The Beach

On Saturday we were able to catch some of Brad and Gene's show at Cathedral Catholic High School (Brad is Ava's dad, and we met Gene in China because he traveled with Brad and Joia on the adventure). Then we headed to Torrey Pines Beach for a picnic lunch. I chose Torrey Pines just because it's the closest beach. It was still overcast, but not insanely cold or anything, so that was good at least.

Of course, going to a sandy place with four children around the age of 1, a 5 year old, and a 4 year old with impulse control issues who likes to chase seagulls was a bit much for me. You can see each child enjoyed him or herself in their own way:

This one is Caedmon, Ava's younger brother. For some reason, I don't have any pictures of her older brother, Jack. Jack kept Casey company chasing the birds-- except Jack knows to return to "home base" when called-- a task that seemed to escape Casey's abilities (or his willingness)

This one is of Ava. You can see she is exploring the sand here, as well. . .

Here is Marcie holding her hat on her head. A little after this, she dug into the dirt for some exploring of her own . . .

For some reason, I don't have any solo shots of Cassidy, but Larry did snap this one of me with Marcie and Kyndra with Cassidy.

And this photo sort of epitomizes the weekend with Casey-- at least where I stood in relation to him. After I tracked him down from the forage north chasing birds (which, as you can see, have all flown away at this point), I sat him down on the blankets to eat lunch. He got through half his sandwich when some birds returned. Then he proceeded to throw shoes and socks and rocks at the birds, much to my dismay. Not even his own shoes and socks-- Kyndra's! At that point, I realized I really couldn't control his behavior, so I packed him up, grabbed Marcie, and with Larry's help dragged them both to the car, leaving our guests behind. Yeah, I was embarrassed to be ditching them-- but what could I do? I can't have him throwing things at birds!



Casey got the last word, though. I didn't even take time to dust off his sandy feet because I was so mad and so embarrassed. I just buckled him in the car and took off for home. On the ride, though, he grabbed Marcie's jacket and used it as a blanket. Check it out: