Bird Rock and Asilomar State Beach and More

July 22, 2017 we went on a Saturday outing.  We drove to Monterey.  Then at a certain point we listened to the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack as we drove along the coast for a few miles.  I had thought of doing this and Nels was nice enough to oblige.  I loved it.  It was beautiful scenery and beautiful music.  I was so enthralled that I didn't even take a picture of it.  But it is in my memory.

Then we drove part of the 17 mile drive.  I remembered doing this with my parents and sister Jenny a few years ago on our California trip.  It brought back happy memories.  

We saw bird rock.  

The kids got out of the car and checked it out.

It was cloudy, but bright...their eyes hurt and so that's why they are making those faces.

I did my crane move from Karate Kid in front of bird rock.  haha.

Then we drove to the Lone Cypress.

Such a pretty scene.

We asked someone to take our pic.

My boys.

Isak.

Kira.

Me and Sofie.

Nels taking care of the kids while I took some pictures.  :) Such a good daddy.

We saw ghost trees.  Spooky-that's what the kids said.  Then we saw Pebble Beach Golf Course and big houses.  We Drove to Caramel State Beach, but it was super crowded and we couldn't find parking.  So we drove through crowded Caramel and ended up at Gianni's Pizza!  Our favorite.

 Noah loved the pizza!

Then we enjoyed an hour or two at Asilomar State Beach.  It was wonderful.
The kids dug in the sand.

Sofie didn't eat as much sand and didn't crawl away all of the time.  I think she was tired because it was nap time.

I even go my pic taken.  It was a little chilly.

Selfie with Noah.  He prefers to be held.

But he did sit in the sand for a bit.  Nels put together the kite.

And got it up and flying.

The kids took turns holding the string.  I love a proud daddy taking a pic of his son.  :)

It was fun to fly the kite on the beach.

This was our set up with our camping chairs.

We found this large log and the kids were so cute and good for me while I took their pictures.

Kira girl

I held Sofie in the carrier and walked with Kira and Isak along the beach with a bucket to pick up "treasures."  They picked up lots of feather and rocks.

Before we left we dumped out the bucket.

The sky was so pretty.  But it was hard to capture on camera.

The kids kind of went into the water...just barely.

I was so happy Sofie stayed in one spot longer!

And Noah just wanted to be held but tolerated sitting on the sand.

Another cool van.  :)

Everyone was happy and pleasant all day!  It was awesome!  We drove home and I did the grocery shopping.  We even bathed all the kids!  We rocked it!  :)

I'm so glad we got out.  It's always hard to get out the door, but then we enjoy exploring something new and being together.

Wilder Ranch State Park and the Redwoods

July 15, 2017 on a Saturday we had a fun adventure.  We drove to the Santa Cruz area.  We spent some time at Wilder Ranch State Park after a quick lunch at McDonald's.  

They had a visiter center type area that had a few things for the kids to do.

There were horses to watch.

They had a bucket filled with soap and two sticks with rope tying them together so you could make big bubbles.  That was fun to do.

The kids tried out the stick horses.

They had a horse galloping race.  So fun for me and Nels to watch.

My handsome husband.

Me...

There were chickens and goats.  We saw old tractors.

We explored an area that had wood working machines and a blacksmith work area.

The kids explored these tunnels.  They were made out of huge cactus looking like plants.

The babies just hung out in the stroller.  They did a lot of sitting.
Then we drove to Henry Cowell Redwood Park.  Very cool place.  There was an old town set up.  We panned for gold, played trains, saw a blacksmith working and my favorite-walked through a beautiful white covered bridge.

It was a hot day.

Covered Bridge.

See Isak's sweaty hair?

They asked me to take their pics.  They put their heads in each of the holes.  They thought it was so fun.

Then we went on a .8 mile hike.

It took us a while.  My fault because I took a lot of pics.  It was just so beautiful to see these giant, tall trees.

Quick snack along the trail so everyone could be happy.

We asked Isak to take our picture.  Not to bad for the first time.  A little blurry.  He had a hard time holding still.

We asked someone to take our picture.  Our whole family!  Yay!

I love Kira's hair and she gave me this perfect smile!

Love this one of Kira looking up at the tall trees.

There was one tree that was hollowed out and you could go inside of it and stand up in it!  You could easily fit 5 adults inside of it.  It was huge!  I was surprised.  It was a favorite moment for all of us.

Isak wanted his pic in front of this...

And this.

After the hike, we drove home.
Nels always spies these vans. We've found several on our outings.

Anyways, it was a fun memorable trip.