Monday, May 20, 2013

3 Beaches and a Wedding

What could be happier than a beautiful couple getting married in a beautiful place for all eternity??
  My niece got married! It was a great reason to take a road trip to visit family and spend some time at yep, my favorite place in the whole world...the beach!!
 We drove extra speedy like so we could spend the afternoon here at Laguna Beach.  We relived favorite memories with Nana, like visiting the Candy Baron, and sharing nachos at Las Brisas.  One thing is for sure, a lot of people here were talking to themselves--and they weren't using wireless headphones...
  The next day we visited our most favoritist beach of all Crescent Bay. Sun, sand, waves, tidepools, frisbee--surely there was not a lovelier day --and a more stark contrast from fighting and biting on the car ride over!!! . I do believe I have thought of the BEST Mother's DAy present EVER?!! It's not too late is it?? a DVD player installed in the van.
Kate must have some animal attraction.  In Florida it was manatees. Here, it was a seal, bobbing it's sleek head and swimming right in her vicinity not 5 minutes after she swam out to sea.  So fun!  We explored the tidepools and found starfish, urchins, anenomes,  California blue mussels, gooseneck mussels, sand crabs, hermit crabs, sculpins, and yes, I am a real beach NERD who also loves to boogie board. 

 We played until we had sand in every crevice and then called it a day! I can pat myself on the back for remembering everything from beach chairs, boogie boards, even People magazine, and of course sunscreen, but OOps! forgot to APPLY it on that winter white skin.   We were totally fried for the next day's special event... (where the slightest Pat on the back would have all of us screaming in pain.)

The wedding at the lovely Newport Beach Temple....



 Our girls were asked to be the Flower Girls for the event, a title they have been waiting their WHOLE LIVES to fill.
 And here is the lovely couple after being married for TIME and ALL ETERNITY. Aren't they smashing?!
 The bride's family, which is my family--sister, nieces and nephews. I love these guys.

 Flower girl duties included handing out wedding mints and flitting around. The reception was a beautiful backyard celebration in Mission Viejo. There was great food, a DJ, and some late night dancing. Dancing is FUN! we should do it  more often.  . The whole reception was perfect. There was the cutting of the cake, the bouquet toss, and the garter toss and there was no line. Gotta love that!  We wished the couple adieu with bubbles and off they went on a honeymoon that was so top secret even the bride didn't know where it was. Ooh la la!
So, yay. What a happy great time. But, wait a sec, here we are at the end and  I know you're thinking "Hey??  what about the 3rd beach, we've only covered two so far???"   Good job! That is where our family  went BETWEEN the temple and the reception because we had 1 1/2 hours to chill.
Here we are at DANA POINT, still in our Sunday best.   We're having our own ooh la la moment because it's the BEACH--romantic, fun, and will always be my favorite place in the whole world!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Life in a Pit-house


I took the younger batch to the Fremont Indian State Park

 We toured the museum and exhibits and learned about the Natives that used to live in these parts. Yes, as always the creepy lady was there--a life sized replica of a Fremont indian woman inside a glass cubicle with a recorded voice that tells about her life. Cannon hid behind the safety of my legs until I told him she was not real.  "Wait, did she just say, 'I'm going to get you Cannon' ..."
We ran over to the children's zone where they had a model of a pit-house for us to play in. Also there was  a nice selection of children's books about Indian folktales. The kids warmed my heart with, "Mom read us a story in the pithouse!"  This is why the younger batch is so fun. Adrie served us some berries and ground up corn-meal and Cannon shot a deer that we roasted over our pretend fire. Then it was off to the great outdoors.

Our first time on this particular trail, we saw enough evidence to rename it the 100 Dingleberries trail.  Cave was cool though, and actually had Indian handprints on the walls, just not actually 100 of them. 


Cannon spotted a squirrel and several lizards darted across the trail.  We made Indian names for each other. Adrie was Jewel Eyes,  Cannon decided he liked Silly Squirrel, and Adrie named me not Running Deer or Majestic Eagle but Blue Badger.  I bought her rock candy anyway.