Beach Day

Cora's school gave us a four-day weekend this past week, with Friday a teacher in-service day and Monday off for Labor Day.

After Stace came home from work Friday, we headed up to Ventura to spend the night with Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty.

Our plan was for Stace to help Bill on the outdoor renovation Saturday, go to the beach, and go home that night. Then, on our next two days off, we'd work on our own bedroom redo.

On Saturday, Aunt Patty and I took the girls to the beach, where Violet had her first kayaking experience. She loved it, as you would imagine.

After kayaking, Cora spent hours boogie-boarding. (I was playing with the camera settings, and the "vivid" setting made the water look a little odd in the next few photos.)




















We were at Harbor Cove, where we can take in the kayaks easily; it's a very protected beach where there aren't any waves, just a gentle lapping tide.








It was perfect for a beginning boogie boarder like Violet. At first, she was a little nervous on the board, but she also soon came to love it.

Back at our Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's beach house Saturday evening, the girls loved using the new outdoor shower.

Along with renovating the yard and kitchen, my ambitious aunt and uncle have gutted their master bath. In the process of replumbing the house and bathroom, their good friend (a plumber by trade) added this handy feature.

At this point, it was time for a superb grilled lamb supper, following the prior night's yummy barbecued pizza. Even without a functional kitchen, Bill and Patty know how to produce fabulous meals.

Then, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, with Reece's peanut butter cups in the place of the Hershey's chocolate squares. Oh my goodness. We will have to do that again.

Somewhere in between, a game of Candyland took place. Violet loved this game! We will have to pull ours down from the closet.

By this point, Stace and I had decided to stay another night, so he could finish the piece of the project he and Bill had begun.