California Road Trip; Beach Bummin'

It's no secret, we love the beach.  When I was little my dad used to take our family nearly every weekend.  We'd stay all day, play in the sand, boogie board, dig for sand crabs, and explore the tide pools.  As a teenager my girlfriends and I rollerbladed and rode our bikes on the paved paths.  Then when Brandon and I started dating we also spent a lot of time at the beach.  In fact, our first kiss happened while we were exploring the tide pools together.  Lots of good memories.... we'd like our kids to love it as much as we do, too.

More evidence that group pictures are nearly impossible with this group.

So, while we were in Southern California we decided to spend a few days at Laguna Beach.  We stayed at the Hotel Laguna so that we could be right on the beach.  It was the perfect choice!  Every morning we'd walk down to the beach, the hotel staff would set out lounge chairs and towels for us, and we'd play until the kids were tired.  

Ruby got so tired that she put herself down for a nap!

We were so close to everything that we walked to restaurants or the local Whole Foods Market whenever we got hungry.  In the mornings and evenings we took the kids for walks to the tide pools or let them play at the playground.  It was magical.

As it turns out, our kids don't totally dig the beach as much as we do, yet.  They did like playing in the sand.  More accurately,  Wyatt liked burying sand toys in the sand and Ruby liked to lay in the sand.  She also got excited about digging for sand crabs and exploring the tide pools.

Teaching my kids the fine art of building a sand castle.

Teaching the kids the importance of adding a moat around your sand castle.

Ruby requested a mermaid tail-- shocking, right? lol

Totally scrumptious!

They weren't crazy about the water, though; which, I guess, is okay with us since they are small enough to drown pretty easily.  In fact, fearless toddlers frolicking in the ocean sounds pretty frightening to me!

4 going on 16....

Testing the waters...