California Coast'n It

During our trip to California we decided to spend the weekend on the northern coast, in a tiny town called Watsonville. What?! Never heard of it? Just look on your carton of strawberries, they're probably from there. It's where my grandparents lived when I was growing up. It's funny, cuz when we would go to visit, I had NO idea we were so near the beach. But now when we go back to Watsonville we totally enjoy what a cool little town it is.


**the boys sitting in my Grandpa's chair**

We stay in a rockin' retro little house that my grandparents lived in before they passed away. It's full of so many memories for me. I'm glad my kids will have memories there too.



Isn't this chair awesome! I would've loved to tie this thing to the top of my car and hauled it home.



Our first stop was to a little farm to pick berries. I had flashbacks of picking blackberries in the humid heat of Oklahoma. It was much cooler here. We had to bring home a pie too.



The next day Grandpa picked up Bryan from the airport and met us at nearby Santa Cruz. My wimpy kids thought it was FREEZING on the beach. I had only packed summer clothes, so we stopped at a thrift store and for 12 bucks I found sweatshirts/jackets for all 4 of them. Pretty darn awesome!



My kids love all the overpriced little rides on the boardwalk.





Love the view in the background!



Tessa couldn't go on any rides but enjoyed herself nonetheless.



But I'm pretty sure my boys favorite part was the beach.



They chased waves for hours.



My favorite part of Santa Cruz was a new treat I discovered at the candy store: chocolate dipped bacon! Seriously, sounds crazy but is delish! I'm determined to try to make it myself.



Tessa just liked her new treat, sand, yuck.



The next day we headed to nearby Monterrey, where we watched seals and otters bark, saw huge orange starfish and sea diving birds, witnessed taffy being pulled, dared Ty to pick up a little crab (and he did) and admired lots of boats.



We also ran into a man with lots of cool, very well trained birds.





Tessa wasn't so sure about it all.

I can see why people pay millions to live by the coast. It's pretty amazing. Though I must admit, I like my mountains even more :)