So throughout all the planning of this trip, our main focus was the beach! We knew we were going to love it and want to spend hours if not days there. So we did do a little bit of research on beaches. Fortunately, there are a LOT of GOOD beaches there. So we thought Coronado Island beach was going to be cool, so Day 3 was devoted to the beach. The drive over there was super awesome. This bridge is just too cool. I snapped a few pictures of it as we drove with my camera and then didn't get my camera out again the rest of the day :(. I'm really REALLY mad at myself for not taking a few pictures right at the start and then putting it away. I kept thinking I'd get it out before we go, but by the time we left (and partly the reason) it was so windy, I didn't dare get it out. I know what sand did to my dad's video camera a couple decades ago, I wasn't about to risk it. But now I'm sad I don't have better pictures of the beach fun. But anyway. That's not the end of the world. Hopefully I will agree with that statement soon :).
But anyway- we found the perfect beach, parked right on the road, just had to make a short trek through scorching hot sand (actually it was only hot on the way back). We found the perfect spot, there was almost nobody there yet (we got there pretty early), and we just dropped our wagon full of stuff and ran out to the water! EVERYONE loved the beach! I think Kelly even liked it! Minus the sand of course.
Molly was hilarious, she let the waves chase her back and forth up the shore. She did manage to trip up and fall flat on her face into the water with it running over her back, a few times, which was pretty much the end of the world for her, but she of course toughed it out. She liked finding shells with everyone and digging in the sand. I think her favorite part was smashing all the sand castles! I had no idea just how violently destructive she was! "DIE DIE DIE!" as she pounded the beautiful structure (not really beautiful because she would do it milli-seconds after anyone pulled the bucket off of the freshly formed castle) down into the ground. It was funny, but slightly disturbing at the same time. I'm glad Luke was game for it, and made it mostly fun for her. She and I played for quite a while like this where I would fill up the bucket, she would help pack it, then she would demolish it as soon as it was revealed. I was trying to keep her occupied while the other kids built cool things. She was a funny one. She did finally get tired of the wind and the sand. It was not fun to suck on salty, sandy fingers and her B was dirty, so she got upset near the end, but she loved the ocean for the most part :).
Jack was the king of the beach! He was everywhere! Running around in the water, going out in the waves, digging in the sand, trying to fight off Molly from smashing his works of art. He was adorable out there! I loved that he finally realized it was okay to pee in the ocean. It was almost a cool thing toward the end :). He liked finding shells as well. He too was not happy with the wind and sand blowing, but finally konked out on the towel in a cute little Jack Jack ball. He slept like that the whole time we packed up to leave. It was super cute.
Erika was our master water girl! She was out in the ocean 90% of the time! She was loving the waves, totally braving the huge ones, and just bouncing around and giggling the whole time. The other 10% of the time she spent looking for shells and bringing them back to the pocket on the wagon. There were some REALLY cool ones! Full on clams as well, which ended up being left in the car... big eye roll here! She had a total blast though! I think she was one of the sad ones to leave. The sand had not gotten to her at all :). Neither had her sun burn yet. We failed on the sunblock applying department.
Noah was out in the water with Erika the whole time too! Those two made their way down the shore pretty far before Nate and I panicked and then found and brought them back. They had no idea they'd gotten so far away! It was cool to me that they were that entertained by it all :). And cool that they weren't drowning or eaten by sharks ;). Noah asked me a few times if I thought the glitter int eh sand was possibly gold. I think that would be awesome too :). He's got such an imagination and fun little follow up ideas for if it really was gold :). It sure was sparkly though! I loved that part too. I think Noah spent some time on the beach, but not a lot. He had some cool stories about Osprey diving into the water grabbing fish and some of us may have thought he had imagined it (really good imagination, did I mention that?) but sure enough- I saw the same thing- not sure if they were osprey or not, but same idea- a few minutes later! SO COOL!! Noah sees all the cool stuff.
Luke spent a LOT of time on the beach building castles and playing with Molly. He really got a kick out of her and spent a lot of time just watching and giggling at her :). He liked the water too and had fun in the waves. He found some cool shells too. Luke was just a cheerful little guy the whole trip. It was fun to have him around.
Bradley was out in the water a majority of the time as well. I loved watching him and Kelly having fun together out in the water. They went pretty far out there too. I was able to get Bradley to come way out in the water with me, bobbing over the waves rather than having them crash into us :). Just keeping our chins up :). That was a lot of fun. We talked for quite a while out there. It was fun to see the birds diving in and notice we weren't touching the ocean floor anymore :). He is a fun kid to hang out with. He had fun with Molly too and loved watching the seagulls drop the clams to open them.
Kelly was trying to avoid the sand 99% of the time :). She did so good at letting go of her sand problem and just enjoying the place. I know this was a trial. She did go out in the water quite a ways and had fun with Bradley. I loved that she was enjoying it. She found some cool shells too. She helped a ton with getting everyone and everything back to the car.
