CA Day 7: The Beach, Family Talent Show, Last Day

Alas, we have come to the last post of this awesome California vacation. And what was left of this trip was beach time. Honestly, the girls probably would have liked to spend all 7 days at the beach and no where else. Most of those excursions to different cities and attractions were for me and my love of going places and seeing things. I did enjoy my time on the beach too, though. Such beauty, such greatness, such newness every second. I love that no wave is the same, no sound is the same, the sand is ever changing and the sky and water are always vast.

As a family, we took the opportunity to get a picture of all the grandkids on the beach. It was mayhem and chaos, of course, but cute chaos. Jana was our excellent photographer.

Behind the scenes.

Aptos is a pretty cool little town.

This was still the evening after we went to Carmel. I love how Cami's braids are swinging on the left, and it looks like the other one on the right is too, but really it's a cousin's arm from afar. :)

"I got sand in my eyes, Mom!"

The waves can be a friendly playmate, or a ferocious foe. Depends on their mood.

Lexi liked playing hard to get. She enjoyed the chase.

How cute is a sandy baby's bum? Littls Nora loved the sand.

On our last day, Friday, we stuck close to home but made one stop at Melinda's Bakery, a gluten free bakery to enjoy some breakfast treats. How good do these look?!

Jake and Lex enjoying a cinnamon roll.

Mmmmm. It was divine.

We drove back to Aptos through Capitola, which had these lovely sailboats in the water.

I had to take a break before we headed to the beach. By this point in the trip, I had stopped using my crutches, and was starting to do partial weight bearing. My right foot, after not having been used for 3 months, didn't know how to work anymore. The nerves shut down, and my foot and ankle got super swollen, red, and sore. Yup, that's an ankle in there somewhere.

So anyways, we made the trek to the beach one last time, I hobbled on the crutches across the mass of sandy beach down to the water, and parked it in the beach chair. I enjoyed watching all the kids and dads playing in the water. And it was super cool when a seal popped up to play every now and then. I also saw a dolphin jump straight up into the air!

Boogie boarding brothers. That's Lincoln in front, with Ike, Jake and Abe ready to catch a wave.

I moved down to the nice wet sand and felt all the little crabs scurrying back under whenever the waves washed them up. Then I decided to make something. A sea turtle! It was fun and relaxing, and the kids came over and helped. I didn't get a picture before the tide rose and washed over him, but he mostly survived.

Sandy babe!

Baby turtles following behind.

Children's delight

How had I never seen this ingenious way to protect a phone on the beach? Jana whipped out her ziploc bag phone and started using it with her fingertip through the plastic, and I just went "Whaaaa??" That's awesome. Way to go, Jana. :)

Holy sand! She didn't mind.

After hours on the beach, we ended it by flying a kite in the clear blue sky. Perfection.

Oh and this palm tree. I looked at it all week long and finally captured its beauty and character on the last day. Can I just have a yard full of palm trees please?

Back at the beach house, we celebrated our last night by eating pasta and artichokes outside. Max wasn't sure what this weird prickly leaved green thing was.

We all tried it. I have fond memories of eating artichokes in San Jose at my friend Stephanie's house, dipping the fresh, soft, bright green leaves in a mayo dip, and scraping the meat off with my teeth. It's really just a fun thing to do. A lot of work for a teeny reward, but it's fun, and good artichokes taste GOOD. Lexi got into it.

Another bonus of this day was that we got to celebrate Cathi's birthday, which was the next day. Check out that cake! Looks divine. And Portland's pretty cute.

Happy Birthday! All the kids want the candles, of course.

Time for the family talent show! Cami read an article in the Friend magazine a few months earlier about having a family talent show. She said how fun that would be to do one at the beach house! So we pitched the idea to Grandma, and she was all for it! We gathered out on the patio, drew a stage with chalk, and gave everyone who wanted to a chance to share their talent.

Talents included Lincoln on the Rubix cube, Clara on Ninja moves, Luke on magic, Max on origami, Cami on handstands :), me and Jordan on separate juggling acts, Jake doing a black socks skit with our fam, Mae on singing....it was magical. Just like in "Dan in Real Life". ;) haha. Not quite like that, but I'm glad we did it.

When it got dark, since it was ALSO Pioneer Day that day, we whipped out some sparklers and let the kids have at em.

Cami's shirt: "Mommy's Little Sparkler"

By the way, the beach house was awesome. It had like 8 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 kitchens...plenty of room for all. Lincoln was a good sport- he slept on the couch in the living room, so he had to wait for us all to go to bed every night before he could go to bed. We'd stay up and talk for awhile, usually. Our bedroom was on the first floor so that I never had to hobble up the stairs, which was very nice. On Saturday morning, one by one, each family left to start the 12 hour journey home.

This is a picture of the bedroom window where we stayed.

Front of the house- very European-esque.

There she is! We had an awesome time. Thanks, Clark and Emma for a wonderful vacation- one that we'll never forget!

And once more, so long, California. Until we meet again!