Which beach do you want to go to today?

We went to the beach a lot last month. It's a great way to get away from the heat, since it's typically 30-40 degrees cooler on the coast during the summer.

What we love about living here is the variety of beach options. First we decide what we're in the mood for. Morro Bay is one of our favorites because there's lots to do there, such as running down sand dunes and visiting the shell shop and eating salt water taffy. Plus it's good for kayaking and riding bikes, if we're feeling ambitious.

Another favorite is Hearst Beach. The weather is often nicer than surrounding beaches because it's more inland. It will be socked in all the way there, and then the fog will clear and we'll arrive at sunny blue skies. No wonder Randolph Hearst chose to build his castle there. Last time we went there we saw a huge herd of wild zebras on the way home. That's always fun.

And it has a natural breaker, so the waves don't get too dangerous. It's not good for surfing, but it's usually perfect for boogie boarding.

I love the sky in this one. That strip of land behind the pier is the natural breaker. It's a nice hike.

 We like to go to the beach whenever family visits. My brother Josh and his family came for a long weekend.

Such cute boys!

Someone usually wants to get buried. 

Chloe is such a good beach baby.

I think this was a pretty cold day at the beach. You never know, so we always pack sweatshirts just in case.

 Some people manage to get sand in every orifice.

  

I don't usually go to the beach without adult help, especially with a baby. It's just too much work, and I worry I'll lose someone. But we went to Morro Bay after dentist appointments one day and didn't go near the water. We had a picnic lunch at the park and climbed sand dunes. 

This is one of my favorite happy places.

 Pay no attention to the signs that say, "Do not climb."

While we were relaxing and watching the waves from a distance, we saw a tour group. So we listened in and learned a bunch of stuff about Morro Bay and the wildlife that lives on and around the rock. I can't remember anything specific right now, but Spencer got excited about it.

As I look at these pictures, I remember feeling so completely relaxed before school started. Now our afternoons and evenings are busy with homework and scouts and Back-To-School Nights - all important things, but I just loved having my family and our schedule all to ourselves.

Waiting for Christmas

I had a doctor's appointment two days before Christmas. The boys were off school, so I took them all with me and dropped them off at Dave's work to hang out while I was at the appointment. Then we tried to think of something fun to do, since we were out and all. They were all very excited about Christmas, and we needed to do something to keep our minds off of it. We finally decided on the Morro Bay Museum.

We ate our packed lunch and enjoyed a gorgeous sunny day. It's often nicer there in the winter than in the summer.

There was a big mural outside the museum, and they got a little silly posing for pictures.

Afterwards we went on a little hike next to the museum. Everyone looked nice (I told them they had to shower and look decent, since they were going to Dave's work), so we took some pictures.

They were looking a bit shaggy, though, and I have since given Tyler and Dallin haircuts.

We learned at the museum that the rock we climbed was actually spewed out of the volcano that formed Morro Rock millions of years ago. It looked like a miniature version.

Here's a belly shot. I had another doctor's appointment today, and they told me I'm measuring small. In fact I haven't grown in 2 weeks (and they said I was too small then), so they ordered another ultrasound. I think I just carry my babies low, because they often tell me this. I hope everything's okay.

Jellyfishing!

The last night before Emily's family left to go back to Utah and Spencer and I flew back East, we all went out for fish and chips in Morro Bay.
After dinner everyone ended up down at the water catching gobs of tiny jellyfish (not the kind that stings).

Then we drove down to the park at the end of the embarcadero, and the big kids ended up down at the water again, looking at big jellyfish.

We stayed a really long time, not wanting to say goodbye. The kids played at the park and the adults chatted.

Luke and Levi love Jonathan's longboard. Big brothers/cousins are so cool.

We sure miss these fun people. Why do we all have to live so far away from each other?

Our Staycation

We had a last minute change of plans over spring break. Dave took a few days off work, and we were going to go up to gold country near Sacramento. I've been wanting to go there ever since my parents went last year and I read an article about it in Family Fun. But we decided the day before we left that it wasn't a good time because some of the things we wanted to do are only available on weekends. Plus we couldn't take Levi down into the gold mines because he's too young, so one of us would have to miss that too. So we ended up cancelling all our reservations and doing a "staycation" instead. We listed all the things around here we love to do or have always wanted to do, and we planned out each day.

The first night we went to the Sunset drive-in theater in SLO and watched Rio (super cute) and Rodrick Rules. We left Levi with Kristen and loaded up the back of the Suburban with blankets, pillows, popcorn, chips and soda. It was such a fun night! Sunday was a recovery day, since we didn't get home 'till midnight. Then on Monday we went to our favorite place: Morro Bay.

In order to make this feel like a real vacation, we pretended like we were out of town. Dave set up the tent in the backyard, and the boys slept out there every night. We left first thing in the morning and went to Bob's Big Boy for the breakfast buffet. In fact we ate at a restaurant 1-2 times every day! It was wonderful. Heck, we were saving all that hotel money, so we really lived it up.

After breakfast we headed down to the embarcadero and went to the Shell Shop, where Spencer bought a shark tooth necklace.

Then we went over to the bay and watched this sea otter eat his breakfast.

I don't care if they are pests that have all but wiped out the abalone population, they are stinkin' cute. We don't see them here too often, so this was a lot of fun.

Next we drove over to the Harbor Patrol dock and watched a seal.

Or maybe it was a sea lion. I never can tell. (Spencer just informed me it's a sea lion)

Levi loves birds, and there were lots for him to go nuts over.

Then we went over to the bike path and rode scooters and roller blades.




Mostly I walked slowly with Levi and took pictures.

Then we put the scooters away and unloaded the kayaks.

They did races around the buoys.

Levi did amazingly well for missing his nap every day.

After they were done kayaking they climbed around the rocks and cliffs.

And Spencer can't go to the beach without finding some kind of sea animal.

Brennan had no interest in going out in the kayak, but he had fun pulling them out of the water.

We had a late lunch at Giovanni's. We used an online "double take" deal where you spend, say, $10 and get $20 worth of food at a local restaurant; it's at http://www.couponclipper.com/. Then we got salt water taffy and parked on the ocean side of the rock. There's nothing like eating taffy and watching the waves - it's become a bit of a tradition. When we came home we had a campfire in the backyard and roasted hot dogs, snake bread and marshmallows for s'mores.