This house was perfect for two families with kids - the parents had their own rooms and the 4 kids stayed in the bunk room. The house was perfectly located for us to ride our bikes to the beach. Natural Bridges State Beach was the closest and a great beach to hang out on and great for body boarding - but definitely had the roughest waves. There are other beaches in the opposite direction that aren't too far by bike as well, that are much calmer - these beaches allow dogs as well. We even rode our bikes to the pier which ended up being a 6 mile round trip ride. The kids had a blast seeing the sea lions at the end of the pier. The location was perfect for us to do a morning bike ride/beach excursion for a couple of hours, come back to the house for lunch, let the kids decompress for a couple of hours, go back out for a sunset beach excursion and come back for dinner.
Overall a great location away from the crowds. As far as the house goes, as already noted the house was great for two families. The kids basically stayed in their bedroom when at the house - between their own screens and the TV with VCR in the bedroom. The main living room was nice for decompressing at night and there is a small room off the kitchen that another group could hang out in. The outside was a great hang out with the fire pit in the evenings. The only recommendations I would make is in the kid's room, the mattress on the bottom bunk was extremely worn to the point where you could feel the springs and very uncomfortable for the kids sleeping on it. If you don't want to get a new mattress I would suggest getting a foam mattress cover. The other recommendation I have is to get a couple of cheap fans to put in the bedrooms and keep in the closet. While Santa Cruz is normally very cool, we were there during one of the hottest weekends and it was very hot in the bedrooms at night. Keeping cheap fans in the closet for use when needed would be great.
All in all, a great vacation and we would definitely go back!