home is where the beach is

Every time I entertain thoughts about moving away from San Diego, I go down my list of things I would miss, things that keep me here. But honestly there's only ONE that I really don't know if I could do without.

La plage (the beach)!

Not just any beach...if I couldn't go to Mission Beach or Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach for many many years or ever again, I think I'd be okay. But La Jolla, specifically La Jolla Cove, I don't know if I could be happy being any farther away from than I am right now.

For me, it doesn't matter WHAT is going wrong...just being there is a cure for anything.

And when 5 people are stuck in the house together, huddled around the air conditioner, and it's getting hotter and hotter by the hour and you can't take it anymore..... the only thing to do to get some relief is go. to. the beach!  Asap.

Which is the situation we found ourselves in on the Saturday of 4th of July weekend. I didn't really want to go to the beach at all that weekend, because everyone else in San Diego would be there, but it was too hot to stay inland. It was our only option.

So we went and it was so pretty and the water was icy and the sand was soft and there weren't a hundred people there and clouds rolled in and we forgot all about the scorching temps back home.

The only un-fun part was when it was time to go home. :(

But we will be back again and again and again.

My favorite place on earth!!!

What on earth do people in non-coastal places do when it gets hot like that? Pools and sprinklers are great but it's not the same.

The girls (mostly Arissa) have been asking and asking and asking to go for another tandem ride. So last weekend we headed to Coronado. It was SUCH a beautiful, picture-perfect day.

The first step was to get the proper gear on, of course:

Then we headed out:

I got to sit back and relax since Jesse was there to help pedal.

Mallory was sneaky and brought along a stow-away:

The girls already want to do it again. I wonder if it would be a better investment to buy our own bike. Hm. But I doubt the experience would be the same, riding along through Lemon Grove as opposed to Coronado....

On Saturday, Arissa went to a 6-hour birthday party.

While she was at that, Grandma took M&M to the beach!

Then on Sunday we traded places.

M&M went to a Luau birthday party:

And while they were doing that, Arissa & I hit the beach:

It was SUCH a perfect day.

It was warm, but there was a light cloud-cover so the sun wasn't beating down on us. The clouds covered up only the beach....there was a very distinct beginning and end to them. You step on the boardwalk, it was sunny. Step onto the sand, cloudy. :o)

Arissa did her best to make a sandcastle, even though neither of us had the foresight to bring a bucket or shovel or anything of the sort.

The water was soooo cold but we did go in just a little bit.

We found shells, and watched all the people. I laid on our towel and soaked up the sun....which I haven't done since I was probably 19! It was so nice.

Then Arissa kicked up some sand right by my face and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get it all out of my mouth. :o)

She thought it was pretty funny.

Such a fun time, and a beautiful day.

For me, relaxing at the beach (just laying there listening to the waves) is as rejuvinating as a 3-hour nap.

Not to underestimate the power of a 3-hour nap, cause I do love those too!

It would really be much more convenient if we lived right on the beach, preferrably in La Jolla, because we end up going there so often. It would really save me a lot of gas and time.

How to make it happen.... I wonder if it's too late for Jesse to become a pediatric surgeon, and me to become a lawyer? Hm.

Last Friday, before I spent 2 hours putting Arissa's hair in curlers for a parade the next day, we went to the beach. Most normal people like to be at the beach when it's warm and dry, blue skies and all that. Me (being abnormal), my favorite time to be there is when it's like it was on Friday evening....cloudy and cool. So when those clouds rolled in on Friday afternoon, we hit the road (in Nana's car cause she's out of town...but she doesn't need to know about that).

We didn't do a whole lot, or even spend a large amount of time, but it was such perfect weather it was just nice to be there, taking it all in.

We walked, we explored the tide pools and found crabs & fish & the usual inhabitants, we tried to find good spots to pose for & take pictures...

(Look at Arissa's face...she totally doesn't trust me to not put them in a spot where a wave won't crash on them!)

Once she was away from the cliff and safe from the waves, she could smile normally:

We walked north to the Children's Pool and watched the sea lions do their thing.

"Their thing" is that they lay there.

Then occasionally, one will take off running ("scooting", really...but I call it running) and make us all laugh.

Or they make funny faces and scratch themselves,

or they twitch and shudder while their dreaming and Jesse surmises what they could be dreaming of and makes us all laugh.

We 'oo and ah' over the baby ones, Jesse makes up deep voices for the older, fatter ones and imagines what they might say if they could speak, and makes us laugh.

Mallory wants to go give them hugs; Arissa makes a face and covers her nose cause they stink.

The waves get bigger and closer by the minute, and each time they crash I think about how ironic it would be to be standing in this most perfect picture-taking spot, and then have my camera get ruined by a wave.

