Sand Baby

Monday, Memorial Day, was our last day in San Luis Obispo.

Some of us ran to Target to get a few necessities before we began our adventures for the day.

Among those necessities was flip-flops for Baby. She has never worn flip-flops, but now she HAD to have flip-flops because everyone else did. So she picked out some pink, sparkly ones and had to put them on before we left the store.

Right off the bat I could tell we would have a slight problem on our hands as she had never walked in flip-flops before... and it was apparent. She was going the pace of a turtle... a turtle wearing flip-flops, for the first time.

After our longer-than-expected Target run we headed out for our adventure on the boardwalk in Morro Bay.

We wanted to get some real sea food and there is a shell shop there we knew all the kids would love so that was our first stop.

Brother was in heaven listening to the ocean in all the larger shells. He basically wandered the store with shells on his ears the whole visit.

Then he made me laugh when he showed me his "unicorn horn shell."

Not only was it funny, but he was using his imagination! Loved it!

Sister was just as intrigued with hearing the "ocean" in the shells and was especially happy that she was able to pick out some small shells to take home.

She doesn't look happy here, but she really is, AND I love that she is wearing a "girlie" hat.

We had to stay close by Baby the entire time at the shop because, well, she's Baby, and she's not always the safest, cleanest or easiest person.

She loved all the things they had made out of shells and those were he favorite spots to stay.

After the Shell Shop we took a little while to decide which seafood place we wanted to eat, not to mention it took us a while to get anywhere anyway because Baby was still wearing her hindering flip-flops. So we sat in one of the courtyard areas to talk about where to go and let Baby take a flip-flop rest where she saw the mermaid sculpture. I wanted to take a picture of her anyway, but my heart melted when she walked up to Marc and pointed to the mermaid while saying, "take my picture," as clear as day.

Of course Marc was happy to oblige.

This next one made me laugh because all along I was thinking how nice it was that the mermaid was modest and not make for an awkward shot with my 6-year-old.

Then I noticed Marc's smirk in this picture below...

If you don't know why he's smirking... that's awesome, but if you do, have fun laughing along red-faced with me!

We finally picked a place to eat and ended up being quite happy with our decision.

Thank goodness because just moments before going in, we were having Baby tantrums that rattled the windows and caused me to use my brute strength and push-over skills all at the same time!

1. BRUTE STRENGTH = physically need to pick up a writhing, screaming 6-year-old from the floor, carry her in one arm

2. PUSH-OVER  SKILLS = knowing when you are about to explode and keep it down to one person falling apart as opposed to two, you just forget all rules and buy her the candy she has been screaming for so that you can avoid the aftermath until, at least, when we get home to our hotel room.

Anyway, we made it into the restaurant all in 10 whole pieces! 

The food was great but the selfie was so-so

We even took a picture after we got out of the restaurant and survived!

After attempting some more leisurely walking/window shopping on the boardwalk it became obvious that Baby was not going to have anything to do with it.  So we all turned around and started heading back to our cars when Baby completely and totally went haywire!

It took Marc and me a series of tactics to even get her back to the car. Trust me, it was a Jessie and Joel take all the kids while Marc and I, both, try to calm/help Baby time... I hate those times.

They're hard.

Overwhelming.

Overstimulating for all involved... sometimes even just the passersby.

Skipping all the details we were finally off to our beach spot we had found the day before.

Now you can see that Baby is happy. 

We discovered, by accident, there were some oil sludge pieces randomly all along the shore. It was sticky, stinky and REALLY hard to get off. 

Here's Jessie working on hers.

I loved seeing the cousins together and I treasured the few times I could get them all in one photo.

Joel had picked up a wakeboard at Target that morning so he was excited to put on the wetsuit to try it out.

You could see it all over Joel's face... he was happy as a clam!

Baby is so creative and artsy and I love that she comes up with.

I was sitting with the kids when Baby came over and grabbed me by the arm and with a proud smile let me to a spot in the sand that she had been playing in for a while.

"Mommy, look!

I had to process that first and then it simmered a bit.

Sorry it's sideways but, from left to right: The feet are the sand and shells and her "feet" are wearing her pink flip-lops, then there's the face—complete with an orange "popsicle, a nose, two eyes, rainbow hair and a sand dollar for the bow.
Man, I love her creative mind!

We stayed at the beach for a record-breaking long time, about 5 hours, so that was epic.

I just wish I had brought my real camera that day because we saw whales blowing water from their blow-holes and then their tails as they would flip back under the water!! It was amazing! Even though they were so far away, it was still completely amazing! Then along with that, there was a sea otter that was swimming right next to Jman! It was so crazy. He was just floating by, laying on his back, working on his sinner.

Let's hope I make it through our trip recount quickly.