  That would give us a rest from the elements.  We also ate again.  Key to keeping the kids happy...feed them & keep them busy!

Now it was time to rest/relax on the beach.  After eating ice cream cones and doing a little shopping for the teenage girls, of course.  It was such a gorgeous day!!

Somehow we were still smiling when we arrived back at the car.

The next day while we were packing up and preparing to leave, Daniel rented bikes for the kids to ride around the campground.  Their smiles speak volumes!

This is definitely a campground we plan on visiting again in the near future and a weekend worth remembering!