After last Thanksgiving’s horrible drive home, we decided to do our California visit in the summertime this year. We went the first week of August.
We even decided to do something brave. We left very early in the morning – before the sun came up! We tried this years ago and all that happened was that we had cranky tired kids because they didn’t go back to sleep after we put them in the car. This time we got a tender mercy – they all fell asleep and slept for a couple of hours! It was so nice.
The boys are really quite good travelers. They seem to get along and aren’t too bad about “are we there yet?” Having a movie on definitely helps, too!
Grandma Jeanne got a new piece of exercise equipment and the boys took a lot of turns on it. We had to remind them “just one at a time” frequently! They’d go fast and come off red faced and other times just mosey along while watching tv.
Rusty declared himself Grandpa Brent’s seatbelt!
Our only “plan” for this vacation was a day at the beach. We like experimenting with different beaches, so this time we ended up at Seal Beach. There is a long dock/pier there that we took a walk along and watched the fishermen. One man didn’t seem really thrilled with his catch and was signalling that he needed some help. We stopped to see what was happening and he pulled up a ray! It took him a few minutes, be he finally got the hook out and released it back into the ocean. The boys thought that was cool!
Seal Beach was all about the waves.
It was definitely not a swimming beach but a wave jumping beach.
It wasn’t very crowded and the weather was perfect.
Some of us sit and dig in the sand more than we play in the water.
Rusty would be one of those.
I like going to the beach with this guy …
We had some boogie boards this time and they worked great with all those waves!
Ricky was in the water pretty much the entire time.
Bobby was fascinated with collecting shells.
Sigh. I love them.
Never turn your back on the ocean!
Billy was in boy heaven!
To say they had a good time would be an understatement.
I choose not to worry as much by making the younger three wear life jackets.
Bobby couldn’t really boogie board, but he thought he was a big kid, too!
We had a picnic lunch in between the fun. I handed Rusty his sandwich and he looked at it very critically then said, “Why is there a plant in it?” Apparently, I need to put lettuce on his sandwiches more often!
Couldn’t wait to get back to that ocean …
The big boys are so good at watching over their littlest brother.
I love a good pier!
I love these goofballs, too!
Family beach picture!
Another shot of the ray…
The next day we dressed up, ate lunch with Aunt Sheri, left the youngers with her, and took Ricky to the Redlands Temple to do some baptisms for the dead with family names. I took a turn being dunked as well. It was fun doing it together!
Love you, Aunt Sheri!
The rest of our trip was pretty much devoted to Grandpa Brent’s pool.
And some game playing.
My boys are fans of the water!
They get that from Kevin.
I enjoy the beach and pools, but I am just as content people watching from the side rather than actually getting wet. Maybe more so.
But I make an effort to get wet – for the boys’ sake.
Bobby pretty much ruled the hot tub area. It was his private pool.
Grandpa Brent came out to play and the boys loved that!
We went to a buffet for dinner one night.
Some good food and good conversation and good company.
We always wish our visits could last longer!
But duty calls and we have to head home. We tried leaving before sunrise again …
And the boys slept again!
It was so nice to have a peaceful and easy drive home! No snow or ice this year! We got home and unpacked and ate dinner at our own kitchen table! Not only was the vacation fabulous but it ended on a fabulous note, too!