California: The Beach

We left B-town for a couple of days at the beach in Laguna Niguel. Our friends live there and were so nice to let all of us come stay at their house. I'm sure by the time we left they fully regretted that invitation - she is pregnant (didn't know), we have four kids, Zach threw up in her son's bed, girls coughed up a lung all night long. I felt awful about our stay there, but also so grateful to get to stay in such a nice home and go to definitely the best beaches I have ever visited in California. This place was so gorgeous. 

We spent the first day on the beach. All day. Beautiful, soft, white sand and clear, nice water. We had a splendid day letting the kids play in the sand and water. So fun. It was one of the best days.

Victory!! Wimpy Scott was FINALLY able to get in the water up to his chest! He doesn't handle cold water well. 

Kids covering every inch of their bodies in sand. Never been happier.

Hairy chest.

The next day in Laguna Niguel was cloudy and a bit cooler, so we went to check out the tide pools our friends like to go to. Brielle and Ava were fascinated. They wanted to go further and further out. Zach wanted to stay right up close by the rocks. And I wanted to make sure none of our kids were swept out to sea forever. They got to touch all kinds of creatures in those rocks. We even saw some of the biggest and brightest star fish we've ever seen.

Zachy finally ventured out to touch . . . . the sand. So adventurous. 

Presenting . . . a sea urchin.

The clouds didn't clear, but we hit the beach the rest of the day anyway. The waves were CRAZY. They were huge and I was terrified. Even the life guard was on edge. He was asking us if we'd seen any earthquakes in the news that morning. And then, our own Brielle decided to head out for some wave tag.

We headed up to a cute beachy town for some of the best cheese pizza. This poor man carted all our gear around all day from tide pools to beach to lunch and back to beach.

We ended the day watching tons of surfers out at another beach. We loved it there.

After two fabulous days at the beach we had to load up and hit the long, dusty, hot road home. Kate kept us quite entertained though. She was hell-bent on getting Zach's superman undies on and thought she was totally hilarious! 

What a great trip!