Getaway for Four

Okay, so the pics are not in any order and I will let you figure out what they are all about:). In the middle of September we, just the four of us, were able to get away for a couple of days and spend some time as a family. It was wonderful and considering our September and start of October, it was much needed.
We drove south to the Santa Cruz Mountains where the Redwood trees thrive. We stayed at a cabin at Mt. Hermon Christian Camps and took 2 day trips
from there.
The first day trip was a train ride on a steam train through the Big Trees (redwoods and alike)- it was so serene and absolutely amazing to see these trees so tall, so majestic, and so dependent on each other. Then we headed down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk where we were hoping to spend sometime goofing around on the rides but apparently after Labor Day it is only open on the weekends (oops), so we walked to pier, saw the sea lions, seals, pelicans and such and then played at the beach in our jeans and shirts (I didn't bring swim/sand stuff as we weren't going to be playing in the water-oh well). After we made a quick dash home, changed and then went down to Capitola (another fun beach town) and had dinner on the water.
The next day we headed down to Monterey and went to the famous Monterey Aquarium and were absolutely spellbound by God's creation- the jellyfish, otters, white shark (the only one on display in the world...not quite a "great white" yet but close), the sun fish (massive fish in front of the girls in one pic), the starfish, octopus....you name it and I am sure we saw it. After that we drove over the hill to Carmel and enjoyed the beach, the sunset, the beautiful homes right on the water (there is one for sale-only 19.9m if anyone is interested- you do get your own beach). We saw a beach full of pelicans and watched them catch their dinner and then we went and had a nice dinner together to end our night. The girls had a great time and it was so much fun just to enjoy the family that God has knit together.