Back to Manresa

Our second trip to Manresa State Beach may just go down as the best beach day yet for this little family.  The weather was beautiful, the waves were perfect, and there was just so much fun to be had.

Minutes after arriving Noah and Luke were covered in sand.  They couldn't wait to start digging and playing.

They were quite the sand babies, especially Luke who was sporting his own little sand beard for most of the day.

I looked down after hearing Noah say, "Hey Mom, look!  I'm making a sand angel!"

That sand angel prompted him to start burying himself in the sand.

But he soon realized this was not a one kid job and some additional sand diggers were needed.

So, he called on Grandpa, and Grandpa sure came through with the burying.

This boy was all smiles and laughter through the whole thing.  

He was also very particular about making sure none of his skin was exposed and that he was completely buried.  When the job was completed to his satisfaction, Noah had no interest in moving.  He just hung out with his 'sand blanket' as he called it for a while and continued smiling and laughing.

 

Eventually he did decide to unearth himself and headed into the ocean with Nate. 

 But then, as would be expected, he was back to working in the sand in no time. :-)

All of the men in the family took advantage of the perfect waves and spent a lot of time in the ocean. 

 

Nate did take a break for a little while to fly the kite another time.  

 Luke tried out his boarding skills on land first.

 And then with Nate's help, he caught a tiny wave and rode it in.

I was proud of that little two year old for giving all of it a try in the cold ocean.

These happy kids and their happy faces sum up the day. It was just perfect in every way!

Roaring Camp Railroad

I had heard about Roaring Camp from a few friends and it seemed like the perfect adventure for our train loving boys.

Admittedly, I teared up as we drove in the parking lot and thought about these boys' train loving Papa who would have loved to be the one explaining the ins and outs of a steam train.  But I have no doubt that he smiled that day seeing Noah and Luke having so much fun with trains, something that is practically part of the Hall DNA.

  Everything during our trip was more fun with cousins!

Luke liked the train itself, but hated that steam train's noisy whistle.

Nate and I took turns holding our hands over his ears for almost the entire ride.  Whatever it takes, right?

Roaring Camp was a great adventure! It was beautiful taking a ride through the redwoods, but even better was watching the excitement Noah and Luke had as they rode on their first real steamer.  We'll definitely be back!

Monterey!

The fun started at one of our favorite places -- The Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

Grandma was awesome and made us a group reservation so we got in a little early at our own entrance, which was conveniently far away from where everyone else came in.  We started with the Jellies Experience.  Talk about interactive and fun.  All of us especially loved being able to finger paint jellies and then send them up to the large screen to float in the 'ocean.' 

I don't know how many creations we each made, but since that area was still practically empty, we definitely took our time. 

That's Noah and Nate's creation on the left and Luke's "I do it myself!" creation on the right.  Love that independent spirited kid.

The next few hours were spent touching, interacting and observing all kinds of sea life. 

Noah remembered the eels from last time and was excited to find them again.  Looking back, this is a day when I definitely wish I had taken more pictures, but we were all having so much fun looking and exploring together that my hands were busy doing other things. 

We squeezed a few cousins into that clam shell for some extra cuteness.

The boys each left the aquarium with a new stuffed animal.  Noah chose a squid who, according to him, would be able to sleep in his bed and squirt ink at any enemies.  He went back and forth between naming it 'Evil' or Chloe, but ultimately settled on the first one.  And then I was reassured with, "Don't worry Mom, he's actually nice."  Luke came home with a sea turtle and wasted no time naming him Cuckoo.  Evil and Cuckoo.  I love these boys and their creativity.

 After the aquarium we drove over to Denace the Menace park.  Noah is a big fan of the bumpy slide.

 Luke was a little unsure of the suspension bridge but found lots of other places to climb and play.

We love this simple city park and it seems to be a bit of a tradition to stop there when visiting Monterey.

 After playing we met up with all of the family for dinner in Carmel and then headed back to Santa Cruz.  It was another perfect vacation day!

