Santa Cruzin'

We had a super busy fun-filled week exploring our new city!

Last Sunday evening, we went for a walk to/around campus. This pedestrian bridge by our house goes over the busy street. What a view of the ocean! An LDS neighbor stopped us on our walk to give us a plate of cookies they were trying to deliver to us - nice!

We see deer everyday here, since we live in the forest. They aren't scared of people, and sometimes we accidentally come upon them at very close range. Here are two we saw eating by one of the college buildings. We have one that eats in our backyard almost every day. Alice usually sees them and points them out to us before we notice them ourselves!

We continued our walk through campus, and mostly you just see these beautiful tall redwood trees all over. You can hardly see the buildings from the road. It was cool and dark and magical! Paul says it's like going to school in a national park.

He speaks for the trees!

On Monday, we tried out the laundry room. It's expensive, but at least you can load your money onto a card rather than dealing with quarters. It also has a free clothes bin, where we found a few pairs of used shoes for the girls. Then we ventured out to Target to find a wireless router. The Target here is brand new, two levels (complete with elevator, escalator, and a cart escalator), and has a parking garage. It was nice, and the wireless internet router works great! We also got our cell signal booster in the mail that day. Paul got it all set up, and we've been using it all week, but it's very unreliable, so we plan to send it back. That evening, a neighbor invited us to a potluck BBQ with a bunch of the other kindergarten families in the complex. The girls had fun playing with the other kids. I've never seen so many veggie burgers and portabello mushrooms!

On Tuesday, we got all dolled up for kindergarten registration. Here I am at 30 weeks.

Cute sisters.

We had just enough time for a story before heading to the shuttle station. The UCSC shuttle loop bus is free, and the bus stop is really close to our house, but you sometimes have to wait a while for one to come. Then it's a short ride about 1.5 miles down the hill, and a .4 mile walk to the school. Overall it takes 1 to 1.5 hours to take Grace to or from school (half hour to wait for bus/ride/walk, some time in the classroom, and half hour to walk/wait for bus/ride home). 

Grace's new school!

Grace loved her new classroom. We were the first ones there just as the teacher got there. We got a chance to talk to her for a few minutes, then the girls played.

Grace read a book to Alice, and was pretty shy when other kids showed up. We met a lot of parents, and the teacher seems really nice and fun. Grace has 24 kids in her class, of many different races/ethnicities. 

That evening, Alice was happy to find her "Bobotch stroller". We had FHE about having a good attitude about change. Then Paul dedicated the apartment, and gave Grace a father's blessing. Alice wanted one too, so I didn't want to be left out. It was nice to all get blessings as we start our new life. 

 Wednesday was the first day of school. Paul and I got up at 6:30, and we got the girls up at 7. They were really tired, but so cute in their curlers!

 I can't believe Alice's stayed in!

 First day of kindergarten breakfast: cinnamon sugar toast, pears, and apple juice.

 Alice was pretty out of it.

 But she was really happy when she saw how her curls turned out!

Happy first day of kindergarten, Grace! New shirt, new shoes, new headband. She was so excited!

 We took the shuttle with tons of other Westlake parents. We were a little early, so Grace practiced the monkey bars.

 Walking into the kindergarten building. Grace's school is lots of small buildings.

 She has a special place to hang her stuff. She takes a snack to school everyday, but doesn't eat lunch there.

 She put on her nametag, and found the drawing station.

 Some other girls came and sat by her, and soon most everyone from family student housing had joined her. Grace is one of 5 girls in the class that lives in our complex.

 Paint droplets.

 Circle time.

 Sorry about the lighting, but this sign is right by our bus stop!

 Alice didn't like leaving her sister.

 But she didn't complain when we took her to a cheap donut shop after visiting the WIC office. We picked Grace up at 12:10 (Wednesdays are "minimum days", so they get out 15 minutes early), and both girls almost fell asleep on the bus home. They were SO tired out!

