Welcome to the Krazy Kingdom: Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Welcome to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

For our field day for Camp Tonsofun, we took a short trip up to Santa Cruz to visit Trek's Auntie Marcene. We don't seen her really often, even though she lives only 40 minutes away, so it was a great time to go see her. She treated our whole family to an AWESOME day at the boardwalk.

The Boardwalk is right on the beach/pier of Santa Cruz & it's jam packed with fun carnival foods, rides, & games. Everywhere you looked there was SOMETHING FUN to do.

Cadence picked the first ride of the day. She wanted to ride a crazy fast spinny thing that Trek & I knew we'd puke on. Leave it to Cadence to pick something like that. Auntie got brave & did it with her.

But it was short lived. After about 1 minute of going round & round & round, Auntie flagged down the ride operator & got off before it could go backwards. Cadence didn't mind one bit. She rode it again, but by herself this time.

Taya was sure loving on Auntie this trip. . . & she LOVED it.

Next we made our way over to the airplanes. Lorien rode with Bladen.

Bladen is such a stud. What a cutie pie pilot.

Meanwhile, Taya was over at the whale ride having fun with Auntie.

Then we tackled the fearsome dragons.

Of course Bladen & Taya wanted to ride together, but the second they got on the ride & realized there was only ONE steering wheel, a fight broke out. It cracks me up that Taya still smiled for the picture while she wrestled Bladen for control of the ride.

Sweet little Lorien rode with Craiger. We weren't sure how he'd handle the ride, but we knew he was in good hands.

In the end Bladen won control of the dragon, but Taya realized it was fun just sitting & letting the wind blow through your hair. They LOVED this ride.

Craiger started out well. . .

But then FREAKED out when the ride started going up & down.

(Look at him SCREAMING in the pic below!)

Lorien did a great job keeping him safe while he cried though. It was really cute seeing her protect her baby brother.

After the dragons, we let the bigger girls ride the bumper cars together.

It was lunchtime so we all found a nice big table & sat down for some chicken nuggets, hot dogs, & fries.

Bladen REALLY loves food. He savors every bite. It cracks me up.

Craiger opted for the corn dogs & he ate them all REALLY fast. I should have known that the corn part would be eaten up, but the actual "DOGS" were scattered all over the ground. He HATES hot dogs.

After lunch, Auntie surprised us all with "Dippin Dots" ice cream. It was the highlight of my day.

(I LOVE ICE CREAM)

Bladen HATES ice cream. Yes, I know. He can't possibly be my kid right?

Well, he hates it with a passion, & when he saw the "dippin dots" he assumed it was candy. I couldn't help myself. I put a big spoonful in his mouth & got this reaction:

Nope, still doesn't like ice cream. At least I tried. He was all smiles once the ice cream melted & he swallowed.

Craiger on the other hand is DEFINITELY MY CHILD. He ate ALL of Auntie's ice cream. In fact, she had to go buy herself a 2nd one because he ate her 1st.

The entire time we were there, Taya kept eyeing the scary ride that takes you up high & drops you. I kept telling her it was too scary for her, but she met the height requirements & wanted to go SO badly, that I finally gave in.

Is it bad that I couldn't wait to ride it with her so I could get a good laugh when she decided it wasn't as fun as she thought it would be?

Well, we waited in a LONG line & right when we got up to the very front of the line, a little girl started fighting with her parents & to make them mad, she put her leg through the gate surrounding the ride. (I was watching all this play out before my eyes.) Well, she got her leg stuck in the gate & they had to shut the ride down while they sawed her out. I was SO BUMMED we waited in line SO LONG & then had to leave & come back later & wait in line again. But that's life for ya. You get what you get & you don't throw a fit. (The girl was fine in the end. They just had to saw the gate in half to get her leg out & then she was happy again.)

So, we went back later & waited again. This time we got on just fine. Taya was SO excited & SO happy to be riding a big girl ride.

So we went up, up, up & Taya was HAPPY.

Then they dropped us & she wasn't too happy anymore. I started laughing hysterically when she turned to me & said

"This ride is freaking me out. I don't like it."

She never cried, but she was scared to death.

Kudos to Taya though for riding a ride that even Cadence & Lorien didn't dare to ride.

After riding a ton of rides, we headed upstairs again to play some games. The kids found a game they liked where you throw a ball into a cup. You win no matter what, so we like that type of game. The girls each won a frog.

Once Bladen saw the girls' frogs, he decided he wanted a frog too. So he played as well.

"We have a WINNER."

Then we walked around to the other side of the boardwalk. There was a whole other set of kiddie rides on that side, so Auntie bought some MORE tickets & the kids got to ride some more.

Taya & Bladen LOVED the race cars.

And we found some more games too. The girls like shooting water onto the silly man's feet.

Lorien & Taya also tried throwing big baseballs at clown's teeth. They couldn't quite knock any down, but they had a BLAST trying.

While we played games, Trek & Cadence rode the big Pirate Ship ride.

At this point Craiger was ready to crash. He couldn't even stay upright on Trek's shoulders. He was a walking zombie.

But the highlight of everyone's day was the slushy stand. Auntie offered to buy the kids each a slushy so they got really excited. Auntie wanted one too, so she got hers first: a nice, big, red slushy. Then it was each of the girls' turns to create their own slushy flavors. As Taya was getting ready to fill her cup with a blue slushy, Auntie tipped her cup over on top of Taya's head without realizing it & red slushy went everywhere.

Poor Taya was covered in slushy goo. I felt so bad for her, but it was hilarious too. Luckily, she only cried for a split second & then started laughing with us. It was FUNNY.