Headed to Fresno

Brian left for Korea on Friday Aug 10, so on Saturday Aug 11 the big kids and little kids packed up the car and headed out of town!

first up- santa cruz beach and boardwalk. it was a beautiful saturday and ambra and family were going to meet us there. this is a cool beach, because the boardwalk is like an amusement park! it just feels very california-ish, so i wanted the girls to see it.

well, everyone else wanted to go there that day too! we were stuck in a ton of traffic, but started to relax the closer we got to the beach by just smelling the ocean air! 

then... what is that coming at us?

 why are all the cars moving to either side of the road? i don't hear a siren. was that a train whistle? YUP!

coming straight at us was this huge vintage train! apparently each saturday at noon during the summer a local train company offers scenic rides from the redwood forest in Felton to the Santa Cruz beach and boardwalk! it was wild to see this train come straight down the middle of the road at a snails pace!

ambra's kids were ready to ride the rides!

 my crew was ready for some playtime on the beach-

my mom and i in our hats (both mine- one from germany, the other from italy. oh the memories!)

CHECK OUT MACY"S GIANT EYEBALL IN THE NEXT PICTURE-

 these german girls LOVED the sunshine of california- every day!

 tate is always sooooo happy at the beach, in the sand

 next up- time to check out the boardwalk-

 loved this-

 luckily, they didn't want to ride the roller coasters!

 but, they did want to ride some other rides. i kept saying no, that the beach was enough of a treat for the day. but- titi ambra said YES! here they are proudly displaying their tickets-

sunday jacob took the girls to see fresno state while my mom and i took the kids to storyland. (we were supposed to go to play land too (children's amusement rides) but it was closed because of the heat index that day! it was 110- YUCK!

macy had her 1st bday party at storyland, but didn't remember it. this trip back was part of her 3rd bday gift from my mom!

some playground equipment that reminded me of a small playground by our old house in germany-

 everything in playland is old- not sure how the city keeps it open! but, it's so sweet-

 the castle where macy had her bday party-

 the 3 little pigs house-

 awesome pirate ship playground-

 this would make the BEST playhouse in our backyard-

 so would this-

 i liked this. it was an exhibit of all nursery rhymes, from A-Z

 the kids put on a play for us- notice no one else is there? it was 100 at 10am, they were the smart ones who stayed home!

while walking to the car, we heard a bell, and then saw this-

 the mexican bicycle ice-cream man!

 it's on our summer bucket list to buy ice cream from the ice cream truck. we haven't done it yet. does the ice cream bike count?

my mom loves carousels. on saturday at santa cruz, she was going to take macy on the carousel, but then reconsidered since she knew we would be riding one at playland in fresno on sunday. but like i said above, playland was closed...

so we had to go to the mall and ride the carousel!

 even i rode!

sunday afternoon we headed out to my dads house for a pool party. there's not much else to do when it is 110 and you have 7 kids aged 3-19!

i have always loved this barn on my way to my dad's house, so i finally stopped to snap a pic-

i actually didn't take any pool pics- weird! especially since frankie taught tate how to do a front flip off the diving board and macy was fearlessly jumping off the diving board too- but with floaties!

my dad breeds, sells and races homing pigeons. (weird, right?) well the kids always love to see the babies birds and ambra got this picture before we left-

 on the way home i looked out the rearview mirror to see this-

 i had to pull over the car to get a great picture!

 sunday night we all went back to my sisters and kimberley got an email from home that she had been accepted into her top choice university! i went out to pick up a few things to celebrate with-

monday-

ambra played tour guide on our day trip to the sequoia national park

first stop- my favorite fruit stand!

 the girls have been in heaven with all the fresh fruit here in cali! they are used to apples and oranges back home of course- but not the fresh grapes, watermelon, peaches- any and every fruit they loved!

the farm stand owner gave them this bunch of grapes that had just been cut off the vine out back-

 I've always loved this "washing well" to wash the fruit that you have bought so there is no delay in eating it!

 once in the park (ambra lives less than an hour from the gate) we stopped at a picnic site for lunch. tate found a cool tree to climb-

 then we headed down to see the giant sequoia trees...

i like this one- the two sisters-

 see how they are connected at the base?

 look how tiny tate's head is compared to the base of the tree behind him-

 off for a little hike-

 this is the tree that has fallen and you can walk through- see tate in the entrance?

 here he is- the general grant tree! 2nd largest tree in the WORLD! the largest is the general sherman, also in this park-

 see this random arm below?

 that's the arm of the most boring park ranger ever. we snuck off of her tour. ugh.

 anyway. macy has been to this park before- when she was 1 and in a stroller! here she is on kimberley's shoulders, just in awe of the tall tree I'm sure...

 after seeing the big trees, we drove through the park to take in the incredible views-

 stop off at the river-

 and see the two waterfalls-

 while in the park, there was a crazy storm! dark clouds, rain and strong winds. the temp quickly dropped down into the 60's (remember it was 110 in fresno!) and madeliene reminded us "this is how the scary movies start..." luckily, we survived! gotta tell you though- i'm pretty sick of seeing big trees this summer!

tuesday morning we said our good-byes and headed home to fairfield. i'm so thankful that i have such an outgoing, flexible and fun sister who is willing to have 5 extra people (2 strangers) come crash at her house for 3 days!