Impromptu Beach Trip

When James got to work Monday morning, things went pretty much as expected. They had no clue what to do with him. He could have just kicked his feet up and been paid to sit around all day, but instead took the day off, came home, and we did a practice road trip and drove to the beach.

First of all, it was a great learning experience for our upcoming Houston road-trip. We already have a dozen or so "now we knows" for the trip (such as "now we know coloring books don't work for half as long in the car as they do in Sacrament" or "now we know if we let them run around for just 15 minutes we can probably squeeze another hour of nearly-fuss-free driving out of them").

Anyway, instead of driving through the Grapevine and turning toward Ventura, we cut through Taft and drove the windy Highway 33 instead. It actually was a beautiful road to travel. Lots of flowers and several gorgeous views of the foothills. Wasn't much of a shortcut, though. While it might have shaved some miles off our trip, the mountain road kept us at a slower pace. Still, we drove home the same way and enjoyed it just as much.

But now, pictures of our beach visit. First, Cadence loved the sand. She started digging in it as soon as we had the towels spread and handed her the sand toys. She was absolutely covered in sand by the time we left and we had to actually strip her down and cover her in a towel because she'd managed to get sand in pretty much every crevice and I didn't want her sitting in that for 2 1/2 hours.
Megan was a little less enthusiastic after the long drive and refused to leave my lap (notice my white legs underneath her), but eventually she warmed up to the idea and was playing happily:
Cadence enjoyed the waves, but they were pretty high for beach waves yesterday and she wasn't too sure about that. Especially when one splashed her in the face and she got a big gulp (probably through her nose too) of salty ocean water. She enjoyed dangling from James's arms as the waves came toward her, but she pronounced herself "done" a lot sooner than either of us expected once the wave hit her face.
In the end, we didn't stay as long as we might have hoped. After about an hour, we packed things up and headed to the showers to try to get as much sand off of us as possible before getting back in the car. Probably best. James and his fair skin were starting to turn pink while we were out there, but he avoided a sunburn in the end. I bet if we'd stayed any longer he'd have been rubbing aloe vera on his face and neck all evening.

Hopefully, we can find a nice beach in Houston. I'm sure there are some, it is close to the gulf, after all. So this won't be the last beach we visit. But it probably is the last time we visit the Pacific Ocean (aww, what a sad thought).