Last Summer Vacation

I feel like my blog posts as of late have just been me joining in on other blog challenges and carnivals.  That is all well and good, but we have had LOTS going on here too that I do so wish to share with you all!

First up, the kids and I just returned from a trip to my sister's with my mom.  It was our last vacation of the summer as McGee will start pre-school next Monday.  We enjoyed a great few days hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and our little sweet niece.  On Friday we headed over to Santa Cruz and had the BEST time!  The weather was perfect (although a bit windy and cold on the pier) and it was wonderful not to have any agenda other than relaxing and having fun.

McGee LOVE, LOVE, LOVED playing in the waves and sand and Miss Em enjoyed staying close to her Grandma and digging in the sand.  McGee practiced writing his letters in the sand and Baby Skye took a beachside nap.  A highlight for sure was feeding (and being swarmed by) the seagulls with our leftover rolls from lunch.  Grandma was heard saying she didn't think she had heard McGee laugh and giggle so much before!  How to top off that kind of a day?  Enjoying ice cream for dinner of course, at a local dive called Marianne's we were referred to by my friend Tina.  When she mentioned we might have to wait in line I didn't truly believe her, but indeed we had to wait almost a 1/2 hour!  It was good though and I couldn't believe all of the many flavor options!

Well there's plenty more to say about our trip, but I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves (and there are TONS more where these came from)!  I had such a hard time choosing which pics to post as there were so many that I loved!  Which of these is YOUR favorite?

Throwing the bread for the birds...

Skye's first trip to the beach...she thought she'd see what sand tastes like