At the Easter party Ethan's class got to have a little parade around school and sing a song for the principal. 
And it's a dash to gather Easter eggs...
Evie was so happy to find an egg with pink hearts on it. 
Joel was able to take an early lunch from work and join the party for a bit. Ethan was soooo happy to see Joel. He stayed glued on his leg for a long time.
Evie and her best friend Peyton
Evie having a marshmallow treat at one of the games
Joel obviously won the water balloon toss...
Evie helped put together the veggie plate for her Easter party at school. The kids are both really helpful with preparing food. I love their help in the kitchen. Evie took such time and care arranging the veggie flowers. 
The kids asked if I could make them a cast on their leg so they could color them so we just used some paper and tape. I certainly hope we don't need casts anytime soon. They love to play doctor and fix each other up. Playing doctor sparked this idea...
The kids had their first field trip with Good Shepherd school to the Children's Museum in Monterey. We arrived a bit early so we had time for a treat at the bakery across the street.
Evie and Ethan's class listening to instruction before being let loose...
Ethan and his buddy Ethan. They both started school on the same day and their birthday's are only one day apart. Mrs. Sue said they are best buds and that they are glued at the hip at school.
Who can resist being in a huge bubble.
The museum was nice but surprisingly about half the size of the Lincoln museum, maybe smaller. The kids had a fun time with their classmates and it was fun for me to see who their buddies are and meet some of the parents too.
We stayed at the museum for a few hours and after lunch with their class we walked down the street a few blocks to the Dennis the Menace park we heard a lot about. 
This was the water fountain. I'm not sure the kids weren't even thirsty...I think they just had fun drinking from a lion's mouth.
Denis the Menace with my two menaces...
After the park we walked across the street to have a snack on the beach before heading back to Santa Cruz. 
The sea lions were active and really close to the shore. The kids enjoyed watching them.
On our way home we stopped at a fruit/veggie stand to pick up some fresh goodies. It's hard not to be spoiled by all the fresh produce. 
Here are a few pictures from Natural Bridges State Park. It was a very very very windy day and the wind was cold coming off the water but the kids ran until they were tired and didn't mind getting wet or being windblown. 
The kids are like little puppies when you let them out of the car they just run in circles like they have been trapped.
Joel and Evie are watching the seal and surfers just past the rocks.
The natural bridge at Natural Bridges State Park...
The rock formations were interesting. Some rough and some smooth. This one was a perfect stair step for the kids to climb and a smooth slide for them to go down.
The kids had fun running in the shallow drainage water. We assumed it was warm water since it was shallow and since the kids didn't mind getting soaked but it was freezing. At least the same temp as the ocean water. 
The kids were playing in the shallow water just to the right of Joel in this picture. It was a nice chance for us to chill.
We found some tide pools that had a lot of interesting marine life. Joel is feeding a sea anemone a muscle he broke open.
Joel found the kids a huge starfish 
We took a different path back to our car. The kids stopped to watch this big swan in a pond. The swan actually quickly swam to the side and started walking towards the kids. It was viscous and huge. I think it could have eaten Ethan for lunch. It was as big as he was. We obviously kept moving. We are used to feeding the geese in NE and CO so the kids were interested and not afraid when he came out of the water...and then he stretched his neck and opened his wings and he was HUGE. The biggest one I have ever seen - I bet he was at least 50 pounds. 
