As foreshadowed in a previous post, we decided to have a little fun for fall break this year and visit cousins in California for the first time. October 9th we loaded up the rental minivan, medicated and distributed sick bags to everyone who is prone to that type of thing, and hit the road. Our house to California cousins’ house is about a 12 hour drive which we can manage to do in one long day of driving. We made good time, really just stopping for bathroom breaks and food, while attempting to avoid Covid of course. If memory serves me correctly we made the 12 hour drive in about 14 hours which isn’t too bad.
Jason’s sister and husband moved to California shortly before the pandemic emerged, so although they have been there for some time now, this was our first adventure to actually go visit them. To our benefit, they had recently purchased and renovated the house next door to their house, so we had a free BnB accommodations while we were there. We were some of the first family to actually try it out! I gifted them a coffee maker for future non-Mormon house guests to use.
The first morning in Santa Cruz we walked down to the ocean with the boys. (Ocean within walking distance!) Being that it was cold, we didn’t dress the boys in swimming gear. We soon discovered this was a big mistake and our cautioning “it’s too cold to get wet” and “you’re not dressed in water clothes” really made no difference to our 3 boys who hadn’t been to the ocean in 3 years. Needless to say, the walk back to Misty’s was cold and wet and William learned about sand and chafing firsthand. 
Highlights of Fall Break in Santa Cruz, in no particular order, included the ocean. Playing with cousins. The cousins having chickens. The ocean. Hiking through Redwoods at Henry Cowell State Park. The cousins’ trampoline. The cousins’ 3 person hammock. The ocean. A date night for Jason and I. Movie night with cousins. Tidepools. Exploring a new park. Hitting cousin Lia in the face with a bat (oops). The cousins’ hot tub. And not to be forgotten, the ocean.
Did I mention the boys enjoyed the ocean? Misty and Curtis have amassed an assortment of wetsuits, surf boards, and boogie boards all in the name of helping family enjoy the ocean as much as they do. Aunt Misty was nice enough to shake my boys into their borrowed wetsuits like a sack of potatoes and Uncle Curtis took them out to find some waves. My seasick heart preferred to watch and document from the sand, but perhaps next time I’ll get in a wetsuit as well.
We elected to make the drive back over the course of 2 days. The first afternoon we meandered along in rush hour and made it from Santa Cruz out as far as Roseville. This got us through the majority of the city driving and made the final push home a little bit shorter. We managed to get home the evening of the 15th in time to see our roofers leaving with the last of their things. We had a fun time and the boys have already requested another trip to see cousins again soon!