Charlotte takes Lynda and the crew out for a long hike at Henry Cowell. There’s plenty of big hills, but the observation post at the top has some great views.

No visit to Santa Cruz is complete without a trip to the boardwalk. If the pirate ship doesn’t make you hurl, I don’t know what will. Monica makes the big transition to roller coaster riding. She’s definitely hooked now. Meanwhile Gabe and Kyle stick to the tamer rides. I always loved those little boats when I was little. Charlotte and Lynda appear to be enjoying themselves. Gabe and Kyle make their own big leap to the scary rides. ...

A trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium is always a must. Some good photos of all the kids, and some great jellyfish shots. I wonder if the kids think about the Sponge Bob connection. Everyone heads over to Dennis the Menace park for a bit of running around. They have some of the best structures to climb on.

Charlotte takes Lynda, Steve, and the kids to Henry Cowell for a nice loop trip around the redwoods. The kids always love crawling around inside the really big trees. Down at the river, there’s a new bridge to play on.

Lynda and her family are in town for a visit. Of course no visit to Santa Cruz is complete without many trips to the beach. Monica and Gabe show Rachel and Kyle how to have fun northern California style.

Somehow we’ve never been drawn into the 150 foot diameter nexus of weirdness before. With Lynda in town, we generated a list of places worth visiting and the famous Mystery Spot happened to make the grade. I was unfortunately at work that day and had to make do with the tales of strangeness. The spot is really a house built on a slant that throws off your perception big time. An added bonus is that it makes you sick to your stomach. No one figured it out, so I guess it’s still a mystery. ...

It’s been such a warm summer this year. The kids love to cool off in the ocean, and over at their Aunt Valri’s pool. The slide is clearly the most popular attraction.

It’s been a little while since we did a bonfire on the beach. Turned out to be a fantastic day and a great chance to enjoy Mars on its close approach. The kids spent many hours enjoying the waves right up until it got dark. Meanwhile the adults enjoy a few margaritas while catching up on events. Scott brought plenty of scrap wood for the fire, and we’ve got more than enough pizza for everyone. ...

Gabe and I are up early again for some fishing out on the bay. No luck with the big fish again on this trip, but we did catch similar stuff as last time. The first one was such a cute tiny fish, I couldn’t resist taking a picture. Normally I would be embarrassed at having caught something this small. The unique catch for the day was Gabe’s octopus. It was quite a trick getting it out of the boat. Those tentacles sure can hang on. ...

Just a few random photos of the kids while driving around in the car.