Beach Trip

We beat the wind for two days by heading to the beach. This time we were only half way experimental--we went to Venice Beach but stayed near the Marina to try out their lagoon area. This is our first trip to somewhere beachy this year. Trevor seemed to thoroughly love it. Ryan thought it was mostly okay... for a little bit and then preferred the playground or blanket.


Let the digging begin!






Trev chasing the birds


Picture of happy John with a fish and a shrimp taco--especially for his mother

After lunch we headed over to the hotel for a pretty solid nap. Trev was pretty sure he didn't nap because he doesn't do that anymore. But he 'rested' for quite a while. We checked out the lagoon across the street and then headed down to the Santa Monica Pier.


Ryan liked making castles and 'happy octopus' from the molds we had


Trev was working bringing water back to his canals and giving us updates about the tide



Trev wanted a picture with the big cannon we passed. Neither one of the boys seemed to find it worth mentioning the guy sleeping on the ground next to it (strategically not pictured).

























Ryan really wanted to ride the "choo choo train" (aka the roller coaster) and each time it passed above would point and say "Choo choo!" Unfortunately he only got to go on the gondola wheel.


I'm not sure when you have to actually start putting quarters in for entertainment... works for us though

It's quite a walk from the Pier back to the promenade area. Ryan was pretty motivated though because I told him we were going to go see dinosaurs. Then when we got to the dinosaur fountains. He stopped and looked and said "no mommy. These not dinosaurs. This water." A little less than impressed I guess. Luckily there were still escalators to go on next.























Ryan discovered the day before that our beach mat had little handles he could hold and a pocket he could fit his legs into. So this became his horsie. The second day he discovered he could turn a bucket into a hat. Lots of yee haws! at the beach.



Trev was very excited to get to play in the water and sand again. He wants to surf now. Or at least do the laying on the board and paddling part. We told him he should probably learn to swim first.