Huntington Beach

We spent one of our days before everyone else arrived in California at Huntington Beach.  We were shocked when we told the girls that we were going to the beach that day that Ella replied, "I don't want to go to the beach, I don't like the beach."  We used to live at the beach during the summers in Virginia and it was our favorite place.  I was shocked when they didn't want to go.  When we pressed them further about it, we realized that they no longer remembered the beach at all.  We knew Maggie wouldn't, but I thought Ella still would.  We went anyway, and Ella quickly remembered and the girls loved it. 

 It was almost 80 degrees in February, the water was still a bit cold, but we enjoyed ourselves so much.  We had the beach almost entirely to ourselves.  The girls buried Daddy in the sand, loved to kick the ball in the ocean and chase it after the waves pushed it away.  They built sandcastles, and enjoyed discovering loads of "treasure" (seashells) at low tide.  Hadley enjoyed the white noise from the waves, took a nap, and tried her first taste of sand and then some.  Yum!  Mommy got to sit back with the sleeping baby and reflect on what a lucky girl I am to have such a wonderful family and how lucky the girls are to have such a playful Daddy.  I also had to repeatedly chase off some very aggressive seagulls who wouldn't leave our picnic lunch alone--even when it was buried under our towels and bags.  It was seriously crazy!  When I went down to the water with the girls, they would dig through our stuff and fly off with our bag of animal crackers or whatever else they could get their beaks on. 

After our day in the sun, the girls kept asking when we can go back to the beach again. 

Now that's more like it!