Mission Beach

Get ready for a barrage of photos that are probably only interesting to me.

On Wednesday night, we threw a bunch of crap (and the kids) into the car and drove to San Diego for a weekend beach trip. Here are the highlights of our trip via picture story...

Sooo....it just struck me that I have no pictures of our first morning where we spent three hours in the hotel dealing with a Hazelum (far worse than a normal tantrum). Oh well...if only I could record these things so you guys would understand the drama that is Hazel. I love that girl. Suffice it to say that she did not enjoy her first taste of bar soap. :)

Once we made it out of our hotel room (around 11:30), we went straight to the beach. Now let me digress a bit from my story to let everyone out there know that my dear husband is in love with the beach. It turns him into a little boy. Unlike me, it doesn't bother him to have seaweed wrap around his ankles and drag him into the eye-burning, salty water as wave after wave crashes against his face and pushes more stinging water up his nose. He doesn't mind clawing his way to safety only to have sand fill his every nook and cranny and rub him raw while he is attempting to relax and unwind.



Well...apparently the kids have acquired my slight aversion to the beach. Where do I start?


Hazel. Well....Hazel's drama carried over onto the sand. She was only a little apprehensive at first and asked Owen to hold her hand on the way to the water.



If you have read my stories about swim lessons, you can guess what happened when the water didn't even sit still for her, but instead came rushing noisily in her direction. She was not exactly thrilled.


Apparently life is going to supply me with ample opportunity to capture this lovely look.


But we still cruelly forced her to stand on the edge a couple of times just to torture everyone around us (this picture is to make up for the cruel one that I will post of Nathan momentarily).And somehow she still managed to conjure up a smile for the camera.

So I spent the majority of my time hanging out at our little campsite. Nathan was genius enough to figure out how to keep this tent from flying away in the wind.

I watched Hazel as she played in the sand and said over and over again "This is fun, Mom!" I couldn't tell if she was trying to convince herself or just trying to show me that she could have fun without getting in the water.

She convinced Daddy and Owen to help her build a castle


One of my favorite moments was when she found this "nest" (aka wad of seaweed) and decided that the reason the seagull kept coming near us was because he was trying to get this nest back. It definitely didn't have anything to do with the Doritos that were being dropped into the sand around us. So she decided to give this poor birdie his nest back. It was hilarious watching her run after him trying to calm him with her sweet high-pitched voice.

She finally just set the nest down and flapped her arms a couple of times while giving her finest seagull call. I guess she thought this was the best way to make him aware of her intentions. I was laughing too hard to get a picture of the wing flapping.


Let me just have one moment where I talk about my self-loathing. It was not exactly uplifting to flop around on the beach watching young twenty-somethings with perfect bodies prance around me. I just ate a few oreos while comparing my body to theirs. Then I found this guy. Oh how I wish I could have gotten a better picture of him without bringing attention to myself. And I wish he hadn't put his arm in front of his distended belly right as I took this picture. I mean, come on! A speedo is never exactly exciting to see, but especially when it is on a pale body with chicken legs and an engorged gut. Watching him frolic in the waves was definitely entertaining and helped take my mind off the fact that I was literally the only woman on the beach that day without a model's figure.

The next morning, we started out with a filling breakfast at The Mission...yummy.

While waiting for a table, these three young girls walked up to the menu that was posted on the window to decide what they were going to order. I overheard one girl asking another "What's $1.50 and $2.50? " and then she answered herself with "Oh yeah... $3.00." Nobody corrected her. It was awesome.

And then we did this tour of all these ships. They were cool. Don't ask me to repeat a single fact about any of them. But we got some cute pics! :)

This was Hazel attempting to skip.


And some more of my favorite beach pictures from day two. Owen also had to be forced into the water, but decided at the last minute that he liked it and I think he even got his head wet at one point.

Why do people insist on taking these pictures of themselves? Do they EVER turn out flattering?!

Owen's "souvenir" that he wanted to bring home. Not in MY car, buddy!

There were no bathrooms close by. So Hazel announced "I have to pee" and dug herself a little hole in the ground. Yep..I'm serious. That's how we roll...white trash style.

Owen was desperate to be buried in the sand, but I'm pretty sure he immediately regretted it.

Sandy wedgie...

The trip home :(

Our trip was too short and we came home to WAY too much stress, but it was a sorely needed vaca and I'm glad we did it.

And the grand finale (and to make up for the whalish pictures I posted of myself).....

What a man.