Cathi & the "Littles" at Moss Beach

Cathi, Patience, Jordyn and Nick came to California for a visit at the beginning of August. They spent time with us, Cathi's high school friend, Heather and Cathi's Dad.

Patience hadn't been here since she was a baby, and Jordyn had never been here. They didn't even know where Grandma and Papa lived - they thought that we lived at the house we rented on lake Coeur d' Alene, Idaho a couple of years ago - how sad is that??!!

Lee and I very carefully "child-proofed" the house - and then Nick showed us what we missed when they arrived :). We had a great time visiting with them, and did lots of stuff. We went to the San Francisco Zoo. Cathi's 5th birthday party was at the San Francisco Zoo. The weather there can be cool and windy, and the wind blew her candles out before she could. She was not impressed. She was finally able to blow them out on the third try!

Fortunately, the weather was warm and sunny for us. We packed a picnic lunch, snacks and drinks, and headed off for the day. The girls loved seeing the animals, all of the displays, the playground and the rides. We had a great day.

Patience and Jordyn check out the bronze lion scuplture - a safe way to be up close and personal with a lion!

Look at those teeth!

This was a great scupture of a lioness, with lion cubs crawling around and on her. Patience joined the cubs!

Camel ride!

Miss Jordyn at the playground! It was quite a large playground, and fortunately we had an equal number of adults and children!

Girls on the sculpture of the geese. This was located in the children's zoo.

Posing with the baby elephant.

We took the girls to Central Park in San Mateo. Cathi remembered playing there as a child, so it was nice for her kids to be able to do the same thing. Again, we packed a picnic lunch and snacks. And of course, when the ice cream wagon came along, Papa bought the girls ice cream. We then ruined the day by taking them all to Hillsdale to do some school shopping for Patience, who starts kindergarten this year. Nicholas was cooperative for awhile, but soon let us know that he was DONE, so we loaded up our goodies and headed back over the hill. Nick fell asleep in the car.

Jordyn swinging on the play equipment.

And Patience, too!

Lunch time for Patience, Jordyn and Nick.

Our next adventure was to Santa Cruz! We figured that the girls would love not only the beach but also the boardwalk - we were right! It was a beautiful, sunshiny day and perfect for frolicing at the beach. Again we packed a picnic, and away we went!

The girls loved the ocean waves, especially Patience, who had NO fear, and loved it when she got knocked down and rolled! Jordyn wasn't quite so sure that was fun, and after a particularly big wave, spent her time closer to the beach. Grandma was vigilant, but I was certainly wishing for life jackets and rope!

Cathi does her best to keep herself and Nick out of the sun! We had applied sunscreen liberally to everyone, but fair-skinned Nick got a little pink, anyway! Fortunately not enough to make him uncomfortable.

Nick loved the water! He wanted to be turned loose in the worst way! Maybe next year!

Well, after you get all of the sand and saltwater washed off, what better to do than have a cup of "dippin dots" - little "dots" of ice cream!

Very yummy!

Nick thought so, too!

Then it was time for rides! Here's Jordyn on the dinosaur ride, with Patience behind her. Sadly, they weren't tall enough for many of the rides, but hopefully they will be next year!

Jordyn on the little whale ride.

Patience and Jordyn take off in their speed boat!

We spent about 5 hours at Santa Cruz. By the time we got home, we had three little sleeping people in the van! We stopped at the grocery store, then picked up Sushi Main Street to go. It was a great day!

We got to take advantage of the great neighborhood park here in Moss Beach, which is just across the highway. The girls loved all of the play structures, and made friends every time we went there.

We had fun in the evenings, watching DVD's. We usually each had a child cuddled up in our lap. Nick decided that Grandma and Papa were acceptable substitues for Mom, so we got lots of time with him, too.

And then it was time for them to leave. But, we look forward to having them come and visit next year!