The Beverly Hillbillies go to the Beach and a few S'Mores at the Del

 I could not resist taking some photos of the trek from the condo to the beach.  Our condo is next to the beach and we store all of our beach stuff in the garage so you just have to pull it along the street adjacent to the beach.  But remember Ya-Ya is one of the people who go to the beach and has Ya-Ya ever traveled light?  No way.  So we drag a wagon full of our umbrellas, chairs, beach towels, shovels, food, cooler.......

The old man and the sea.....

This is a view of our typical camp site each day we go to the beach.  Not exactly a decorators dream.

The boys were posing for Ya-Ya.  I think I captured some very cool moments.

The kids made some new friends while they were building their mountain, torpedo, slide and lake.

Hard at work on the sand creation.

New friend.

Like Father, Like Son..............

The boys hamming it up before we made our hot dogs and S'Mores at the Del firepits.

Almost the end of a great day...............

I many times think we look like the Beverly Hillbillies with all of our junk.  We did not, however, hit gold in our backyard.....But remember the song, we all knew it by heart.  Have a great day and love up those kids,

Ballad of Jed Clampett by Flatt and Scruggs................
"Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed
Poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed
Then one day he was shooting for some food,
And up through the ground come a bubbling crude
(Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea)

Well the first thing you know old Jed's a millionaire
Kin folk said Jed move away from there
Said California is the place you oughta be
So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly
(Hills that is, swimming pools, movie stars)"
Coming Soon:

• A last look at Coronado
• The Birthday Club
• Internet shopping on the cheap
• A Halloween Project completed
• Return to Reality
• Ya-Ya goes back to class

Love, Ya-Ya

Sandology

Digging the moat for the water to keep the sand wet and moldable.

A visit to the beach would be incomplete without the building of a sand sculpture of some sort.  One day we built a sand camel. Then another day it started as a giraffe and ended as a dinosaur/giraffe/camel.  A huge sculpture attracts a lot of visitors to your little beach area.  

The girls are very serious about their sand building.

Serious sand castle building

Hours of building a sand creation

Collecting water for the dinosaur, giraffe, camel sand creation

This is the camel.  Always a moat around the structure. Mostly sculpted by Mommy.  We think Mommy has found a second career as a sand sculptor.

Back and forth to the water 100 times at least

Water does not always make it into the moat

Notice the beginning of the creation. At the top of the photo, like Frozen.  The sand balls were credited to a little help from Daddy.

This is a dinosaur, giraffe, camel creation  It really was amazing.  Worked on for four hours.  Note the head in the moat getting a drink of water.  Most of the sculpting was done by Mommy.  The digging by the girls and Daddy.  Ya-Ya is the photographer.  And Pop-Pop was the observer.

Digging a moat is very hard work.  The girls loved it.

I was blown away by the youngest of my Granddaughters.  I have told you about the "Family PlayList" and we had it playing on a speaker on the beach.  "Hello I Love You" came up on the speaker.  I said "who sings this"?  The five year old said "The Doors"  Really- I couldn't believe it.  Just goes to show that they are taking in everything that we tell them.  Later that day we were getting ready to go to dinner and she had my I Pod Shuffle on her headphones.  Billy Joel's "Piano Man" came up and she was telling me how much she loved that song.  I asked her when it was popular and she said the 80's.  I thought the 70's but we had to look it up.  It was 1973.  I imagine that she memorized that factoid for a Trivial Pursuit challenge somewhere in her future.
Your children are watching you......

I asked the girls at the end of their visit about their favorite thing.  One said everything.  Not really an answer.  The other one said picking up shells and body surfing.  Not an attraction on the list.

Remember that they are taking it all in.  Hug them a little more today.    

"Hello I Love you, won't you tell me your name,

Hello I Love you, let me jump in your game"

Hello I Love you......the Doors.

Coming Soon:

• Mermaid Party
• Follow the Yellow Brick Road
• The Birthday Club
• Broadways Favorites
• The First Day of School
• Best concerts
• Bucket List

Love, Ya-Ya

Observations from the Beach

When we arrived Marty said there are so many old people.  I said we are the old people.  He said no we are the youngest people here.

July in California is family time.  August in California starts to slow down as the Arizona kids go back to school.  That makes it really nice for getting into restaurants and attractions.  I really don't care about attractions but I do care about restaurants.

If you read my blog you know that I do not cook.  But it is on my list to learn.  My kids are laughing out loud right now because they have seen me ruin almost every cooking project that I have attempted.  I really do need some lessons.  I have been known to take a shortcut on a recipe and then have the cookies end up in one big lump dripping over the sides of Marty's cool,  flat cookie sheets into the oven.  I think I went to the bakery to deliver cookies for some school event after the cookie massacre.

Some of my kids are arriving soon.  They want to go to the Zoo, the Beach, see the sand castle man....and on and on.  They have a cool thing on the beach that I saw last night.  You reserve a firepit, They get the fire started and supply the beach chairs.  Then you roast hot dogs, s'mores, and I don't know what else.  This is all coordinated through the hotel concierge and you do not have to be a hotel guest(we are not!).  So stay tuned for more pics of my beautiful Grandchildren.

I think way too much, especially when I am trying to get to sleep.  I have had many thoughts about if I should blog, is it worth the time, does anybody really care?  Today I got two notes from friends, one about a dear Mother that she was remembering through the song I listed.  This woman was a dear and I am sure is remembered fondly. We are honoring our loved ones who join us in spirit.  I know My Mom and Dad seem to make it to every family party.  The G kids know many stories about Great Ya-Ya and Papou doing fun, crazy stuff.

My other friend was reminded of some college memories.  She also chose two of my favorite albums in her Top Five.  She wanted more than 5- Don't we all???  It makes me smile to know that she is remembering the fun times that we shared and the laughs and hugs.

Hearing that I have jogged your memory just a little, made you smile, or cry.  Makes me smile and cry.

It is a beautiful day and I am headed outside to actually achieve one of my August wishes, walking or bike riding at least 30 minutes a day.  I hope I can get to my bike.

"The West coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a french bikini on Hawaii island
Dolls by a palm tree in the sand

I been all around this great big world
And I seen all kinds of girls
Yeah, but I couldn't wait to get back in the states
Back to the cutest girls in the world" California Girls by The Beach Boys

Coming Soon:
The Birthday Club
The Surfer Birthday Party
Zoo Mania