Santa Cruz

Over the weekend I took my mom and kids to Santa Cruz. What a great time we had. About a 4 hour drive. Thank goodness for DVD players in the car. We got to the board walk about 11 am and got the kids day passes. The boys had a cell phone and I let them off the leash. They were too cool though. When I was over head on the sky ride like a ski lift I spotted them and yelled to them like a banshee I barely got an acknowledgement. The Giant Dipper roller coaster was as fun as I remembered it being when I was a kid.
My darling independent 6yo Alea decided to ditch her siblings later in the afternoon when it was getting really crowed. They went to get on the water ride all together while Mom and I sat on a bench. When they got off the ride an hour later Alea was not with them and never had been. Panic had started in. So for another hour we looked for her. When she found us she us she was mad. She had been riding rides. Whewwww. We rode a litttle longer then to down town to the skate shop. I got a parking ticket and saw a lot of vagrancy. Ate pizza and subway sandwiches and crossed the street to avoid people smoking a pipe with a funny smell! All in all a cultural experience.