Beach Days

My favorite part of our California Adventure was our time at the beach.  I took so many pictures!  This was the first time the kids had ever seen the ocean that they could remember and it was fun to see their reactions.

Ksenya was a lot braver than I expected.  She loved the water - the waves and the little "sea bugs" that live in the sand.   

Kabe loved everything - he was especially enthralled with looking for sea creatures and throwing sand at his sisters. 

Brigham loved to be buried, more than anything.  He kept asking over and over and over if we would bury him in the warm sand. 

Ayvri loved searching for sea shells.  She would get so excited and run around with her spying eyes to find any bits of shell she could gather.  Then she would carefully wash them and put them in a safe place. 

I loved the sounds and the smells.  We examined the kelp and seaweed that had floated up on the shore and played in the sand.  

This little girl loved the sand.  Sand in her hair and her ears.  She loved eating the sand, pouring it down her suit and most of all - laying and rolling in the sand. 

We were surprised at how every time we built a castle the tide rose to where we were sitting. 

Darla loved everything - although she wasn't too enthusiastic about the water as it seemed to rise higher than expected each time.  She did love playing with the birds and chasing the seagulls up and down the beach.

See?  Loving' the sand. 

See?  Loving being buried (he tried a few times to be buried as superman, face-down.  Those times weren't quite as fun for him).   

These funny girls liked having their brother covered in sand too I think.  Ksenya thinks Leisl's face is pretty cute ("She has sand up her nose Mom!") 

Brave little Ayvri - gathering up the waves.

Here's Kabe buried.  He would dig a hole as deep as possible and have us bury him standing up.   

We may have enjoyed throwing sand at him and tickling him while he was buried.   

 More water - beautiful beautiful waves.  I loved the smells and the sound. 

 The kids were impressed with the waves and they were bigger than even I remembered - the surf was frothy and beautiful.

 "Don't even think about throwing sand at me and my camera Kabe!"

 Here's the sand princess - she was literally rolling and laying in it the whole time and wouldn't let me carry her anywhere.

Look - Mom this is great stuff! 

I love it! 

Funny, funny sand! 

 Can you tell she likes this? 

 Again - laying down in the sand.

We found this little guy in some kelp and rescued it.  We liked watching it scurry across the beach and then get washed back out to sea. 

Brig thought that was pretty cool. 

He decided to sun himself for a while.  We were pretty vigilant about the sunscreen and only a few of us got a little bit burned.   

Kabe decided he could eat the wave. 

And then he ran. 

Here's the sand princess again - enjoying it to the fullest. 

Yes - that feeling when sand makes it's way into every crevice of your head and face. 

"Hm.  That was nice, maybe I should do that again"

Yep - I like this sand stuff. 

"What?  I like it!" 

 "How come she gets all the pictures?"  or maybe "Don't even think of putting sand on MY head!"

 We liked playing the "run from the wave" game.  We also liked to jump into the waves.  The bigger kids tried the boogie boards and everyone but Kabe took their turn getting thrown over by a wave that was bigger than it looked.

Here are all six of my little lovelies.   

 "Look Mom, this sand tastes good too!"  As a side note - do you know what sand does when you eat it?  It passes through you completely undigested and comes out looking very much like clean sand.  Yes, we had massive sand diapers for two days after this particular beach experience.  

 Again - laying in the sand.  This time she got Ayvri to join her. 

 I wanted to take a picture of Darla, only realizing afterward that her baby sister is rolling in the sand in the background.  Darla was very sweet about the beach days and even took her nap in a towel tent on the beach.  

 She liked when her sisters made her into a mermaid, burying her feet in a mermaid sand tail.

She also loved these birds which attacked us when we pulled out our picnic lunch.  They got so close they would eat out of her hand and she loved it. 

 Hooray for beach days.  The only thing that could have made it better is if Daddy could have come with us.  We definitely can't wait another 8 years before we go back!