Circus Week, Santa Cruz

we just returned from a week of bliss in santa cruz. my two good friends from seattle reunited for the first time since jack was a babe. we have talked about it since i moved, referring to the gathering as nothing less than a circus. it was. we cosied up in a three-bedroom condo with six adults and three children.

highlights include:

• spending really good time with wonderful friends!
  

• sunshine
  
• two days with just one child!!!
• seeing jeremiah's art - wow! i wish i had taken a couple more photos. he builds surfboards, paints them incredibly. he had a series of art on display at the local coffee shop - really fantastic stuff using a mixture of paint, fabric, paper, glass...wow. claire loved playing under this little table, beside one of jeremiah's surfboards and beneath a painting.
  

• diverse beaches - one had endless sand, another was rocky and full of muscles, seaweed and treasure-hunting, another was a small beach right up to the cliffs - beautiful, remote feeling.

• seeing baby A while he is still so little!

• time to talk, actually complete conversations, with two precious friends
• really good coffee, every morning. i am looking into buying an aeropress
  
• a walk in the redwood forests - the serenity only slightly interrupted by the dog carriage and doggy bjorn.
• really amazing meals - chicken "fish" tacos, gourmet pita pizzas, fancy sausage hogies...

• a ridge walk along the coast - reminding me of the cliffs of Dover
• donuts

• first family vacation - we love visiting family in seattle, but this is the first time we've travelled to see friends! it was so good to play, to rest, to catch up.
  

• watching our kids experience the ocean for the first time. jack was careful, hesitant and certainly didn't want to get cold in that water. he loved looking for treasure (sadly, our sandbox just isn't revealing the same quality of treasures) claire couldn't get enough - she'd sit right down in the chilly water, in her clothes. she didn't want me to hold her hand, because she wanted both hands to dig in the sand. sand in her butt, sun on her cheeks, and freezing legs, she was a happy napper at the end of the day.
  

my favorite quotes of the week?
claire, "switch sides" instead of mama's milk, milk please, or just plain milk, its right to switching sides.
jack, "i need to call my dad. my OTHER dad, he's home, smoking"


and then to return home to spring, lovely!