Last Few Days of Sunshine

On Saturday the kids and I hung out, did a little laundry, visited some nearby stores, and waited for Jim to get off work. Not a super exciting day, but nice and low key.

Sunday we dropped Jim off at work, then the kids and I found our way to Natural Bridges Beach again. First we stopped at a cute French Bakery near the beach for some treats (Gasp! I know, it was on Sunday!). While waiting in line at the bakery Tralee picked out a pink heart cookie for her treat. When we got to the car we realized they gave us a red flower cookie instead. I tried to convince Tralee that the red flower was just as good as the pink heart, but the tears kept falling down her face as she looked up at me and said, "I just really really wanted the pink heart." In other circumstances I might have told her to deal with it (it's just a cookie after all, it'll end up in the same place whether it's a heart or flower), but the whole time we were waiting in line she kept jumping up and down telling me (and everyone around us) how excited she was to get the pink heart cookie. So, we made our way back into the bakery, I waited in line AGAIN, and I explained our little dilemma. I was ready to pay for another cookie, but they gave us the pink heart one for free. Tralee looked as though she could float out of the bakery in delight. She was all smiles and held that pink heart cookie as long as she could before the temptation was too great and she gobbled it down.

After the heart problem was solved, we walked down to the ocean, finished our treats, and played and played and played. I was a little worried about taking the kids to the beach all by myself, but it was actually kind of easy. Hunter is afraid of the water, and Tralee just wanted to build sand castles the whole time. All was good. After we built about a million sandcastles (by Tralee's definition a sand castle is just a giant mound of sand you push together) I put the kids in the stroller and went for a BEAUTIFUL walk along the ocean. There were cliffs everywhere, and all along the walk you could see the waves crashing into them. There were also some brave people sitting on the very edge of the cliffs. The kids and I also stopped and watched a surfer climb down an embankment, paddle out into the water, and surf on some pretty incredible waves.

After our walk, we packed up, grabbed a bite to eat in town, and then drove to pick up Jim from work. Sunday was our last night together before the kids and I had to fly home so we were pretty sad. I really didn't want to leave. I would have been perfectly happy to stay in California until Jim was done with work, but reality was waiting for us in Idaho.

I took the picture below because it was something Hunter drew in the sand with a stick. I have so many of Tralee's first pictures and sketches, and not a thing of Hunter's. I'm not sure why. Is this a normal second child thing? I feel kind of bad about it. So, in case Hunter ever asks me, "Where's all my artwork?" I'll have this to show him:

I really will try harder to save some of his artwork.

Monday morning I packed up, and then my amazing cousin Meagan picked us up, let us play at her house for a bit, and then took us to the airport. She has three little ones (one only being a few months old) so we really appreciated her taking time out of her busy schedule to help us out.

Overall our trip to California was glorious. We had so much fun playing together, going on adventures, and taking in all sights. We definitely feel grateful and blessed we have this amazing trip to remember for years to come. (I know that last line was super cheesy, but that's all I could come up with. Forgive me please.)