Devil's Punchbowl (and more beach time!)

On Saturday, our kids woke up at the crack of dawn (seriously, before 6), and in an effort to keep them from waking up everyone else in the campground, Anne and I walked and the kids rode their bikes down to the beach. They clambered on rocks, dug holes in the sand, splashed a little in the water, and were as loud as they wanted. When we finally returned to eat breakfast, everyone else was awake and the bike riding re-commenced.

Afterwards, we drove a mile or two north to see the Devil's Punchbowl at Otter Rock. It's a naturally formed cavern/hole, filled with water at high tide, but empty and open at low tide. It was so cool to walk in there and be surrounded by a huge, high rock wall.

Two little crabs, scuttling under the rocks to get away from the light and us. And a starfish.

After eating lunch, and making our way through a sunscreen-induced meltdown, we walked over to the campground amphitheatre and entertained ourselves by putting on a show. Liesl was the announcer/instructor and the rest of us the more-or-less willing dancers.

A creek ran alongside the campground, right behind our tentsites, and there was a trail following its banks. We walked along and watched as the kids played in and on and under the enormous trees and their roots. They were playing a game in which Sebastian was the owner person and Liesl and Camille were Honey and Cookie, two dogs (or cats), that he gave directions to and led off in explorations.

We went back down to Beverly Beach in the late afternoon to try out the water and waves again. It was incredibly windy, which made everything a little more difficult.

The wind was so strong that we periodically retreated to this area under the highway bridge to escape from it. We only stayed a short while and then went to Newport for dinner at a seafood restaurant called Local Ocean. We walked along the wharf and saw a sea lion, and then returned to the campground for more s'mores.

camping at Beverly Beach

We went camping this weekend at Beverly Beach - on the coast near Newport - with four other families - Anne and Cuong, Adrienne and Jeff, Anja and Luna, and Mary. The weather was perfect and the campground was across the street from the ocean, so we could walk there. It was terrific. The children rode their bikes all through the campground, chased each other around the playground and in the forest, climbed trees, dug holes in the sand, splashed in waves, and roasted s'mores.

We drove out on Friday afternoon, arriving just in time to set up the tent and serve dinner (chili and cornbread and coleslaw!).

 We shared a site with the Hoangs, and Adrienne and Anja shared the site next to us.

 S'mores are serious stuff. Serious faces required.

 

  

Priorities: boxed wine.

 Pajama-clad evening walk along the creek behind our campsites.

 

Reading a bedtime story to the kiddos.

 

Watching the sunset with my ladies.

necessity is the mother of invention

Liesl got soaking wet at camp on Monday - they have a combo bouncy house/slip n slide setup this week and she loved it. But then it turned out that she didn't have any extra clothes packed (mama fail!), and was cold and uncomfortable in her soaking wet outfit. So she borrowed a t-shirt and SEWED HERSELF A SKIRT TO WEAR!!! I was so impressed. It even had a fancy front pocket made of glittery material. The skirt had a slight tendency to fall down (!), as she lacked an elastic band for the waist, but we fixed that at home with some safety pins.

 

She was on a sewing kick the other day and requested a hood - not a hoodie, just a hood. So we cut off the hood from an old jacket and sewed ribbons onto the sides so it could be tied, like a bonnet.

out of the mouths of babes

The golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you... treat others as you would like to be treated. Today, Sebastian pointed out that it really should be "Treat others as they like to be treated, not as you would like to be treated, because people are different. I think that it's funny to have water poured on my head, but not everyone would like it."  So true, so true.

Liesl asked, "what does sarcasm mean?" Sebastian responds, "It's like when mommy says, "that's my favorite thing ever, thank you", and you know she's actually angry.

Sebastian, at the school field: "Grownups are always on their phones."

In the car, listening to a song on the radio: "You don't have to try try try try, you don't have to try so hard." Sebastian: "What is this person talking about? If you don't try, you'll never get anywhere or do anything!"

If you could have one wish, what would it be? Sebastian: "To have everything Nike has ever made, ever." Liesl: "To see a unicorn."

Sebastian: "Poor Daddy has to stay home by himself - it must be lonely."
Me: "It's okay. He has work to do."
Liesl: "He's not lonely, he has his computer. And it has movies on it that he can watch anytime! You know, he doesn't always do his work; sometimes he just watches movies."

Oaks Park

We took our annual (more or less) summer trip to Oaks Amusement park, to ride the rides, get suckered out of some money at games, and play minigolf. It was fun - more crowded than I expected, and Seb is now too tall for some of his favorite kiddie rides (which was a little crushing for him), but Liesl had an amazing time and tried out some new and crazy rides. She's now officially the only one in our family with the stomach for spinning-twirling-falling-zooming rides. We met up with Anne and Camille, Adrienne and Angelo, and that was great. I was able to leave Liesl with Anne and take Sebastian to play some mini-golf, just the two of us. We are rarely a two-some, he and I - when our family splits up for a day or activity, it's usually along gender lines - and so I really enjoyed spending time with just him.

The day ended on a sad/funny note - Anne took the girls on this octopus ride, which spun and twirled and dipped around - and got terribly woozy. Like, face as white as a sheet, lie down on the grass, can't drive home kind of motion sickness. We laughed and sympathized in equal measure. :)