Visiting the Gassend Family: Day 3

Our third day of vacation started out a little ominous. Our plan was to head to the beach for some playing in the sand but when we left the house that morning it was to overcast skies. As we drove along Highway 1 (I believe) it started to rain and then we hit traffic. What should have been an easy 20 minute drive turned into over an hour. The area that we were going to also happens to have pumpkin patches on either side of the two-lane highway, and since it was close to Halloween these pumpkin patches were having festivals and people were crossing back and forth pretty frequently. A cop was directly traffic but it ended up being that he'd stop every few cars to let a couple people cross the street, allow a few more cars, then stop them again. I kept thinking "this is so not the best way to do this". Let cars pass until there's a good bunch of people waiting, then stop traffic. It would mean waiting a few extra minutes for the people but would significantly improve traffic flow. Oh, well, I wasn't asked. :-)

Anyhoo, upon coming into the valley we decided that we'd stop for lunch, let the kids (and adults!) stretch their legs, and see if the weather would change to sunny by the time we were finished. Thankfully we made this decision instead of heading home or trying the beach first. After a long lunch we came outside to sunny skies and warm temperatures. Yeah! Now it was time to find the right stopping spot to enjoy our beach day. Our first stop had a decent walk to the beach and there were a lot of people around so we decided to try our luck further ahead. The kids, with the help of Nate, made our second stop our final one. The little ones were getting restless being cooped up in the car and Nate, upon walking down a bit of the path, thought the trail would have a small slightly difficult spot, but otherwise be just fine to get down to the beach.

Starting out we seemed to be doing ok. Little ones were carried or kept a firm hand on, but for the most part it wasn't too steep and we were doing pretty well.

Then we got to the ropes section. 

Yes, ropes were needed for the second half of the STEEP trail. Nate laughed as he said he checked out to just a few feet above where the ropes started and had no idea that the climb down took such a quick turn to an incline instead of the decent switchback that he'd been on.

Poor Valerie eventually had to go down on her bottom. Sophie saw her big brother navigating the rope by himself (Jonathan did a great job tackling this part of the climb) and wanted to imitate him. So Valerie had a very wiggly child in her one hand while trying to hold onto the rope with her other and not tumble head over heels as she traversed the path.

Looking back at our hiking trail. The big dirt path in the middle of the picture is what we came down (and would eventually have to go up!). Here's a link to the Google satelite view: Tunitas Creek Beach, Half-Moon Bay.

Once we'd gotten all of us, the kids, and our gear on the beach it was time to let the kids just run and run. We were literally the only people within seeing distance. There was a pair of flip-flops and a pair of shoes perfectly aligned right near a high-tide marker so we knew we'd eventually have company, but not when. Valerie was smart to bring a bunch of beach toys as her kids dived right into building sand castles and digging tunnels. Abby, however, took one look at the water and we were moving to keep up with her.

Abby saw the ocean and took off running towards it.

She saw the tide coming in but didn't hesitate to get her feet wet.

Brr! The water was pretty cold when you first got in but you quickly got used to it. 

Abby loved watching the water whoosh over her feet.

My happy little girl!

After a bit of water play Abby, who is my land lover (seriously, the girl is cool being in the water for like five minutes then she'd rather get out and play on the side (of the pool) or on the beach itself), got intrigued by all the interesting things that were on the beach just waiting to be picked up. Nate found a few cool seashells that were able to be used for digging, so Abby had fun running around and playing with those.

After lathering up on sunscreen we thought she'd be warmer without the soaking wet cotton sun-dress so it was an almost naked baby day! 

Nate took off down the beach for a run so Abby and I slowly followed behind. Here she is loving the sand.

And just like my parent's old horses the girl loves to roll around in the dirt.

Abby saw a flock of seagulls in the distance and had fun trying to run up to catch them. You may also be able to see Nate in the (very) far off distance running back to us.  

I thought this was a really sweet picture. My Abby's little feet walking beside my mommy-sized feet.

Our beach crowd sans Blaise who was taking the picture.

Abby building sand castles.

My handsome husband and delightful daughter.

All too soon we realized that the weather was starting to turn towards windy and cold. We decided we had a few more minutes to enjoy one last must-have beach activity: kite flying!

Blaise drives the kite while Jonathan and Nathan watch.

Abby was really into watching the kite fly around. I suppose from her point of view it was this enormous bird that crashed into the ground every once in awhile.

I LOVE watching these two together. The love Nate has for Abby is just so evident in their interactions together. I could not have asked for a better father for my children. (He's pretty awesome in the husband department, too!)

Finally, the time had come to pack up our gear (I think the sand we took home doubled the weight and number of bags we had to carry) and begin the fun and adventurous trek back up the mountain. Funnily enough as we were playing in the sand earlier in our day a woman, who had come down the path with her husband and three year old son, asked if we had found the stairs down to the beach so that she could go up those instead. Sadly, we had to inform her that the way she came in was the only way out. Her sigh could have been heard two counties away!

One last group picture...and again Blaise is our camera man. I'm going to have to remember to get him in front of the camera next vacation we take together.

And the view going up!

Our beach day was a blast!!! Abby had a great time running around, playing in the sand, watching the waves and the kite flying, and just getting as dirty as she possibly could. The only sore point of this trip was that on the very windy, dark, and fast drive home both Abby and I got car sick. Not the point of throwing up but to the point that we had to stop the car and get out to get some fresh air. Seven people packed into a seven passenger van (including three car seats) makes for a tight fit and unfortunately we felt it on the ride home. But that was our only dark spot of the day so I'm again calling this excursion a success!

Coming up on Day 4 of our trip...nothing! :-) Well, not exactly the case but with two big days behind us (the zoo and the beach) a lower-key day was much appreciated.