Day 7: The beach & a visit with a dear friend...

Monday, August 21ST...

I'll be honest, now that I'm trying to write this post 3 months after the fact, I can't recall all that we did this day but I know whatever it was, it kept up busy. I do remember taking naps with the boys...  It was really the first time any of us got any sort of nap in during our trip.  I needed it and my boys desperately NEEDED it!  We usually work naps into our daily schedule, so to forfit naps for a week was like playing a game of roulette.  I never knew when to expect one or all of my boys to have one of their meltdowns in public due to exhaustion.

Early Monday morning, I drove the boys, my niece Paresa and myself back down to Windansea beach to meet one of my best friends/mission companion, Lacy. 

She'd been on vacation to San Diego from Texas with her family during the same time I was in town, so we arranged at the last minute to meet up.  It was nice to chat with her, while my boys played in the sand.  Her little dude, who is Ian's age, played a bit with my boys too and her husband Jason, did an excellent job on duty as lifeguard!  Thanks Jason!

There a very few things I can think of that look cuter than board shorts on little boys!

After Lacy and her family left, I stuck around at the beach for a little bit longer.  I HEART the beach!  I could have spent all day there if I didn't feel pulled to go elsewhere.  My boys ALL LOVED the beach too and this REALLY made me gleeful!  They spent hours building sandcastles, chasing squirrels in the sand, wading through the small surf--- I'm convinced there isn't any better playground on earth than the beach/ocean itself!  I've never asked Spencer if we could move to my hometown of San Diego because I've always known it's just too expensive, especially for a family of our size... but I'll tell ya, if there was some way Spencer could make a couple of million dollars--- the first thing we'd do is buy a beach house in La Jolla, P.B. or Bird Rock.  My boys and I would spend EVERY SPARE MINUTE OF EVEY DAY, at the beach! I LOVE it there!  The mountains in Utah are gorgeous- I'll say that much, but they can't replace the ocean I grew up with!  Until Spencer makes his millions of dollars, enough to move us to San Diego, I guess I'll have to settle with spending a couple of weeks of every summer visiting my family in San Diego, sending my boys to zoo summer school at The San Diego Zoo and enroll them in surf camps, along with life guarding camps.  We may live in Utah, but sun and surf run through my boys veins!

Does this sight make anyone else giddy other than me???

 Bentley enjoyed playing in the sand, 

but he REFUSED to let me take off his sandals!

Cohen would make a great little beach bum... 

he reminds me of the 11x Surfing World Champion, Kelly Slater.  

It must be his shaved head, his dark tan and his eyes...

they both have the same dreamy gray, green, blue eyes.

Atticus was no stranger to the sand...

I brought home to Utah a whole car seat full of sand!

I wanted to introduce the 3 older boys to boogie boarding while we were in San Diego, but I didn't dare after I spoke with my brother Jeff, and learned that there had been all sorts of unusual cRaZy strong rip currents off the beach where swimmers waded.  Maybe next time?!  Besides, maybe it's a good thing I didn't go out with them- it was only one day AFTER we left San Diego that there was a Great White Shark siting off the shore in Mission Beach (only about 1 mile or 2 from Windansea)... lifeguards closed down the beach that day and the next because the shark was spotted again!  THEN, the week AFTER we'd returned home to UTAH, ANOTHER Great White Shark was spotted again, for a 3RD time near where kids and swimmers are by the Children's Cove in La Jolla (not even half a mile from where we had been!)  We could have been shark bait!!!  Not cool.

The boys were chasing this squirrel back into the ice plant. 

From behind, they looked like a mob of mini little surfers, 

staking out their part of the beach, 

telling the squirrel to take off- "or else"!...

I LOVE this picture... 

I think it's print and frame worthy!  

Classic shot of the boys checking out the surf from up above.

I'm not sure exactly at what point during the day, I took this picture of Atticus, but imagine it was either after our trip to the beach OR after a blow out... your guess is as good as mine, but either way, he looks content huh?  Yeah, even he was loving vacation!