What a Beach!

After our visit with family was done we started off on the next part of our road trip and headed out to the beach. And boy, what a beach Pismo Beach is! It was the kind of beach you think of when you think of California—surfers, life guard towers, life guards in red running on the beach with their hair blowing in the ocean breeze... wait, that was "Baywatch"... silly me, but it really did have the lifeguard towers and the lifeguards in red with a cool red truck driving around the shoreline. It even came fully equipped with an awesome pier and awesome beach-side hotels.

Our motel was not beach-side but it was only a 2-minute drive so I can't complain...

Actually I can.

It was a  R E A L L Y   SMALL  hotel room with barely enough room to walk past our beds to get to the bathroom and a small table we could stack our luggage on. It was pretty bad. Clean. But small. And only $56/night for the 3 nights we were there. So I shouldn't complain. (smile)

Anyway, to the good stuff:

We were learning right off the bat with this trip that we were pushing our kids to their limits. It was tough on them with the transitions, new surroundings, people everywhere, new experiences.

As crazy as it may sound, and as crazy as I was feeling at times, the kids LOVED the trip.

Sister would always ask when go back home to our hotel, and she would say "hotel" with a really strong country drawl... it made us laugh every time. She loved taking tubs at the hotel and she LOVED the sand at the beach.

She did NOT like the wind. She is VERY sensitive to wind. In fact on our 3rd beach trip at Avila Beach she wore her coat (yes, coat, not jacket) almost the entire time.

Brother loved the elevators and eating at McDonald's every night for dinner. He also really enjoyed the trains we spotted along our travels.

And Baby, well, she is just happy to be alive. There wasn't a single place we went that someone wouldn't stop and comment on how cute/happy she was.

Brother was like that. Happy all the time. He always smiled at everyone.

Baby, Brother and Marc checkin' out the sand

Sister found a feather to draw in the sand with

I just love Baby's stride—keepin' up with her daddy (And yes, Marc looks this hot all the time.)

Baby loved playing tag with the waves. She lost once and that was the end of her fun...

sandy sisters

This one has got to seriously be one of my most favorite pictures. It's just Our Life all the way. I mean when you have an almost 2-year-old that drools constantly this is what you get when you put her in the sand... and yes there is drool going down her belly too! Tee hee! Makes me laugh every time!

Sister had fun making sand angels. She and Baby had no problems with the feeling of the sand, they were basically rolling in it, hence, the above picture...

Apparently there was a smudge on the camera lense... I laugh that it is right over my smile...guess it tones down my lipstick

Anyway, the second day at Pismo, we went out to Los Osos and then onto Montana del Oro beach. That was one of our funnest family times. We got a great picture by the same tree that we had taken a picture next to 6 years previous. Then we hiked through some black mud (that was not a good day for me to wear white shorts) to get to this tucked away shoreline where the waves crash against the rocks and make for great ambience. That was one of my favorite stops.

Here's the picture by the tree. I just love how Brother is loving on his Sister.

I just like this picture. This is Sister climbing down the sandy cliff side.

Brother and I were having fun looking for shells when the tide would wash in. This is one of the shells he found—a crab shell, he was pretty proud of it.

Here we are checking the tide pools

Marc is giving Sister "Sand Castle Building 101"

I love this picture of me and Baby and then seeing Brother in the background, what a beautiful setting

Aaaaahhhhh

We went into San Luis Obispo after that and found a park for the kids to run around in. We also walked around the city and just enjoyed the atmosphere, and a really cool bridge we saw. It crossed over train tracks so of course Brother was interested.

They wanted to get a picture on the caboose that was sitting outside the soon-to-be train museum

This is the bridge I decided (along with Brother's help) to walk on

 

That night we came back to Pismo Beach and walked the pier and enjoyed the last few minutes of some of the vendors selling there wares on the pier. It was pretty cool—and I mean cool in both forms of the word. Let's just say it was not hot during our California stay, and that was totally fine with me.

I thought this picture Marc took was pretty cool

Lifeguard Station #2

The Pismo Beach Pier at sunset

A cool view from the pier

I wanted to take a picture of my Hottie Husband and Brother wanted to make sure to get it on the fun. He sure loves his dad.

The best part about the vendors at the pier was when I bought a carton of strawberries for $5 and the guy threw in a basket of blackberries. Let me tell you, there is nothing like fresh California Strawberries. They almost melt in your melt with sweet, juicy flavor and the blackberries were just as fantastic. Mmmm mmmm!

To be continued...