So Cal

The Wednesday before we came out to California we went to my brother's house to meet their new dog, to see if our dog would play with theirs, and to pick up his little girl wet suits and boogie boards.  Since he has four daughters and two boats, he has wet suits in all sizes.  They're not using them this time of year, so we borrowed two for the beach.  Since we have the big mom-mobile, we had room for two boogie boards as well.
The dog meeting went really well, their new puppy - roughly the same age as our dog, is quite timid and submissive, but she opened up eventually and played very well with Kelso.  I think they'll be good friends, and she'll be someone he can play with when we all get together, and when they go on vacation.  So that worked well, but it did knock an evening out of my preparation for leaving.

Once we got here, of course I started remembering everything I forgot.  But I remembered the swimsuits and the Disneyland tickets, I guess that's what's really important.  Everything else can be purchased here.
The kids got right out on the beach after we got here and tried out the boogie boards.  It took us a little while to get the hang of them, but with Hubby and I holding them in the water then pushing them out in front of the waves it worked out quite well.  They only got dumped in a couple of times, and we were never so far away that we couldn't do a running through the surf rescue...  They had a ball and it is so cute to see them jump up and throw their fists up over their heads yelling their victory cries.

One of our traditions is to create some huge sand feet for someone shortly after we arrive on the beach.

Thing 2 was fascinated by the sea foam.    

Hubby and Thing 1 mastered the Boogie Board thing. He holds her while she gets ready for the wave, then he gives her a big push and rockets her out in front of it so she can ride it all the way up the beach.

We all piled in the car and drove to La Jolla for breakfast this morning.  Did I mention I love the new car, that is big enough to hold dogs, boogie boards, luggage and equipment for four people for a week, or six people?  (Not all at the same time, notice the cleverly placed "or.")  The four of us plus Grandma and Papa... it makes it so nice to all go somewhere.  Anyway, there is a place in La Jolla that makes these divine Lemon Ricotta pancakes.  

After breakfast we came back to the condo and Hubby worked while I took a nap, and the darling girls played with each other and didn't even whine terribly about going out on the beach until about 4:00 pm when I woke up.  We took them out and they had a ball... When they got cold we took them over to the condo pool, where they played and swam until they got cold, and then we put them in the hot tub where they played and swam until they got warm, and then we came back to the condo for a late dinner.
I feel guilty that we were not on the beach during the best part of the day, but I was pretty sure I was going to slip into a coma if I didn't get a nap.  We went out and boogie boarded some more, then Thing 1 built a sand castle as the sun set.