Manresa: Take One

After a big day at the Boardwalk our morning moved slow, which was a pace that all of us agreed with.  By the time afternoon rolled around we found ourselves at Manresa State Beach.   There were rip tide warnings all week.  In fact, as we arrived a lifeguard engaged in an impressive real-deal ocean rescue.  The weather was a little colder, a little cloudier and a little windier than we would have preferred.  But considering that our valley temperature at home was 109 that day, cold and a little chilly was fine by us.

Fine would actually be an understatement.  Noah, Luke and all the rest of us were so happy to be at the beach.  I loved spending the majority of my time there just watching the fun ensue between so many cute kids.

 They jumped right into building, digging and filling up bucket after bucket with ocean water. 

 

Nate.  I just love that being connected to tradition is important to him.  My dad liked kites.  When I was about ten he found a kite at the Price Club and made sure we took it on every beach trip.  I still have that kite, and sweet Nate is the one who always remembers that we bring it and fly it.

I just smiled seeing my boys flying the same kite with their dad that I flew with mine.  A simple moment for sure, but nonetheless very sweet.  I get tender feelings in moments like that where my whole soul aches a bit and just wishes that my dad was still here to do those things with Noah and Luke. 

When Nate was at the beach as a boy Grandpa Pebley always took the lead on building a sand castle.  Just like the kite, Nate continued that tradition as well. 

 There were lots of little hands who wanted to get in there and help as well.

The perfectionist in Nate could have spent hours making everything detailed and exact.  Regardless, though, the end result was something everyone was proud of and had fun making.

 

Santa Cruz...Starting with the Boardwalk

Seven days in Santa Cruz was the perfect combination of fun and relaxing with family we love so, so much.  Our first adventure was the Boardwalk.  You'd have thought that Noah and Luke were seasoned Boardwalk veterans the way they talked about it before even arriving.  Those boys knew what rides they wanted to go on and a lot of what they'd see.  The Boardwalk did not disappoint for those boys or any of us.

Noah might be scared of Finding Nemo, but he's not afraid of going fast.  This boy loves the big kid rides.  He couldn't get enough and also didn't mind when we took breaks to try out the rides Luke could go on too.

I chose to see a lot of this vacation for myself instead of through the lens of a camera, so I feel like my pictures are a little scattered and incomplete when it comes to documenting the immense fun that filled those seven days.  But some is better than none, and the some we have will definitely help us remember such good times.

Aunt Brittany was so willing to ride with Noah.  He couldn't have been happier!  

 It was a little tricky to do every ride with every member of the family, but we loved it when our paths crossed and we could spend some ride time together.  Both of these boys are crazy about planes!

 It's pretty obvious from the pictures that Nate took Noah on a lot of the big rides and Luke was my buddy for a good portion of the day.

 But we also found plenty of rides that both boys could do, including the carousel.

One of the workers took a liking to Noah and kept handing him rings to throw at the clown as he rode.

I looked up at the ferris wheel and found Abby and Joey.

Sammie didn't want to ride the ferris wheel, so she hung out with us.

 Both boys loved riding with her, and that sweet Sammie was so good about going on rides that were hardly exciting for a big kid.

After a lot of rides, some cotton candy and corn dogs, we finished the day off with the Sky Rider.

 The Boardwalk was a complete success.  Such fun for all of us!  We can't wait to go back again and have another day of adventure.

Just Keep Swimming

I tried to call Noah 'Nemo' the other day after a really good swimming lesson, but he quickly corrected me and said, "Mom, I'm NOT Nemo.  I'm just a swimmer!"  Got it.  And maybe that has something to do with the fact that he REALLY hates that movie, because according to him "It's just sad Mom!"

Back to swimming.  Oh, my has this been the summer of learning to swim.  I've spent more time in the pool with my two little fish than I have since I was a kid myself.  Lots of swimming practice combined with the teaching magic of Maddy Millet have turned Noah into a kid who can at least save himself in the water.

He started to make a lot of progress around the Fourth of July when the girls came from Bakersfield and they all spent every day swimming together.  A little pressure from some older swimmers definitely helped.  Noah's always been comfortable in the water -- on his own terms.  Going into 'the deep' or having to swim what he deemed too far were confidence issues that he just had to work on.

But this week it all kind of came together.  Sure, his strokes can use a little help, but we've got a swimmer who can get his head out of the water to breathe, had a darn fast backstroke and is pretty good at treading water.