Charity and I went way out in the water as well. Practiced our treading water skills :). That was fun. She spent most of her time in the water- she loved having the water crash into her. I was happy to see her out in the water and enjoying things even though she was so worried about getting sunburned. She helped a ton with Molly (of course) and found cool shells too.
Nate was in heaven :). He loves the beach and is just happy as a clam while we're there. He played with Molly a lot and looked for shells most of the time. I was glad that he traded off with me a little so that I was able to get out and enjoy the water a little this time. He loved the clams. I wish he would have gotten enough to make a meal out of them :).
I LOVED the beach! This was a major highlight for me. Going out in the water as far as I could totally took me back and I missed Brent. I loved the one on one time with some of the kids and of course playing with Molly in the sand. I got pretty sick of the wind and sand as well, and I was REALLY cold! So I laid down on my tummy to warm up and ended up falling asleep for a few minutes. Must have been more than a few minutes though because the back of my legs, especially behind my kneeds were FRIED! So painful! Even a week later, I'm still suffering! Did I learn my lesson about sunblock this time? Hope so. Not likely though. The beach was so much fun though.
We were only there for about five hours before the wind drove us out. But it was so much fun! When we got back to the hotel I got the brilliant idea to go to the swimming pool first so that we didn't take all the sand into the hotel room- I know this is horrible and I don't know why I'm admitting it, but it ended up being a BRILLIANT idea! And we had a lot of fun swimming in the pool. I liked going in the hot tub and then swimming pool since it wasn't cool enough in the pool. But now that I think about it, this probably only made my sunburn worse! Kelly and Jack were total buds in the pool. She was letting him jump in to her. This one time he was looking like he needed some assistance, so she grabbed him and he, choking on the water and frantically kicking, yells, "I said I got it!!" Like he wasn't just drowning and she didn't just save him! Funny boy. Molly slept on the lawn chair by a stranger. Yes, I did just say that. It was nice that she was sleeping. Everyone got all their sand off. Hopefully it wasn't a big deal in the pool- that sand was such powder, I really doubt it mattered. We still had the hugest mess ever from 10 wet, sandy people showering and laying out wet clothes. It was not my favorite part of the trip. That's a lot of wet for one hotel room.
We ate our lunner (yep I failed in the lunch and dinner departement too) and then hurried off to the Petco Stadium for our Padres game! Luckily Thursday night was an earlier game than the rest of the week, we got there just after the game started. We purchased the cheapest tickets possible and when Nate bought them, the guy told him our seats were on the grass at the back of the field, but that once the game starts we can pretty much sit wherever we want :). So.... we did :). We didn't want to be too obvious so we sat behind right field, pretty far away from the diamond, but they were lower bowl, pretty awesome seats if you ask me :). Since I picked them I would know :). We were nervous for the first part of the game, but after the 2nd or 3rd inning, we noticed more and more people coming to that section, just sitting wherever they wanted (very obviously) so we relaxed- apparently that's a perfectly normal thing :). We're used to Jazz games, but we learned Padres games are NOTHING like Jazz games. Whether it's the sport or the city, who knows, but this was a very different crowd! I loved it! Everyone around us was having the time of their lives- watching the game, and NOT watching the game at all- but getting into anything cool that happened. There was a group of drunks behind us that got sort of annoying towards the end, but for the most part they were lots of fun ;). I got really into the game! It was a fun, exciting one. We got to see Dustin Coleman (? I think that's his name) hit his first home run! And actually Brad called that very home run seconds before it happened! He felt pretty cool about that :). I loved talking to Jack about anything and everything that popped into his mind :). Could have done without him going back and forth in front of my legs which were severely sunburned on the back. But everyone seemed pretty happy at the baseball game. They loved the cotton candy that Nate spoiled them with too. Everyone was so happy when the Padres won! Didn't even have to finish out the last inning :). It was pretty thrilling. And of course the crowning (five) moments were when the kids got on the Jumbotron! Charity and Luke were first- Luke was doing one of his cute dance moves and they just left the camera on him for QUITE A WHILE! It was funny! He was laughing by the time they switched cameras. It was so cool! Bradley had been inching his way over to get his arm and then finally a few tenths of a second of his face, in the picture :). And I looked down toward Nate to be happy about it with him and HE WASN'T EVEN THERE!! He had taken someone to the bathroom! Probably Jack since his little bladder was well... LITTLE the whole trip. But I was so bummed he'd missed it!!! LUCKILY the kids kept up the dancing and were shown on the jumbotron at least four more times! It was so fun! We had people crowding around us towards the end just to get a piece of the fame :). It made it really fun to have them get so excited with all the music and jumping around! Fun FUN evening! Luke and Charity bought souvenir bats on their way out :).
Oh! I didn't even mention how sketchy that neighborhood was with the Padres stadium! Nate and I were amazed that our car was still there and untouched when we got out. It was an interesting area. We passed streets full of people setting up tents for the night next to piles of crap and shopping carts full of stuff. It was so sad! I can't believe there are people living like that. Made me appreciate all that I have. But we were a little nervous parking near it all. Luckily nothing bad happened. We were protected.
No comments:
Post a Comment