San Clemente Beach Day

 San Clemente obviously didn't get the message that the weather was supposed to be cold and gray.  We spent a gorgeous day at the beach, just down the street from my brother's apartment. 

 Maggie immediately threw herself down and made a sand angel. 

 Chloe followed suit shortly thereafter.

Rosie was just happy to play in the sand.

 And play hide and seek with Bracken and Uncle Ben's boogie board.

 She is just yummy.

 Addie had a lot of fun, too, thought I didn't get any shots of her enjoying the water.  Which she definitely did. She ran straight into the water when we got there and was in all the way up to her chest in a few seconds. Then, just as quickly, she was only up to her knees!  This beach had an odd dip to it.  I was afraid she would take another step and plunge right out of sight. 

 My little jungle girl had such a great time in the water. 

 It was next to impossible to get her out.

 And she was happy to just wander away and play with whomever she could find. 

 One must always eat Twizzlers at the beach. 

 They are delicious!

 So is juice. 

 We played for a long time, and enjoyed a visit from Aunt Megan, who I didn't get any pictures of, and who I didn't really visit with because I ducked away to get some fresh seafood on the pier and it took longer than I thought it would.  That was disappointing.  I like that Megan.  After I ate, I convinced a couple girls to go for a walk down the pier with me. 

 Maggie kept scaring me by climbing all the way to the top of the fence.  Thank goodness she didn't tumble off!

 I guess we're number one?!?

 Me and my girls.

 That blue speck in the middle is Bracken and Rosie, playing in the water.  We had so much fun!  I managed to get out on the boogie board for a little bit.  I really had a hard time timing the waves on this beach, though.  Darn double break. 

 After a glorious day in the sun, we packed up our stuff and headed over to Ben and Megan's.  Bracken ran to the store while I started cleaning the girls up.  One by one, I loaded them into the shower and as I contemplated trying to reach in and wash all four of them, I decided it would be best to just climb in and join them.  It was going surprisingly well.  I had all the sand washed out of four heads of hair, four slippery little bodies washed, and was just starting to tend to myself when I smelled it.  The unmistakeable scent of a Code Brown.  I am grateful for this: that it was a shower and not a bath, that it was firm and easy to move, and none of the ten feet in the shower stepped in it. 


We finished getting ready and then enjoyed a delicious dinner with Megan's family.  I had been doing pretty good on my diet up until this point.  I had only enjoyed a few Cadbury Heroin eggs, and was feeling pretty good about things.  I was even feeling firm in my commitment to not eat any of the chocolate chip cookies Shari had baked while we were there.  And then she plopped the rest of the dough down with spoons and my will power ran away. Oh well!


My girls had a great time playing with Megan's brother Jared.  I'm kind of surprised that Maggie is not in this picture because I remember her being velcroed to him all night. 

 Cute, overdue Megan and her parents.  That darn little nephew of mine refused to make an appearance until after we left. 

 Here I am reading a delightful, not really a children's book, to Rosie called All My Friends Are Dead.  The real winner of the evening, though, was Pat the Zombie, a disgusting adaptation of one of Rosie's favorite book.  Samantha attempted to soften the blow and explain away the gorier details, but guess what?  4 weeks later and Chloe can still pretty much recite it verbatim.  Rosie's favorite book has been forever violated.