Cali: Day by the Water

      We spent our next day near the water and enjoying more of what Southern California is known for.  The girls enjoyed playing with Grandpa after breakfast at Noah's New York Bagels and Crazy Eyes made her first appearance of the day.



Then, there was lunch at In-N-Out.  Yum - though why anyone would need this amount of fries is beyond me.  Bella slept through the whole thing, and we told her about it later.  She was sad to have missed the giant fry tray.





Sweet Lily, then more of crazy eyes.

Next stop, Malibu, or as we like to call it, Malibooyah.  It is so gorgeous - seriously, and it felt like we were in a crazy time-warp since it was Dec. 28th, and we were hanging out on the beach.  There were tons of seagulls and bets on who would get hit with droppings.  Fortunately, we all avoided that fate.





We tried to get Bella to walk, to no avail.  She is getting heavier all the time.



Lily didn't want to be set down on the sand.  I think she had forgotten how much she used to like playing in it.




One of the highlights of our whole trip was when we were watching John's dad, Lenny, dig a hole in the sand.  Before we realized what was happening, he was hopping into the hole, fully clothed, and asking to be buried.  Lily, in particular, thought this was a great plan.





Then, the beach gave birth.



Remarkably, he cleaned up pretty well.  The hardest part of the clean up was getting the sand out of his back pockets.  His plan was for John to hold him while he balanced on the wall and Sharon helped clean his pockets out.  This was almost as hysterical to watch as him coming out of the sand.




It was a gorgeous time with perfect weather, and we very much enjoyed it.

We headed to Santa Monica and did dinner on the Pier at Bubba Gump's, and then took in the ferris wheel.




And then, our little family was over it.  Lily was ready for the promised funnel cake and was not having another picture, though we took it anyway.  I wonder how we will both feel when we look back on all these pictures.  I think it will be pretty funny.  It is actually pretty funny now, because I feel that you either have to laugh or cry, and I usually choose to laugh.  (usually)

Vacation sure is fun, but it is definitely trying for the little ones.  It was a great last full day in Cali.