Day 14: The beach, again... family time at the park & a quick stop by the temple...

Monday, August 28TH...

Again, we kept things pretty low key on this day...  We were so busy and all over the place the first week of vacation--- my body was begging me to take things at a slower pace and the boys needed a little break from all the stimulants at amusement parks! Besides- nothing, and I mean NOTHING beats a day at the beach!  It's free, it's fun, the weather was perfect, the scenery is to die for AND we spotted one sea lion and two dolphins swimming by along the shore!!!  I really wanted to take the boys boogie boarding or out on a longboard to experience surfing for the first time on this trip, but the waves were always a little choppy and my brother told me that there were unusually strong rip currants along the coastline that I probably didn't want to mess with, especially having the boys in the water with me.  So, surf lessons will have to wait until our next trip down there.  Besides, the day after we left, there were two Great White Shark sightings along Mission Beach- which is only about a mile and a half down the coastline from Windansea where the boys and I played.  I read they actually had to shut down the beach there for two days due to the sighting, which is cRaZy cuz that NEVER happens.  A week after we returned home to Utah, there was a 3RD Great White Shark sighting just up the coast by La Jolla Cove which is only half a mile or so from Windansea--- so who knows, perhaps if I DID flirt with disaster and took the boys out surfing, we could have all been shark bait!!!

Anyhow, my mom went with us to the beach on this particular day {My niece Paresa went too.  She pretty much went everywhere with us while I was vacationing.  My boys absolutely LOVE her and she was the extra hand I needed on a daily outings}. I can't recall my mom going to the beach with us since I was just a young kid... I remember always walking along Torry Pines Beach with her on Sunday afternoons- picking up the smooth beach pebbles. I guess it doesn't really matter though- we had a pool in our backyard- so if she wanted to swim she could just swim there... but then again- I can't remember ever seeing her swim!  Hmm, so maybe she doesn't know how to swim!?!  You know, that's something I've never asked her. No, that's just silly. I'm sure she does- I've seen pictures of her in our pool, from like before I was ever born, but perhaps she just doesn't LOVE the water quite as much as I do.  I might be part mermaid.  Just kidding.  Okay, seriously... I think the last memory I have of her at the beach was when I was 10... that's like 20 years ago!!!  Funny fact: I told my sister Trish that mom went with me and the boys to the beach and she totally thought I was lying!!!  Poor Mamma.  I've heard all sorts of stories about how she used to be a hot beach babe when she was my age and younger--- but the idea of grandma at the beach?!  Well, I guess it's not something we ever imagined.

My boys had no idea just how lucky they were to have grandma there at the beach with them!!!

Either way, I was glad my mom came along--- My boys LOVED showing her the sand castles they built and it's an image of my boys I hope she never ever forgets.  I tried to get some pictures of all the boys together at the beach--- the idea was brilliant but I couldn't quite pull it off like I had hoped to. Bummer!  I must had taken at least a hundred pictures and not.a.single picture has all of the boys looking at the camera at the same time! 

Poor baby Atticus... 

The boys still really don't know how to help him sit up.  

In half the pictures I took this day at the beach, he was crumpled over!

Perhaps the boys just weren't expecting Atticus to weigh so much!

In this picture below, 

I have to laugh because Atticus reminds me of Jabba the Hutt.  

He's such a chunk and his bald head certainly doesn't help for that matter!

Cohen and his sandy crack! LOL! We saw a lot of that during our trip.

I'm not exactly sure WHAT I was day dreaming about here in this picture above...

Probably fantasizing about the day when I'll actually get to lay out and sunbathe!!!

We went to the beach a lot during this trip, 

and I spent a lot of time by our pool and at the water park over the summer

but not once did I ever get a chance to sunbathe.

Not with a baby and 4 other busy, active little boys.

Nope.

I think I was a life guard among many other things this past summer.

Someday, I'll get the chance to worship the sun again like I used to.

Someday...

I met all of my family at the park later that afternoon/evening to eat dinner and let the boys run and play with their cousins.  I thought it was funny, because I saw a sign that cautioned folk to beware of rattle snakes.  This was at a park just up the road from my parents house--- they don't live too far in land... they're right off of the coast, up on the mesa... how is it I grew up and spent practically all of my life in San Diego, {mindlessly exploring the canyons near my house}, and didn't even know that I should be worried about rattle snakes?!  I thought the closest I'd ever get to meeting a rattle snake was in Arizona, NOT in my parents backyard!  I guess I was really naive.  Perhaps it's better though that I never knew, cuz I'll tell you, after I read that sign--- I was worried sick my boys were going to find one!  Anyhow, we all had a great time.  It's at times like these I sure wish I lived closer to all of my siblings and their kids.  Between my brother and three sisters, I have 18 nieces and nephews.  I'd LOVE it if my boys could see all of their cousins more often.  My sister Tricia seriously needs to move back here- we miss her and her kids. Maybe my mom and dad ought to build a 2ND story addition onto their house to make room for myself, Spencer and the kids... I'd LOVE to move in and live closer to the beach and more cousins!

On our way home that evening, we swung by a visited the temple.  I just looked it up on mapquest and it's exactly 4.53 miles from my parents home.  I just wanted to share that little fact because half the time when I tell people my parents live near the San Diego Temple, people just nod their head and roll their eyes thinking I must live 30 minutes or further from it.  The other half think I grew up in La Jolla, which truth is, that WOULD have been nice, but no.  I didn't grow up in La Jolla.  I grew up right next to it.  Anyhow, we stopped and marveled at the beauty of the temple.  I'm pretty sure it beats ANY of the places we went during vacation.  Hands down, it IS the.most.gorgeous.place.in.ALL.of.San.Diego!  It's heaven on earth!