Soooo we quickly walked off the little pier and back up to the road. There was a wedding about to start, in the spot I've always wanted to have my wedding if I was a little bit wealthier and better at life-planning:

and so we took a few moments to watch the wedding party as they took their pre-wedding photos.

(And I took the opportunity to muse outloud to the girls about how if you go to college and plan things wisely, you too can have a beaufitul wedding in the fanciest white dress ever made, in La Jolla where all your guests are shuttled in, complete with a string quartet and on-site flourist! They kinda just rolled their eyes but that's ok.)

Then, because the girls were turning purple and shivering, we hiked back to our (Nana's) car and drove home.

Perfect "day at the beach" to me....way better than any hot, blue-skied August day when all the other "normal" people are crowding the sand and parking spots!

Torrey Pines makes it worth it

I really wanted to take a walk on Saturday morning.

But my usual routes through the streets of Lemon grove weren't enough to get me motivated, out of bed, tennis shoes on.

I remembered the hike that Jesse and I took awhile back, for his birthday. And I thought "now that was exercise, and that was fun".

It was lots of fun.

You hardly notice you're working up a sweat when there's such beauty all around you.

So we got in the car, all 5 of us, and went.

Then:

and now:

The funny thing was, when Jesse and I (two grown, able-bodied adults) went, we hiked one single trail (there are several) and though it was a work-out, it was all on top of the mountain with a slight incline here and there.

Got our hearts pumping, but didn't feel like hardly any more than a leisurely walk.

However, when we took our three little ones, with short little legs and low-tolerances for discomfort, we hiked the more strenous trail which goes from the very top to the very bottom of the mountain, ending up right smack on the beach.

I gravitate toward the beach anyways....love love LOVE the beach. So as we were hiking along, and we could see it, we wanted to keep going till we got there. Plus going downhill is easy-peasy. :o) So we kept going.

Not until we got to this point, the very bottom, did I look up behind me and go "Hm. This might be a challenge to hike back up". :o)

I asked the girls & Jesse "you think we can make it back up?".

They were confident:

But before we attempted it, we played around on the beach a little bit.

Arissa found a heart-shaped rock:

We walked along really narrow slabs of cliff and rock and sand to get around a bend and down to a deserted part of the beach. It was awesome. I wish we could have stayed the rest of the day. Unfortunately, we had a "party" to rush home and get ready for that never materialized.

But enough about that. Water under the bridge, not bitter at all. :o)

Anyways, Torrey Pines was beautiful, the hike made us feel alive, Arissa touched a baby snake, Jesse tried to pick it up with chopsticks, there was only minimal complaining all around, and we made it back up the mountain.

Good times.

spring break

The girls had two weeks off for Spring Break this year.

Two weeks!

I put together little gift bags to send with the girls to Nana's:

(aka: working-mother guilt packages)

I just found lots of little crafts, books, and activities, wrapped them all up and stuck notes on them indicating which day to open them.


I've loved getting phone calls every day with "thank you Mama for the craft!" and seeing what they made when I get home. :o)

I also got them each a workbook: math for Mariah & Mallory, writing skills for Arissa. I got them a grade ahead of the one they're in (1 grade for Mallory, 2nd for Mariah, and 5th for Arissa), hoping it would challenge them. They each felt a little proud that I thought they were capable of doing work meant for the grade above them. :o)

Spring Break is supposed to be warm and sunny beachy weather. But with one or two exceptions, it was kind of mostly cool and cloudy (which I prefer!). But I hear in other places there's snow on the ground, so I guess our version of "Spring" isn't so shabby. :o)

We packed up the car one day and headed out to put this thing to good use:

I love that kite.

I've had it since I was maybe Arissa's age. I've always loved the colors and even though it's simple, it's been a really good kite.

We took turns flying it....

....except for Mariah, who did this:

....and I wanted to join her....it was cold! It was super windy, which is good of course for kite-flying...but it was just so super chilly for us.

My poor sweet kite was no match for those winds.

He was fragile already, due to his age and materials....we could tell he wasn't his old self because although he'd catch wind and float way up, he'd spiral down a few moments later.

And then, eventually, he broke and wasn't structurally sound enough to keep flying, and had to be laid to rest. :o(

So we got in the car and drove to Seaport Village to check out the kite shop there.

On the way, we saw this sign (which ever-observant Arissa pointed out)

and we all had a good laugh:

:o)

At Seaport Village we just bummed around.

And spent every last penny (literally) that I had, on this:

and this:

Those kids have never met a carousel they didn't like!

:o)

Same with Jesse and this:

:o) j/k