Pumpkin patchin'

Last week was the week of hitting the pumpkin patch.  First, with Joel's class on a field trip and the second was the very next day, on friday, when we had no school.  The weather was super nice and I am pretty sure it was the last of summer we are going to get.

On the school bus!

We went on a tractor ride and there were some animals and a farm and little pumpkins that even the little ones can carry home.

   Friday, we hit the road to Santa Cruz for the pumpkin patch and beach.  I mean, we were right there...

   The blue in the distance is the ocean.  There is a lot of farmland that is oceanfront property.  When you go north, it is veggies, south it is cows.  Seriously.  AMAZING coastline, ocean front property...cows.  That's why they say cows from California are happy.

   We went with our friends who are like family.  We do church together, we do school together, we child swap, her youngest calls me Mama, Ava includes their kids in conversations like family, we do life together.  We are so fortunate to have met such great people down here.  When you're missing your own family, this is pretty darn close.

 More pumpkins, more beach.

 We went to Natural Bridges for the first time.  It tends to be a very touristy beach.  I've also heard from others that it is very cold here, it is very stinky here, and it costs money to park.  However, it has it's perks.  On nearby trails are the trees that the monarchs go to each year.  Apparently, 1000s of monarchs covering the trees.  Would love to see that.  As for this day, it was the beach of choice.  It was close, it was HOT at the pumpkin patch, and it was not a weekend.  It did not disappoint.  I really wanted to take a peek at the monarchs, but 2 things in one day is already plenty.  We did, however, see monarchs flying by as we made our way onto the beach.  So beautiful!

   The natural bridge, hence the name.

You would have been so proud/grossed out, Cort.

And we ended our day with ice cream at Marianne's.  Because why not?

  We had such a fun day!  Come 7:00 p.m. in the middle of movie night I went ahead and got all cozy on the couch and had myself a nap.  Having fun is exhausting, but in no way does that mean you can have too much!  So thankful for that day off and the perfect weather and friends to spend it with.  It was definitely our last beach hurrah of the year, and probably summer's too.

Happy tuesday!