i was actually able to wake up at 7:00 to go walking--yay me! finally got a chance to walk around downtown Capitola (though of course none of the stores were open) but still fun to look at shop windows. not possible to do this with young kids in tow. tomorrow, i gotta remember to bring some cash and get some coffee :-)
we spent the morning & early afternoon at the beach (10:00-3:00). our cottage comes with access to a local, gated beach. the stairs are a pain but it's nice to have your own private beach! lots of seaweed, but also lots of shells to collect. i'm not really into shells but it's fun to have a "job" to do. max was much warier of the water today! he didn't really warm up until after lunch. sophie doesn't go out in the water much but she was actually braver and didn't want help when the waves bumped into her (she used to cling to anyone around her). alex & max spent most of the time digging in the sand.
the weather was perfect! sun was shining; water was cold but you get used to it. no more nature today but found a couple of really large shells. paul chatted with this old dude surfer--he was 86 years old!!!! been surfing since 1939!!!! he was kinda shaky walking, but fine out in the water--wow!
after the beach, lots of clean-up of course--sand is so pervasive. we let the kids watch a little TV and then an early dinner of hotdogs. then went down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk--it was 75 cent night with all the rides at 75 cents. of course the place was a zoo! but still it was manageable. the kids were a little cranky 'cos they didn't have naps but were ok considering. it helped that cotton candy was also 75 cents! so spent $10 on parking, $15 on tickets, $1.50 on cotton candy and $7 on a caramel apple & fudge (that's mostly for me :-)
we went on the baby roller coaster (paul's choice--or rather, he got to ride it, and not me); the really boring Cave Train (max's choice of course); paul & alex went on the car ride; and sophie went on the Red Baron ride all by herself! the boys didn't want to go on it (or rather alex didn't want to go on it so max didn't). then we took the sky tram to the other side and the 3 kids went on the Speedway ride by themselves :-) fun but exhausting!
got back at around 9:00; alex said he was still hungry so paul made a dish of nachos & pulled pork and the kids just devoured it--made 3 helpings for them! it's 10:20 now and i think the kids are actually asleep! last night it took almost 1-1/2 hours for them to fall asleep but they should be pretty exhausted.
oh, and the quilting refers to how i actually did a little sewing on my dresden plate block while waiting in line for the aforementioned boring yet popular Cave Train ride. got a whole blade done! i've also been able to do a little hand-sewing back in the cottage. last night paul crashed at around 10:30 but i wasn't sleepy so stayed up 'til midnight listening to podcasts (Annie Smith) and working on the Pop Garden. hopefully will get a couple more rows on by the end of the week.
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