Carpinteria

We woke up in Carpinteria, ready to log some more beach time. 

After a quick stop at Starbucks for coffee (me) and internet (Eric), we drove back to the same beach and set up camp on the benches right in front of the volleyball courts. 

Eric has been playing some sort of quasi-football game with the kids. It can be tackle or not. It inevitably involves tears at different points, but the kids love to play. 

Lukey and I also played some beach soccer. He won. I don't want to talk about it.

Then something amazing happened. Dolphins swam by, right close to shore. They were going super slowly and popping up every dozen feet or so.

Finny lost her mind. She adores dolphins. 

We were barely able to stop her from swimming out to ride them. 

That's the girls at the bottom of the picture...they were close!

 Finny has been saving up for about two years to go to Discovery Cove in Florida. We told her that swimming with wild dolphins is even more special. And cheaper. She agrees...but she's still saving.

I read in the sunshine, while the kids sprinted down the beach to follow the dolphins.

Some guy on a business trip from Ohio was walking by and offered to take a picture of us. Thank you, sir!

After a great long soak in the vitamin D of Carpinteria, we finally packed up and headed out. 

We took the coastal road down towards Malibu and happened to run into the Malibu Marathon. What a spectacular run route.

Since the traffic was moving slowly around the runners, we slowed down enough to notice a crazy steep sand slope off the side of the road that had lots of families running up and down it.

Since we have no agenda and no place to be...we stopped. Why not?

We climbed that sand cliff. Yeah, we did.

I have to make a small note about Lukey. Do you notice anything strange about his front tooth? It has a gigantic space between it and the next tooth. One front tooth looks normal. The other doesn't.

The front tooth is super loose. It has been for months. It won't come out. It is stuck in a weird position and I find it unnerving to look at...

He keeps making me touch it. Eric tried to pull it out today and he said it isn't ready. It may not be...but I am!

View of our little van down at the road. See how the door is open? We figured we'd be able to watch someone clean us out from up on the top of the hill...

We were up pretty high...

Look at these monkeys...

It was hard work.

It's like a scene from Ishtar...

We had races down the hill. Eric got an awesome video of Lukey bailing hard, face first in the sand. I am sure you'll see it here. Stay tuned.

We got back in the van and cheered for all the marathoners for the next seven miles. Then we stopped at the finish line and went for a swim.

I got out a bag of Doritos. While my back was turned for ABOUT TEN SECONDS, some stupid gull grabbed the bag and turned it upside down as it flew away, dumping half a bag of chips all over the sand all around me.

I freaked. I had to call Molly in as reinforcements. She got the birds away and grabbed the (now empty) bag. Poop.

Thanks Moll!

Stupid birds

Playing with the waboba ball

There was body surfing. And sand digging. Malibu has a beautiful beach.

Last stop before driving to drop off the boys at the Canucks game was a quick walk of the Venice boardwalk. What a scene! Now...off to the hotel and rush to get the boys to the Duck Pond to watch the Canucks.