Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

With only a couple things left on our Summer list, I decided to check one off by going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk yesterday. It's about 1 1/2 hour away, but we had all day with no time restrictions so I went for it. We got there about 11 and it wasn't sunny yet. So we started on rides. We did some little kid ones but then Parker couldn't wait any longer and said, "I wanna do that!" pointing to the disgusting circular one where you stand up and let centripetal force hold you back as it turns upsidedown. Yuck. There was no way in hell I was doing that one but he was big enough to do it on his own so he went. Then Elizabeth says, "Me too!" I thought there was no way in hell she would do it without crying, but she begged and since it was early there was no one else in line, should they have to stop it early, so I said, ok. The guy let her on with Parker as her "adult chaperon" which is scary. I watched her the whole time, which was challenging, but she did great. She loved it. Double Yuck.



After that, they kept pointing to scarier and scarier rides saying, "Let's do that one!" Luckily some of them wouldn't let the girls on even with a chaperon. I did two rides with them (a lame wanna be pirate of the carribean but with cave men and a roller coaster) with Miranda. Otherwise, they were on their own. Elizabeth did tons of rides and Miranda got in on it too going on the swing one with Parker and loving it. Parker wanted to do everything and practically did running to rides that you couldn't pay me to get on all by himself while the three of us waited and watched in fear.



Another circular ride. Luckily they couldn't spin it very fast.



They loved this one. It was a dropping kind. Miranda kept screaming, but it was good screaming.


The same one. Parker did one about 10 times bigger that literally scared the shit out of me. Well...not literally.



And this was his favorite. Oh. My. God. It went upside down. He looked tiny in the seat.


Then it was time to play games. Parker wanted to win more angry bird stuff, but all the games were impossible to win as usual. I let him waste about $5 before I told him we had to look for easier games.

While Parker and Elizabeth were on a ride, Miranda played this game where you throw dimes at ashtrays and plates. If you land in one, you get to keep it. If you land in the red plate, you get a big stuffed animal. Miranda was a total spazz throwing the dimes everywhere. The guy and I were laughing and feeling bad for her after the first three, but when she landed the 4th dime on the red plate, we stopped laughing. She was so happy!




Then of course Elizabeth and Parker wanted to win something. We saw one of those claw games that no one can ever win. Elizabeth did it and won the first time! Then Parker did it and one again! Amazing. These were the cheapest carnival game prizes we've ever won!





After a while on the boardwalk, it was time to head to the beach (the real thing on the summer list). We changed in the car and walked over. There was a little river that fed into the ocean that had big warning signs about being potentially contaminated. People were ignoring this sign, but it made me nervous which sucked because it would have been perfect to play in. So we walked down to the actual beach where the river met the ocean and the current was so strong that Miranda slipped in and started to get dragged out to the ocean. Some lady had to save her before I could get there. Yikes. She would have been fine as the current stopped when it hit the ocean and she could stand, but she was scared none the less. Parker on the other hand liked doing what the big kids did and just lay in it to be dragged off to the ocean. It was a little windy and the water was damn cold so our beach adventure didn't last too long.



We changed again and did some more rides, had dinner and then went home. The kids were in good moods all day which was nice and I'm sure was a product of stupid stuffed animals. I was tired, but not too annoyed about anything in particular and counted it as a successful trip.

Right before we left, I let them get dippin dots which are evil. Guess what color Parker got?


Here is Elizabeth 5 minutes after getting in the car. (Yeah, I took a picture of her while driving on Hwy 17.)