Oceanside July 2009

Dear Mike,

We missed you. Yes, we had fun. Lots of fun. Lots and lots of fun. In a really chill, sleep-in-and-then-lay-on-the-beach-all-afternoon kind of way. But we missed you. It just wasn't the same, traveling without you, eating without you, sleeping without you.

And we don't want you to feel like you missed out. Like you don't know our jokes, or our new favorite sea animal, or why we don't have Hidden Valley Ranch anymore. So, here's the story, some big things, some little, of our 5 day adventure to So. Cal.

First, thanks for getting us off Monday morning. We were all a little tired after your birthday bash, and the house was, well, a bit . . . stirred. Thanks for filling the van and loading the cooler and going to work. . . . both jobs, everyday. You're the best.

We got to Oceanside just fine, thanks to MapQuest and my navigator, Ryan. It was late and we were tired, but we made it, and the sea air felt so good. So good. Why is that? We didn't drive anywhere the whole week without rolling down the windows to feel that cool sea air. Even on the 5 with all that traffic and noise.

Back to Monday: we swam, we unpacked, we slept. A good Monday Night, I'd say.

Mmmmm ... sleeping in. Born travelers we have (adjusted to the time change in less than 24 hours), and it's fantastic when they sleep until 8 every day!

Tuesday, after loading up at WalMart on food and sundries, we picked up a boogie board ($59 at Sports Authority) and headed to the South Pier beach.

We were all a little taken aback when we got there. The beach in July is not the underpopulated, gray, serene stretch of sand meeting sea we experienced in May. When the sun comes out and the temperature is over 65 degrees, the beach litteraly pulses with brightly striped umbrellas, towels, coolers, and boogie boards. Beyond the breaking waves, wetsuit clad surfers dot the sea black while the shallow waters are their own microcosm of society: nearly nude people, young and old alike, forgetting their personal space requirements and becoming children again: jumping, laughing, easily forgiving a crash with an errant boogie boarder or ignoring the ever present kelp tangling up in their legs.

We experienced unusually high surf all week (3-8 foot swells according to the local news). It made for excellent boogie boarding and body surfing, but also caused constant rip tides. No one was pulled out to sea, but we did have to fight the current constantly pulling us north along the shore. We always "camped" near a lifeguard tower to give us a way to find our stuff.

Breakwater Way was Ryan's favorite beach. We spent our second beach day there and the evening of the third.

The sand was black which delighted the kids.

And the waves were "the best," according to Ryan.

Thursday, when I was ready to go, I couldn't get Jack and Ryan out of the water. We were parked a ways away, so I packed up everything except their shoes and towels and Katie and I went to get the car, figuring the kids would soon follow and we could pick them up on our way back to the hotel.

That was not the case, so after getting the car and driving around looking for the three kids, I anxiously re-parked so I could return to the beach to find them. When I got there, I was relieved to find Ryan, Maddie and Jack all sitting on the beach (I did not want to have to go out into the water to get them). They were somewhat dejected though as the tide had come in and soaked their towels and taken one of Ryan's shoes. (Sorry...kinda serves you right. Next time, come when you're called.)

Katie girl loves the water! I was pretty sure she would be scared of the waves and not want to venture any farther than the most shallow parts. To the contrary, she wanted to be in the water constantly. "Jumping waves" is what she called it, and always with "two fingers, Mom, two fingers!" I would stand behind her and she would hold two of my fingers with each hand. Then I would lift as she jumped over the incoming waves.

She would pull me out farther and farther until she was taking considerable salt spray to the face with each wave "jumped" (I put "jumped" in quotes because my arms were somewhat sore each night, so I'm not sure how much actual jumping was taking place). Of course, I think any salt spray to the face is considerable (and that's my excuse for disappointing Maddie by not summersaulting into the waves like Nikki showed us. Sorry Mad, I'm a little disappointed too. Next time. I promise.)

Jack had an issue with sunscreen on his face the first day, so he was a little burned after two days in the sun. That is why on Thursday I said we just had to do something indoors. We chose Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, and fortunately, it just happened to be Shark Week. Sweet.

