Annual Beach Get-A-Way

Gettting away . . . Sometimes it seems like getting away does not last long enough. A few years ago we started a family tradition, a yearly beach trip. Our family loves the beach. Living in the desert we are like sponges; getting into the water and soaking it up, not wanting to be dry ever again.

We left Las Vegas early in the morning, three car loads for people loaded with bathing suits, boogie boards, buckets and shovels. Our first stop of course was in beautiful downtown Baker, home of the Alien Jerky and a motel for brave at heart and a Burger King.

Mind you, getting small children out of bed at the crack of dawn can make for a few meltdowns during the journey. Hugh was so tired and would not give in to sleep, being so sleepy and crying because he was strapped into his car seat, he was making himself hoarse. This is what a sleep deprived 2 year old looks like. . . so sad!! All he wanted was Grandma to lift him out of the seat and let him be free. So Sorry Hugh, there are even laws that Grandma's have to follow.

Getting to the hotel was an adventure! Let's just say Landa is GPS challenged. Everyone was following us and I kept telling them to turn here or turn there and they were calling on the phone to ask, "Why are we going this way again?" Finally the kids said, "Mom, we are going our way, you guys go yours".... So they did, so did we, We ended up right where we were supposed to... The Laguna Motor Inn, but wait we had reservations at the Laguna Holiday Inn. You see the kids were right, I was also right, I just put in the wrong hotel, we arrived right were I asked it to take us, to the Laguna Inn. Thank goodness our reservations were still waiting for us at the Holiday Inn when we arrived ..... We met the kids there.

We made quick work out of changing into our beachwear and piled back into the car for Huntington Beach. We hit Beach Blvd and to our surprise we picked the yearly weekend of the Surf Tournaments, BMX and Skateboard events that filled every parking lot and beach to the max. After driving around for awhile we all found spots at Dog Beach. I know you are thinking, what?? This was so much fun. This is the one beach that people can bring their dogs and the dogs have a ball. The kids loved playing in the sand, swimming in ocean and running with the dogs.

I love the cool breeze, the ocean waves as they rise and fall, being with my family, doing things together so they will always remember who they are and what a special family they come from.

A lot of our family discussions begin with "Remember when we were at the beach. . ."

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, they are there for me and help each other. I will post a few more pictures so you can see all the fun we had with some sand and water.