Beach Patrol!

We were so lucky* to be able to hit the beach twice on our trip to California!  

*You will notice that I am working on my swimming attitude.  I decided after this trip that I no longer hate swimming and sandy beaches, and that for the sake of my husband-who-would-have-loved-to-have-been-a-surfer and my kids-who-love-to-swim-and-nearly-drown-themselves-in-the-waves, I suppose I can stand going.  As long as we don't have to do it every day and wash sand out of scalps on a weekly basis.

It was quite beautiful, both evenings when we went.  The first beach, Huntington Beach, was mild and lovely, and we spent the evening with the King's and my brother Abe & his family.  It was a lot of fun watching the kids.

This girl can not stand to have anything foreign in her mouth (meaning anything other than her own fingers and hands, which are frequently in her mouth . . .), so in between jumping in waves, she spent a good deal of time spitting out sand and, consequently, getting more and more of it in her mouth.

Jacob warming himself up on the sand . . .

 My darling sister-in-law, Chelsea, or "Aunt Choody," as my kids call her.  And she is far too good to them!  It was so fun to see her and Abe and their cute kids!  

 Lydia buried in the sand . . .

 Evie loved watching the waves . . . 

 And Eleni loved getting pulled in by them . . .

 Here are my cute nephews and niece: Isaac, Ruby, and Miles.  They are precious--and completely unafraid of waves.  It took Gabe a lot of parental support to get brave enough to let the water actually touch his feet, but Ruby jumped right in.

 Gabe, after his suit fell off. 

 Evie loved meeting her Uncle Abe!

Bless his heart, Brian's friend from Vanuatu, Esron, was so patient with the kids!  They thought he was hilarious.  What a special guy--he just radiates goodness and kindness.  It was a pleasure having him there. 

We stopped at Dairy Queen for a tasty dinner.  

 Evie and Ruby fell in love with each other right away--Ruby would say, "I love her!" over and over, and Evie would just smile and try to grab her nose. 

 And thank goodness for Grandpa King, who helped relieve Seth's & my carpal tunnel by holding Evie almost the entire trip . . .

and Grandma Yaya, who kept the younger kids from drowning while I fed Evie!

Gabe completely wore himself out in the waves and playing in the sand--when we got back to our hotel, he was out cold!

And what a fitting shirt, I just realized, as it was the beach patrol who saved this kid's life! . . .

The second beach we went to was Newport Beach, where the waves were very high and the beach sloped down to meet them.  We went there with Abe & Chelsea and their kids after the King's returned home.  I have no pictures to record this trip, because we spent the first part of our visit looking for Eleni, who had wandered off to a playground.  When we found her, we realized we had lost Gabe, so Seth and I ran in opposite directions praying like crazy and screaming for him.  I kept hearing the roaring waves, and there were so many people there!  Definitely one of the most frightening times I have ever lost one of the kids (I say "one of" because we have lost each one, except perhaps Lydia, multiple times . . .). Finally I spotted him with a beach patrol lifeguard.  We spent the rest of our visit trying to keep all the kids from drowning in the enormous, unpredictable waves.  It was thrilling, beautiful, and very scary!  But we still had a great time.  Here are the kids with their cousins at Aunt Choody's favorite restaurant, "The Old Spaghetti Factory," which was scrumptious after a day at the beach! (Notice all the people staring at us . . . eight kids at one table must have seemed like a lot. :)

I am glad we went, but grateful for home and my peaceful little cul-de-sac, since my kids (and dear husband) are so reckless and oblivious to danger.