A grand day out.
No, we didn't build a spaceship and go to the moon looking for cheese. ;)

We did go to Santa Cruz for the day, and went to one of their local music shops, The Starving Musician, where we tried out various guitars, keyboards and drum sets and sticks and oh yeah, I found 2 more Lee Oskar Harmonicas that I haven't been able to find before: a Bb and an F, to help round out my collection of harmonicas in all different keys. The Bb in particular sounds really bright and fresh; Paul borrowed a capo and a dreadnought sized Taylor to play and we tried them all out. Casey meanwhile was trying out keyboards, playing some of his latest piano pieces, and he sounded pretty good. Riley tried out some guitars, including a resonator guitar which he loved, then some electronic drum kits as well as different sticks on a regular drum kit, and he came away with a set of 'stealth rods', which are like regular hot rod drumsticks but nylon with wood handles. Fun time for all of us. And then we went for a drive and bits of walking up on the cliffs above Santa Cruz.

From the Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz

Cold and windy, with alternating clouds and sun. It'll get hot enough plenty soon, so we were kind of enjoying the last of the cold and windy weather. We ended up over at the Boardwalk, which was running and active, but not nearly as crowded as it'll be this summer. The boys went on a number of thrill rides, the best being the Giant Dipper, of course. There was the Lazer Maze, where you run, roll and climb through a changing maze of laser lights to the theme music from Mission Impossible. (Casey was the best, and his gymnastics rolls between lasers was pretty impressive to watch. That kid is ready to be on the Impossible Missions Team.) All three of the boys ended up on the bumper cars.

Blurry with Too Much Bumper Action To Capture

After that we went and found some dinner at The Crepe Place over on Soquel, and finished off our dinner by sharing a bananarama crepe (Crepe, Nutella, bananas and other fruit and topped with Vanilla Bean ice cream- yummm...).

And eventually, far too sated, we drove home at sunset with spectacular clouds all pink with golden edges, and listened to Mich and Marilisa's album, Abseiling For Beginners. Riley commented that they were amazingly good singers, and he is so right.Just hearing their voices made me miss them terribly!

So, a grand day out for this mom.

Cormorants on Natural Bridges