Fun in the Sun at Corona Del Mar

 As part of our California trip, we needed to get Carrie away from the stress of visiting my relatives all the time, so we took the morning of Cerise's birthday to head down to Corona del Mar and hang out on the beach (not to mention it would have been a crime to not let our little desert rat girls experience the ocean when we were staying so close!) 

Playing in the sand--a desert rat's natural enviroment

All of us at the beach (minus Carrie, who claimed I was either too wet or too sandy to handle the camera)

  We were there on a Thursday morning, which means that the beach was gloriously uncrowded. It was a little bit cold, however, especially with the constant breeziness of the beach. The sand was nice and warm though, which is why the happiest expressions you'll see on the girls' faces is when they are completely buried in sand. 

Happy as clams, buried in the sand! 

 I'm afraid I ruined the water right at the beginning for Cairn, though... I told her to watch me run into the waves and it looked like so much fun she decided to follow me. And she did enjoy it, for the three to five seconds before the first wave knocked her to hands and knees, and she looked terrified as the water receded. After that she was freezing, and refused to go back in the water.

Poor soaked Cairn, freezing in the wind

Cairn wrapped up in a blanket while Cerise has fun. 

  In a way though, this worked out, as Carrie stated from the beginning that she did not intend to get wet. (Our last beach trip had taught her one thing: the Pacific ocean is COLD). That means that she had at least Cairn to keep her company while I went out and waded in the shallows. I couldn't go swimming, as it turns out, because I took Cerise out with me looking for shells the first time I went out to the water, and from then on she cried and chased me whenever I went back to it.  

Cerise and I looking for shells in the shallows.

  Cerises favorite thing was standing with me up to my waist in the water, and scooping up the sea foam so she could pop the bubbles. We stood there for long enough that she got comfortable enough to dangle her feet in the water and kick, giggling the whole time. Cairn did manage to have fun too-- she played with abandoned beach toys and made little sand turtles, buried herself in the sand, and Carrie cleverly convinced Cairn to chase the seagulls who constantly surrounded our picnic lunch. And of course, Cerise and I always turned over any shells we found to Cairn, to add to her treasures bag. (If we allowed it, Cairn would have keepsakes and momentos from every outing we took her on). 

 Cerise, stalking a seagull