Life's a Beach

This year for vacation all I wanted was to see the ocean, and not wait in any lines. So as soon as the desert heat kicked up to 110 degrees we loaded up and headed for Oceanside California. We were going on the cheap so I didn't expect much from the hotel, other than a place to sleep and a working shower, but we ended up with a partial view of the ocean and were walking distance away. (although we had too much crap to haul with us to actually walk to the ocean, a nice stroll down to dinner in the harbor each night was nice.)

I guess Athena doesn't remember what it was like to not have a swimming pool in her backyard. As we drove around to the back of our motel there were kids in the pool and she says "why in the world would you swim in a pool when the ocean is right there?" She has developed such a sense of humor these days. And she is wickedly good at Slug Bug, Hailey has the bruises to prove it!

We spent hours just sitting on the beach, or swimming in the ocean. Many strolls around the harbor. Sandcastles were built, kids were buried in the sand and we saw some cool fish at the Birch Aquarium. It was much too short, but I loved every minute of it. Here are a few photos to enjoy.
Sunglasses switcharoo
Building a sandcastle
Buried!
The tide pools at the Birch Aquarium
Oh dear, my children have been eaten by a shark.

Out on the Oceanside Pier

Just before vacation Shawn bought me one of those nifty pocket camcorders that are all the rage at the moment so here is a little montage of some of the video I took. Be kind I'm still learning how to use the thing. (And yes Hailey is wearing a jacket and/or scarf most of the time)



(sorry to those of you that RSS my blog but the only way to tell if it works for sure is to publish and check it out)