The Beach!

When we have gone to Disneyland before, we usually made it a quick trip to and from with little time in between.  This time we made sure to plan an extra day to spend doing whatever we wanted, and the boys requested that we go to the beach so they could see the ocean.  So Kevin went to the nearby dollar store to buy some buckets and shovels and we were on our way to Newport Beach.

The boys were ecstatic to see the ocean and to play in the sand.  They are boys, right?  So what could be better than all access to water, sand, and digging?  Absolutely nothing!

Kevin and the boys tried to make a sandcastle with a mote they filled in with water.  Andrew liked the ocean, but after he got knocked over a few times by the tide he preferred the smaller version.

 We basically had the beach all to ourselves awhile and it was heaven.  It was so relaxing to watch and listen to the waves and see the pure joy in my kids faces every time they found a seashell or "treasure".  Kevin decided he would like to have a house by the ocean someday.

After a couple of hours we were able to meet up with our friends the Weiss family who were in California at the same time.  We bumped into them at Disneyland and decided to go to the beach the same day.  The kids had a lot of fun playing together.  They stood in the water, ran away from the tide, and dug a lot.  It was a great way to round out the trip.

Here's one of our favorite pictures.  Such cute boys!  Then it was back to the hotel to have a quick rest before we went out to dinner and packed up for the trip in the morning.  Kevin made it home in record time.  It was great to get away, but it was also nice to be home again!