Monday, July 14, 2008

Diversions

Not only did we visit The Getty, we spent two wonderful days just playing at the beach.

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I never used to enjoy the beach much. I grew up in Kansas and Nebraska, so our family never really did *beach* when I was a kid. When we lived in Florida, where both of the kids were born, I felt obligated to *beach* and I never much enjoyed it. Not for any reason other than pushing a stroller through the dunes is impossible, sippy cups and diapers do not mix well with gritty sand, babies need CONSTANT supervision and entertainment and sun screen and it's hot. I know lots of people manage all these things beautifully and spend whole summer seasons laying about on towels and dancing in the surf. Not me...

...Until now. We had so much fun. Maybe I'm just more relaxed than I was nine years ago. But having older kids makes a big difference!

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Claire could dig and build with sand for hours. She also loves catching sand crabs and we had our own little aquarium in a bucket right by our towels. I love walking down the beach, people watching, looking at the water and the sand and the buildings. We saw several dead sea lions. Totally gross and covered with maggots, but also interesting.

Aunt Joanna and Uncle Matt spent a day with us in Santa Barbara. We took a trolley tour and enjoyed exploring the city.

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We also saw Wall-E while we were on vacation. Thumbs down. I read Wicked. I'm not sure whether to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Claire read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She says, "Thumbs up."

Hope you're having lots of "thumbs up" adventures this summer.

5 comments:

Gerrie said...

Thumbs down for Wall-E? We are planning to see it this week. It is at our local one film at a time theater.

I relate to the beach thing. I think that because I grew up far from the beach, I had a genuine fear of big bodies of water. I tried not to transfer it to my children and it worked. They are beach bums. (Or would be, given the opportunity.)

Terry Grant said...

Me too, on the beach thing. I grew up in the mountains. The ocean scares me, but since moving to Oregon more than 25 years ago I've learned to appreciate, if not love, the beach. Isn't the Getty Museum amazing? The architecture and setting are so spectacular, then there is the art! Glorious. I read Wicked a couple years ago and was surprised by how dark it got as it went along. I liked the first part much better than the last half. Hard to imagine what the musical must be like.

Anonymous said...

Hi Deborah, I was in California, too. I was there for a whole month and Ijust got home yesterday. My Mom was very ill, and she died on 6/18. Towards the end of June, my Dad and I took a drive up the coast and I think I was right where your picture was taken....was that at the pier? Santa Barbara is such a lovely town. We try to go there every time we go to visit my parents.

Rhonda said...

It does look like you had a great time. I live in Texas and visit the beach in Galveston every other summer. I use to love collecting shells and shark's teeth to show to my science classes. I loved to people watch and watch the fishing boats surrounded by sea gulls dive bombing for whatever they would get away with.LOL

Anonymous said...

What a surprise to read you were at the Getty. I was just there 3 days ago, and at the Getty Villa yesterday. Had a great time at both. Fortunately the Getty was open till 9 on Sat., because that's just about when we left. See you at the DAFA mtg.!