Beach Day, described

Aunt Naomi proposed an outing to Leo Carillo State Beach, a beautiful stretch of shore in Malibu where dogs are welcomed. The area is about an hour North of us, so we set off at exactly nap time in the hopes of a peaceful drive.


Our hopes for a relaxing drive/nap busted along with our back left tire. We were about 18 miles up the coast/28 minutes into the nap. Luckily, we coasted right into a full service gas station (a typical Malibu luxury) where an expert patched the tire after extracting a HUGE screw.


When we told Monroe that Aunt Naomi would be at the beach, she got very excited and started chanting "Omi, omi." Mike, Naomi, and Baxter left a little later than we did because there was a playoff game they could not, in good concience, abandon. But since they avoided driving over any GIANT screws, they arrived at almost exactly the same time as we did.


Monroe regarded the beach as the biggest sandbox the world has ever seen and was accordingly psyched about it.

We took her shoes off so she could get the full beachgoer's experience.



She could have played in the sand for days...




But there were Uncle Rides to take too, and rocks to explore!
Dada started her off on the little rocks, but they quickly graduated to the boulders.




I don't think most 16 month-olds have experienced that much thrilling climbing. But then again most 16 month-olds don't have Eben for a dad.

After the rocks were conquered, we went through one of Leo Carrillo's sea caves (dry-ish when the tide is out) to get to an area full of tide pools. We had fun looking for sea life.




The day was full of snot and happiness.


See that lil' footprint right in the middle of that shot? Now whose sweet foot do you think that belongs to?


Gratuitous curl shot in 5, 4, 3, 2...


Squishy mud made Monroe take BIG steps.


I got Eben to take a shot of me just to prove that I was there too. :-)