Going Back to Cali: Day Two

After an eighteen hour first day of vacation (for the kids, I stayed up late catching up with Heather), I was glad that the kids slept in the next day. We had a lazy morning hanging around the hotel and wandering around the little "lake" outside. After lunch, we met up with Callie and her husband. We made a quick stop at yet another cupcake bakery (which I will be blogging in a little more detail later), and then on to a little beach in Newport Beach called Corona Del Mar.

Here's Callie:She keeps things like broccoli in her purse.

This is Callie's husband:He's the one prancing in the surf. His name is Nancy.

Hi Nancy.

Just kidding. His name is Grant, and he is great! He was actually showing my kids how to play chicken with the surf.

Owen is interested.

Very interested.

Evie just kind of watched the whole thing quietly.

Then she just up and made a run for it.

She met the surf on it's way up and well...

...decided the waves were a lot more fun from here.

She warmed up though.

The kids ran around and played in the sand and water for a while, and we eventually made our way over to some tide pools.

We found this weird round thing that was stuck to the sand, and when we touched it, it shrunk up.

After looking at some little crabs running around in shells, Owen started to get nervous that he would fall into the little pools of water. He was being brave though, and tried to smile for some pictures anyway.

I thought maybe putting his sister next to him would steady him and help him feel more comfortable.

Apparently not.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. I was so excited to take my kids to the beach. It wasn't hot enough to go swimming, but the kids have more fun in the sand anyway, and it was the same southern California sand and the same salt on my lips that I remember growing up. And sorry about all the pictures.

They're just so cute.

See?

After leaving the beach, we hung out at Callie and Grant's for a while. Then we ended the night with Claim Jumper takeout at the hotel. Yum! Especially the Chocolate Chip Calzone! It's just probably my favorite dessert ever, but Claim Jumpers are hard to come by (well, at least where I live), and they don't all have the special pizza ovens they need to make the Chocolate Chip Calzones. I've tried to make up my own recipe, and it's alright, but I just don't have one of those special pizza ovens either. So thanks Callie and Grant for picking that up on the sly! Mmmhhhh... I just might have to try that recipe again tomorrow.