Beach Trip

On Monday we headed out to the Sonoma Coast for a beach day.  It had been way too long since my last trip to the beach (I think it had been a year).  Ally was especially excited and Eva was excited because Ally was excited.  It was so cute to watch them.  The entire 1 1/2 hour drive Eva kept saying "beach!, beach!", I'm not even sure she really knew where we were going but she was so excited.

This was Colton's first trip to the beach, I was a little worried how he would do with all of his rolling around and attempting to crawl.  He no longer sits still!  He did great, and came home without too much sand.

We got to the beach a little afternoon and it was cool and foggy.  I love a foggy day at the beach almost as much as a sunny day, but the wind was especially cold.  We decided to make the best of it and pulled out our $3 princess kite.  

We took a walk along the beach looking for shells (Ally's most anticipated activity).  Ally loved getting her feet wet in the waves, but Eva was terrified of the water.  She did NOT want the water to touch her toes.  While entertaining I was kind of glad she stayed back from the water.   I don't mind having children who are on the cautious side.

Colton enjoyed his ride in the backpack, he is always just happy to be included.

Eva loved finding shells.  Eva and Ally picked up every little piece of shell they could find.  It was so fun to watch their excitement.  Eva was particularly cute, as soon as she picked up a shell she would say "Ally, bucket" over and over until the shell was in the bucket.  

On our walk we discovered what we think was a dead baby whale.  It really wasn't that big, maybe 3 feet but it was most definitely a whale.  Not sure what happened to it,.

During our walk the fog lifted and the sun came out making the ocean even more spectacular. 

Ally loved playing in the waves and I had to keep reminding her to not go out too far (the Sonoma Coast is beautiful but it can have very dangerous surf).

After our walk we checked another must do item off Ally's list, sand castles.  Ally and Eva made good use of the sand toys Grandma brought and they had a lot of fun in the sand.

What is a trip to the beach without chasing at least one seagull?

We had such a fun afternoon at the beach.  Before we knew it it was time to pack up and head back.  

Eva was pretty tired from all the fun and had a hard time walking up the dunes back to the car.  Ally was so cute helping her along and encouraging her up the hill.  I love watching these two sisters (when they aren't arguing or annoying each other).

After the beach we headed to a place I had been wanting to try, they supposedly have the best clam chowder.  Well, they are closed on Mondays.  So off to try and hot dog/hamburger place we saw as we drove into town.  That place was closed too!  It was getting late and the girls were hungry and we didn't know what to do.  A guy standing in front of the Post Office (next to the closed  hot dot place) recommended The Boat House.  After some debate we decided to try it.  It is a very small, very casual place with delicious food.  I guess it is always good to take advice from the locals!