Fun with the Burgons

We spent the last weekend in July and first weekend of August with the extended Burgon family. We started off at our place, and and had most of the family here for an extended weekend. If I had more pictures, you would see cousins playing together, boys in dress ups (complete with headbands), family gathered around the table to enjoy meals together, Grandma reading bedtime stories to the grand kids, cousins camped out on the floor enjoying late night giggles and fun, a picnic and more at the Berkley Kite Festival, and family filling up an entire pew in our chapel while listening to Trever speak. It was fun and exhausting but mostly fun, fun, fun! These cousins are so close in age and they have the best time together!

For our second gathering we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house. On our first night we went to downtown Santa Cruz. The kids received their rewards for completely the summer reading program at Book Shop Santa Cruz (coupon for a slice of pizza, coupon for a scoop of ice cream, a gift card to the bookshop and Santa Cruz Warriors gear). They were totally thrilled! After purchasing their books, we cashed in their coupons for pizza and ice cream. Each kid was given a very full waffle cone full of ice cream and you better believe they finished ALL of it, even Lizzie.

The next morning we headed to Roaring Camp for a Day Out with Thomas. This included a train ride through the redwoods, photo ops with Thomas and various booths for the kids to explore. We had a great time and all of the kiddos took a much needed nap that afternoon (the fun finally caught up to them). After naps, we packed up the car and headed to our usual spot at Seabright Beach. We played in the sand, built a bonfire, and ate hot dogs and s'mores as the sun went down.

The fun continued on Saturday at Highlands Park. The kids played at the park for a bit, but spent most of their time by the river, throwing rocks, wadding in the water and playing in the sand. They could have stayed there for hours. That evening we went to a wedding reception at the famous Boomeria in Boony Doon. It has been referred to as a kind of medieval science kingdom, which seems like the perfect explanation. It has it's own castle, cannons, catacombs and a huge pipe organ. Jane, Cate and Jon Bradley explored the catacombs with Trever and did really well. I took one peek inside the castle, and then decided to stay outside with Lizzie. Boomeria also has large swings and a very steep and twisty slide for the kids to enjoy. The delicious cupcakes in various flavors and sizes were the perfect addition to this fun night.

On Sunday we went to church and hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids jumped on the trampoline for what seemed like forever and enjoyed playing together for most of the afternoon. After several days of fun, we packed up and headed home. We had a great time with family and are so grateful to have many of them within driving distance. We are trying to recruit Brooke and Eric to come back and hope that Lisa and Jared will join us too. A big thanks to Brad and Andrea for hosting and filling our weekend with so much fun and love. Until next time...