We learned there are 370 different types of sharks and only about 5 of those are dangerous to people. We learned tiger sharks will eat anything including clothing, tires, golf clubs, books, and trash. We're pretty sure a tiger shark enjoyed snacking on Ryan's flip flop.

Everybody touched a baby horn shark.

But only Katie and I touched the sea cucumber and it was squishy! Like gel. A cucumber made of gel. Imagine that.

Please note that in the photos above Ryan and Katie are both wearing some clothing we picked up at the outlet malls in Barstow on the way to Oceanside. Good deals.

Our favorite thing at the aquarium? Leafy sea dragons:

you can tell they're related to sea horses, but they have branches and leaves growing off of them! It's crazy!

After the aquarium, and since we were starving and already in San Diego, we surprised Nikki at work at World Famous. We sat in the far corner near the boardwalk, the same place we sat for breakfast back in May. We enjoyed people watching on the boardwalk. I wish you could have been there to see an extraordinary blond mullet walk by . . . or to share my fish tacos.

Ryan enjoyed the World Famous burger which he piled with french fries:

After work, Nikki joined us at the hotel for an evening of adult conversation (I think I talked her ear off! 20 second phone conversations with you twice a day and a few quick conversations with my mom via cell phone while I sat on the beach just weren't enough. I need adults to talk to!) and Phase 10. We made plans to meet the next morning in La Jolla to see the seals and revisit the Wedding Bowl.

Apparently every other tourist in Southern California and a few of the locals had the same plan! But we got there just before the lifeguards closed the cat walk out to get closer to the seals. You can see the seals lounging behind Nikkie and Maddie:

We learned seals have to lay on the beach that way for 12-14 hours a day just to get re-oxygenated after diving up to 300 feet to get their food. Little known facts ... I'm full of them.

I have to include this picture as proof that I was there:

You wouldn't believe there are thousands of people swarming the sidewalk in front of us. I guess the water pounding the rocks below us keeps them back.

See the wedding bowl behind us and to the left? A cool day in May is a much better time to get married than Friday morning in July--too many people!

And here's the wedding bowl with some of our favorite people:

After La Jolla, we followed Nikki down to Pacific beach where we enjoyed the sun, sand, and the strong currents that kept pulling the kids back up toward La Jolla. Nikki's comment was, "The beach is different with kids." True that. I bet Nate never once let her make a mer-man out of him like these cute kids:


Finally, on our last day in California, Nate showed up. We met him and Nikki at Pipes in Cardiff for a yummy breakfast.


It's hard to get a seat on the patio on Saturday, so we made it work on the sidewalk.

We went to the beach right there across the 101. Lots of seaweed. Luckily Nate was there; he had to keep fishing Jack out of the river where the currents kept pulling him on his boogie board. Finally, the life guard restricted us to shallow waters since the rip tide was so strong, so the kids found things to do on the beach:

Mostly, throwing sand at each other:

Don't they look happy?


They had a blast.


They had a blast together.

You would have loved it.

We did.

Right up to the time when we decided to leave our found boogie board in the parking garage so someone else could find it too.


And even then (in spite of the look on Jack's face), we were happy to pass on the instrument of so many hours of fun for us. We left a note:

We found this board and had a great time with it.
Now you can have a great time with it too.

Maddie signed it "Anonymous."

Then it was time to head home. It took us a long time to get out of Oceanside (but we didn't care, we had the windows rolled down) and then we stopped in Victorville for gas, and Barstow to exchange the jeans we had purchased for Ryan on the way down (can you believe our boy wears men's jeans now?!) and, thankfully, I remembered to stop in Primm to pick up the $80 I had left there Monday. Silly me.

And then, right around Midnight, we rolled into St. George where it was hot, and dry and fabulous to be home with you.

We missed you. Yes, we had fun. Lots of fun. Lots and lots of fun. Thanks for making it happen.

Love,

Em

P.S. I forgot to tell you about the Ranch Dressing. At the grocery store, Ryan asked if we could please get some ranch that was "grown up ranch, mom, not that stuff we always get." Maddie agreed, they prefer the better stuff. So there you have it, we no longer need to have Hidden Valley Ranch in our fridge. Maybe I'll start making the really good stuff ...