The story

Wow, we need to do a little explaining. I am currently a failure at blogging which, thankfully, is not at all weighing on my conscience. But I do feel that I owe a whopper of blog to make up for lost time. And you shall receive much kudos in the way of a bazillion photos for your patience waiting. I will give you all a little narrative first to shed some light on the last 3 weeks of our crazy but awesome time in Santa Cruz.

We left Spokane without a home to go to, for Jason's adventures in house hunting had been spoiled by upper class oppression. But God loves children (so there, you Obama loving liberals) and He has the advantage in this little game of life, so settled we are and blessed beyond anything we could have hoped for!!! But I am getting a little ahead of all the stops we took along the way.

Our first home was Camp Santa Cruz, a beautiful Christian camp ground overlooking the ocean. We set this up as a back plan just in case we were unable to secure a more permanent dwelling. And so glad we did, we stayed there for 5 lovely days. It was truly a vacation for us and we enjoyed every minute of it. Grandma was with us and without her we would have sunk. She deserves more then a blue ribbon for all of the work she did for us. Thanks Debi!! Anywho, the living quarters where completely hilarious. The first two night we stayed in a dorm like set up. You walk into a great room with a ton of mismatched couches, recliners that may or may not work, a sad piano that provided much entertainment for the kiddos and a kitchen that provided us with a sink, refrigerator and microwave. On either side there where 3 rooms full of bunk beds and an enormous bathrooms with huge open showers. Wow, the kids eyes where as big as we had ever seen then. So many things to sit on, jump on, jump off of, bathe in, and then the question of where to sleep. The first night we had a little trouble with bed time, but come on, this was every kids dream!!! To them this was there new house and it was sooo cool. The next three night we stayed in a cottage. We had to downsize which was a bummer but we felt very cozy in our close quarters. We went from 48 beds to 3 in one day. The kids handled the disappointment with much decorum and frowns where quickly forgotten with a little stroll to the beach. The beach, we have discovered, has all sorts of magical power! The cottage was lacking in function, no bathrooms, no kitchen, no running water. We where ruffing it all right and we had so much fun doing it. It felt like a little happy rainbow was following us around and constantly filling us with happiness. We did, however, have access to a bathroom facility a short walk from our charming cottage and we where allowed to use the camps huge kitchen hall. We had the great pleasure the last couple of days to share the kitchen hall with a camp. It was a large group of high school aged kids who spoke no English and were friends with the devil. The Church that brought the kids did this camp a couple of times a year. They loaded a bunch of kids from the neighborhood, rented a huge greyhound-like bus and evangelized all weekend. I am pretty sure they where successful. Every meal was full of loud party music, dancing, and the most incredible food ever (we where fortunate to taste their dinner one night and oh my was it good, if I was a pagan, that meal would have definitely lifted the scales from my eyes). Abby commented a couple of times that the Mexican group sure knew how to party. All of our time at the camp was spent looking for a house to call our own. And it was definitely worth the wait!! When we pulled up to 315 Moosehead Drive we where sure that we had the wrong address, or at least the wrong price for the house. And then it all happened so fast and we are now all settled and what happened weeks ago feels like ages. So enough already, go and look at the pictures. And a little note about the pictures. My camera has sadly passed on. Things for our camera began to look bleak right before we left Spokane but when we arrived in Santa Cruz it was definitely the end for our little Sony digital. All of the pictures you shall enjoy are provided by Debi, my awesome mother-in-law. So thanks again Debi!!!!





the front of our new house, Cedric loves the rocks that it provides.



our backyard, the creek



the back of our house, the room you are looking at is now the playroom

the charming cottage that we stayed in


camp Santa Cruz



beautiful Zori

Abby and me out on the wharf


Zori and Jason


my favorite pic



the dorm, our first stay in Santa Cruz


too cute


this picture should actually be first. The first thing we did, I am talking before we ate or checked out our sweet spot at camp Santa Cruz, was a stop at the beach. Jason was stoked!! He ran for it and dived right into the freezing ocean. It made my heart skip a beat!