To California, Beach Time

We took a flight down to LAX for the start of our 9 day vacation.

When we arrived, my Dad picked us up in his car -- he and my Mom had taken a road trip and driven down to the L.A. area. We then took over his car with the kid car seats and our stuff while he rented another car.

Then it was to the beach!! Our hotel was right on the beach in Hermosa Beach. Did I mention we were at the beach?


Look at that face!! I think someone tasted sand for the first time...






The next day it was sunny, such a nice change from the Portland rain. I went for a 3 mile run along The Strand.
Then more time at the beach, hanging out.
Hats and sunglasses were the order of the day.
We got as much relaxing done as possible before heading to another hotel in downtown L.A.

To the Beach!

We went to Tolovana Beach, which is just south of Cannon Beach. This is the beach I spent the most time at while growing up.
Jake was so, so happy to be here!

And we were so happy that it was the perfect day.

Gotta love the combination of sunscreen, jam, and sand.
Jake and Daddy at the waves. Jake was squealing with delight and couldn't get enough of jumping in the waves.
Uh oh, someone fell in the surf :) (And someone else didn't think it would be warm enough for a swimsuit, but apparently she was wrong.)
Warm sand after cold water!
Someone needs a bath.
But is happy, regardless.
And wanted to be buried in the sand.

Baby is getting some sun, too.

Jake wanted to know if we could stay for a long, long time, but it was eventually time to get out of the sun and head home.

Where art thou, sun?

Here in Portland it has been June-uary. Rainy and cold and not at all summer. Yuck!

So when the forecast showed a nice, sunny weekend, combined with a party at the beach, we were all for it!

Upon arriving in the late afternoon, Jake and I headed straight for the sand. It was windy and slightly cold, but the sun felt good. And Jake LOVES the sand.
We stayed overnight in Warrenton, at a friend's beach house. Jake and I shared a bed while Mike got the floor. Jake was happy to snuggle with Daddy in the morning.
We went to breakfast at an old-fashioned cafe in Astoria which billed itself as vegetarian-friendly. Which was true, but it was still very much cafe food. The waiter was really friendly, though and it was fun to sit at the counter.
While waiting, Jake was given some temporary tattoos. Pretty appropriate for a seaside town, no?
Jake took this picture of me while we were waiting for our food.
Unfortunately it was misty and overcast at the coast the second day so we hightailed it back to Portland to catch the SUN. Which was good because the sun disappeared again this week.

Anywhere there is water...

...Jake is a happy boy! Here you see him with his water table. He likes to make the toys drown swim.
He's been really into his toy "people" lately. I was impressed with how he lined them all up!
The toy people are watching an underwater auto show...
We were at the beach this past weekend. Friends of ours got married on the beach in Seaside, Oregon. The ceremony was beautiful. The day was very overcast, and very cold/windy as you got close to the water, but it still felt great to be there. Jake was thrilled, he went in the water and loved having the waves go over his feet then running away from them.
It was so foggy on Saturday, but Sunday was gorgeous and sunny. I totally slacked on the picture-taking after I took these 2 pictures (guess the beach relaxed me so much!) but it was lovely being there. We didn't want to leave on Sunday, but we played on the beach for over an hour before dashing back to our hotel 30 minutes before check-out time in order to give Jake a bath before driving him home. He had sand everywhere!