The big event finally arrived - A 4-day-weekend long celebration as a family for my mom's retirement. We arranged a rental house in Santa Cruz to host a laid back weekend filled with ice-cold bodysurf sessions, tons of great food, competitive shuffle board, hanging out with the babies, and a couple of failed pizzas (that last one was all me). Oh and another thing happened: Mia's family came up for an afternoon visit and it was the first time my family got to meet Mia's family. Oh and another thing happened: I got myself a mirrorless digital camera - more about that in a separate blog.

Sophie and Andrew hanging out on the floor - they even had a private ball pit!

Andy was given Sophie's bow, he was happy about the attention for a second until he realized we were all laughing at this.

On Saturday we packed up beach gear and walked to the beach at the harbor entrance. It was fun to watch all the boats going in and out, but the wind was really gusty at times and the sun began to burn us. Matt and I went bodysurfing while everyone else called it quits in the elements and retreated back to the cozy house. After that, I made an excuse to go ride the beach cruisers with Matt to a nearby store, stopped on the way back along 41st Street / Pleasure Point and took some pictures.

afternoon offshores and small waves at 38th and 41st street

before saying bye, Mia and my mom and I walked through Capitola on Monday morning. Stopped for some good coffee before hitting the road.

The other nice thing about Santa Cruz as a location is that Mia and I got to swing by SLO on the way up and back. We also got more pictures of the puppy.

Chapters

Santa Cruz & Retirement Party