Beach Day

For a million reasons, I am waaaay behind on my blog -and just life in general, but I have high hopes that I will be getting on top of things soon.

Like this week.

But I am pretty sure I say this to myself every Wednesday or so.

We shall see. :)


Anyhoo...so although I have a bunch of summer-catch up things to share, I am going to cheat and jump right to our most recent adventure and so far, the highlight of my summer. Last weekend we made it to the beach for the first time this year. In fact, the last time we went to any beach was when I was pregnant with Elliott! I cannot believe that it has taken us so long to make it out there, but the combination of our kids (mostly Elliott) hating the car and crying the whole way and the value of the naps that get lost due to said crying has just not been worth it. But I just had to go and I knew that Oliver would love it so we went and braced ourselves for the worst....and, lo and behold- it was the BEST family of four adventure we have done so far!! We were at my parent's house the night before so our drive to the beach was only 45 minutes and we left by 8:30 in the morning while the boys were still "fresh". Elliott took a nap in the car (gasp!!) and Oliver seemed to love the change of scenery as we drove though the forests and hills. We kept hearing "It is (pause) sooo (pause) buiful Mom. Sooo (pause) buiful!" (so beautiful) from the back seat- Sean and I were in heaven.

It also helped that my little sister came with us- everything is more fun when she is around :)

So, I know that there are hundreds of pictures of seemingly the same thing, but I was so thrilled with just being at the beach with my family that I just couldn't stop. Really. I eventually had to make a conscious decision to go put my camera away because I didn't want to annoy my kids by trying to force them to smile at me while they just wanted to play. I think that I was just so happy that I wanted to make sure that I remember this day and so, with the following one million pictures, now I will...and so will you :) Enjoy!

Stinson Beach...how I have missed you!!

The essentials.

Some of my other essentials :) Seriously, Emma- you are the best!

Sean and Emma share a love for finding shells. Well, I do too but since we have little ones that we need to keep our eyes on, I let them do the hunting.

Very little wind and there was even a glorious

patch of blue sky...it was going to be a beautiful day!

Sean has found me at least one sand dollar every single time we have gone to the beach together. Good job, Babe!

And did I mention that Grandma and Grandpa met us at the beach too?! I told you it was a fabulous adventure! :)

Emma was Oliver's personal rock collector.

Notice the pants are already off?

There are not too many places that are more perfect for a little boy. I think that I had just as much fun watching him as he did playing in his own little world.

Oh yes, Mr. Elliott was there too. Also in heaven :)

Grandma lovin'

Who needs a pack and play when you have a huge sand pit? Elliott spent a lot of time throwing himself against the sandy wall and sliding down backwards. He probably would have eaten a lot less sand if wasn't laughing so hard!

Grandpa is just learning to walk so Elliott was very thoughtful and crawled along side him all the way to the water. (Reason #27945 that my kids have the most wonderful grandparents)

Warms my heart.

Elliott wanted to be in the water so badly. He didn't seem to mind the freezing water one bit!

Buddies.

Aaand... the underpants are off. (no surprise)

Oh...did I ALSO mention that in addition to my little sister and Grandma and Grandpa, that my best friend and her family were also at the beach? I am telling you- this trip will be hard to beat!

The Kunkle boys had a favorite cluster of trees that made an awesome fort. Because they love me so much, I was granted access inside and got to snap some pictures.

Parker (notice the gun in his hand...I was obviously interrupting a battle of some sort)

Mason ran through but didn't have time to hold still for a picture :)

Still handsome, even in mid-run!

Caden stopped fighting the bad guys for a split second...

...but immediately resumed his "ready for battle" stance. I just love these guys!

I have never brought so much stuff to the beach but boy, am I glad we had the pack and play!

Now, THIS is the life.

Bathing beauty. Can you see all the sunshine that came out?

Speaking of bathing beauty...Oliver just couldn't keep his clothes on!

Warming up in Dada's arms. Probably my favorite picture of the day.

Elliott, meet Pacific Ocean. Pacific Ocean, meet Elliott.
I hope that you two will become great friends.

Evangeline and Elliott

This is my baby sister. She is in HIGH SCHOOL. How did this happen? :)

Emma was 6 when Sean and I started dating and they have always had a special bond.

They even have a secret handshake :)

See that picture of an ice cream cone? As far as I am concerned, this is an integral part of the Stinson Beach Experience. Sean and I always get one on our way out of town and eat them as we drive away and talk about how much we love the beach. It's a must.

Who says you can't carry your two year old around in a front pack?

He didn't fall asleep but he sure was close!

Oliver learned to wink! Well, he thinks he did :)

By now it was well past nap time and not even the hot dog and fries were enough to make him smile. Or.... maybe it was that I was sticking that camera in his face again and asking him to smile.

Like I said, the ice cream cones are soooo good!

Daddy was generous enough to share a little of his...

But in typical Grandma fashion...

She sacrificed her whole cone for the sake of his happiness!

Gooooodbyyyeeeeee my beloved beach!!

Thanks to the wonderful day we had, we shall being seeing you again soon!