 That evening after Alice's nap, we went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. It's about 4 miles from our house. We drove to the free parking streets, then took a long walk along the ocean.

 It was so pretty, and the weather was so cool!

 As we walked past the pier, we heard barking. Alice was scared when we told her there were sea lions, because she thought we meant lions, so we called them seals instead. Look how close we got to them!

 Good view of the boardwalk.

We saw this amazing octopus sand sculpture.

 Grace wanted to get close to the ocean.

 We walked around the boardwalk, which is basically like a state fair, but all summer long. It had rides and food stands and games and stuff. We packed ourselves a small dinner, but left room for dessert.

 We tried the deep fried twinkies, as well as the deep fried oreos. I wasn't impressed with either one.

 Grace got tired out, so joined Alice in the stroller.

 They were interested in the rides, but didn't beg to actually ride them.

 We were heading home when Grace suddenly decided she wasn't tired anymore, and wanted to play in the sand. Alice happily joined her.

 Boardwalk in the background.

 Cool sailboats.

 Grace loved the waves!

 Happy beach girl.

 Mesmerized.

 Obligatory footprint shot.

Alice was less impressed, and didn't want to go near the water or take her shoes off. She kept wanting Grace to get away from the water. She's gotten scared of a lot of things lately.

 We finally talked the girls into heading home. We got one last picture by the sign.

 And a final view of the full moon over the bay with all the sailboats. It was a fun evening.

 On Thursday, I took Grace to school on the shuttle, just the two of us. It was cold. She wore her new Alice in Wonderland shirt, and got a cute picture at the bus stop.

 I left her at the coloring table, then headed home.

 After that, Paul, Alice, and I went to campus in hopes of getting Paul's financial aid figured out, and getting his ID card and stuff. We didn't have much success with our errands, but we had a nice walk around campus, and really enjoyed the bookstore.

 Oh, and we saw a deer sitting around. Then we grabbed lunch at a cheapo pizza place on campus, I took Alice home for a nap, and Paul got Grace from school. After Alice's nap, we had an apartment orientation.

 Then we went to the library. It's small, but nice, and we all got library cards. That night, Paul and I watched the BYU football game on TV. So fun!

 On Friday, we were too late for the bus, so we drove Grace to school. It was okay, but we had to park in the nearby church parking lot. Then Paul re-covered Alice's ripped-up carseat with a cover I found in the free laundry pile. Alice's loves it!

 Then we played wiffle ball in the backyard.

 Keep your eye on the ball!

 Daddy/daughter time!

I took Alice with me to pick up Grace. She doesn't mind waiting for the bus. On the way home, I made a friend on the shuttle, who gave me some fresh produce he just bought at a farmer's market. I had an awesome tomato sandwich for lunch!

 That evening, we ate pizza and watched Cinder-Elmo (skip it!), and then walked to a nearby field to play wiffle ball.

 Alice was a cute little ball retriever.

 She was glad for the batting practice she'd had earlier.

 On the way home, we stopped at a sandbox with a digger.

 Paul had to show us how it's done.

 Then I secretly set the tent up in the girls' room while Paul bathed them. Alice did not want to be photographed.

 They were very excited, but Alice bothered Grace a lot, so they didn't sleep well. Paul and I played Monopoly Deal for hours that night.

 On Saturday, we drove 1.5 hours to the Oakland temple. It was cold! The girls liked the fountain.

 Such a huge old temple! It was really cool, and like a maze inside.

 Paul and I took turns doing initiatories and tending the girls in the visitor's center.

 The visitor's center has an amazing view! We went to the distribution center, then found a Wal-Mart on the way home. Wow, it was so ghetto and understocked and understaffed and cramped, and then my credit card got denied (I guess the credit card company didn't think I'd shop at a place like that!), and Alice was tired and grouchy, and by the end of it we were all grouchy! That evening, Paul and I hung pictures.

Mom sent some old (like from when I was little) dresses for Grace. She fell in love with this one! Happy Sunday, all!