Well, that's not great!

First, the better stuff!  On Thursday we hosted a press briefing with our Congressional representative at my work.  It was a fun and very short event but we appreciated that they took the time to stop by and their  support in helping us secure funding.  

On Friday I got to see the air ambulance during a leadership class.  It was very interesting to learn about and also fun to see a bunch of grown ups still get excited to see a helicopter!   

Anna and Olivier left Friday morning (6:15 a.m.!!) for sleep away band camp and had a really good time.  And they are both really looking forward to sleeping in their own beds tonight!  Hard to believe they will start school on Thursday!

Now to the not great part, on Wednesday morning COVID hit the house again.  Thankfully it hasn't spread and hasn't had a huge impact but it sucks!  Hopefully it doesn't spread and is out the door again soon!  

School Photos Before the First Day of School!

So weird to have school photos before the first day of school!  Poor Anna was in the middle of a hot day of band activities!  

 

Visit to the redwoods before heading home!

Before heading home we went to visit the redwoods!  So beautiful and it feels somewhat magical being there.  Olivier in the burn scar of one of the trees.  

We were all on the lookout for banana slugs (especially Matt!) and we were all happy to see a couple!  this one was the closer one that was happy being just out of the way of us!

See, kind of magical!

I love how the branches of this tree look like they were twisted/spinning.  

Thankful for our visit to Santa Cruz and Olivier is needing to name his pet/stuffed banana slug now!  

Science!

Today we enjoyed our last full day in Santa Cruz by visiting the Seymore Marine Discovery Center.  We all got to touch a shark...and it was swell!  (That is what their stickers say too!).  

We also got a tour which included seeing their dolphins, but sorry, no photos allowed!  They have a stand for visitors to put their phone in and take a photo of the shore line to help them monitor erosion.  I mean how can you pass up a photo like this!

After lunch we headed to downtown Santa Cruz and got some souvenirs.  And an afternoon treat!  Our late afternoon we had something fun in store, we went to the Mystery Spot.  It is hard to describe but here are some fun photos!  

They lined up in height order with Mason being the tallest.

Then reversed.

They had Olivier stand on one end of the board and quack when the level got to his eye level.  For a giggle here is a video of it!

Olivier is a banana slug and Matt is the alien who made the mystery spot mess with our heads!  :-)

 

All the things and all I got was one irrelevant photo!

Today we headed to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  As we were leaving the hotel I had to laugh when I saw the cyber truck parked very close to us.  I was expecting a lot more in the Bay area but there were very few.  

But on to the real stuff!  We walked around the Boardwalk for a bit and then played a round of miniature golf - including some holes that were blacklight!  We had a good time and Matt was the only one who's final score didn't say he should walk the plank!  Winner!

We found a shady spot for some lunch and then went to play laser tag!  It was a lot of fun but the warm weather made the room extremely hot and we were all a bit melted!  That made our next stop even better - the bowling alley!  We played a game - Matt was a winner again!  It was a needed rest from the heat but we were ready to be done with the Boardwalk so we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool before dinner for a bit.  Nice relaxing, low stress day!  Perfect for vacation!  
 

Busy day in the Bay!

This morning we got up a bit early for vacation but it was worth it!  We made our way to San Fransisco and boarded a boat to visit Alcatraz.  We did a tour that included audio information which was interesting to get more history than we knew about the island and the buildings.  

I think the boys are enjoying solitary confinement too much!  And not just because they aren't alone, the door is open and they can get out!

One of the cells where someone escaped!  

Hard to believe it is this close to the city!

We then boarded another boat that took us to Angel Island where we took a tram ride around the island and learned about that history as well.  

After returning to shore from Angel island we visited the arcade museum which is always interested.  We also visited Ghirardelli chocolate!  Then we were all feeling the need for some rest so we found a spot for dinner and noticed a number of times the self driving cars around the city.  Very strange to see! 

On our way back to the car I had to take a photo of Mason with proof that he was on Mason Street in San Fransisco!  

We all were in need of sleep when we got back to the hotel!
 

Arrived in Santa Cruz!

We have a very limited window for vacations this summer and we are squeezing this into the few days we have before band camp starts.  Today we arrived in Santa Cruz and enjoy some time walking along the shore and stopped to see the lighthouse.  Posting the photo without the blooper!  :-)