The Lee Family: The Ocean! (Day 4 in California)

We said goodbye to Sian and her family and headed to Carlsbad! I wanted to see how much the little seaside village had changed in the 20 years since I've lived there and show the girls my old stomping grounds. After I graduated high school, my parents bought an ocean-front house in Carlsbad which was amazing. I was in college, but would return during summers and work for my Dad's company while I tried to learn to surf and trained for short triathlons. It was a really carefree and wonderful way to spend summers. After graduating college, I lived in a nearby apartment complex which was just a short walk to the beach. I was there for about a year before moving to DC.

The girls and I arrived and found that Carlsbad hasn't changed all that much. Some of my favorites are still there - Jay's Gourmet for pizza, Daily News Cafe for breakfast/brunch, Coyote Bar and Grill for great Tex-Mex. There were a lot of new places and I remembered some things being in different locations than they are, but otherwise it remained not all that different than I remember. Unfortunately, the beach drive was closed for a triathlon, so we drove past the little apartment complex I lived in then drove through the neighborhoods of bungalow beach houses to the freeway so we could get to Cannon Drive. The area around Cannon Drive has changed a lot! If you turn left onto Cannon Drive you get to Legoland and a huge area of hotels and an outlet mall, but turning right gets us to the small seaside neighborhood where my parent's lived. We drove by the house which is in the middle of being stuccoed but looked much the same, and ended up parking on the bluffs beyond the neighborhood. When I lived there the bluffs were a treacherous way to get to the beach, but now a public access staircase has been built.

When we first arrived in Carlsbad, we stopped at Starbucks (new since I moved away) and changed into our bathing suits in the bathroom (not the best idea I've had) and got a few drinks. Now in our swimsuits we headed toward the beach. I wanted to take a picture of both girls on the bluffs, but Olivia would not stand on the sand, even in her shoes, and was adamant that I hold her. Sofia offered to hold her, which she did for about five seconds before dropping her. So, I took a picture of Sofia while holding a very unhappy Olivia. On the beach, Olivia didn't want to stand on the sand so I put down our newly-purchased "California" towel and set her on it. Sofia was off immediately crawling on her hands and knees in the sand, digging holes, splashing in the seaweed-filled ocean. Finally, after sitting on the towel for awhile Olivia decided she wanted to go into the ocean and wanted me to hold her. I picked her up and went into the ocean up to my thighs and she pointed out to the ocean wanting more. So, I headed toward the ocean and was up to my hips when the whitewash of two waves combined into one powerful force and completely tumbled us! I held onto Olivia and we were above the water in a few seconds. She'd held her breath like a champ as she does daily in our pool but then started to cry! Clearly, she wasn't a fan of that! Once on dry land, she was fine. Sofia continued to play and was telling some sort of story while she crawled around and frolicked in the ocean.

After an hour or so, we left the beach to get lunch. Sofia wanted to stay for "10 more minutes" which I think really meant 6 more hours. I promised Sofia we'd get at least one more beach visit in during our trip. The girls changed into dry clothes and we headed to my very favorite coffee shop, Pannikin. They didn't really have "kid friendly" food but I ordered a quiche and iced tea and decided we'd go from there. After Olivia spilled my iced tea from the second floor balcony (thankfully missing the table below) I realized Pannikin visit would never be the same for me.

After lunch, we headed to my friend and former co-worker's house in Escondido. Rick and Angela grew up and met in Oceanside and lived all over the world including Washington DC before they retired short of a year ago. They both wanted to be close to family and to the ocean so bought their house a few years ago and were excited to finally move in and make it theirs. Both girls fell fast asleep as soon as they got in the car which I thought would help them wake up relaxed and refreshed. Unfortunately, that was not the case! Both were grouchy and fussy the rest of the evening. Rick and Angela's house is full of little trinkets they've collected from their travels and Sofia couldn't keep her hands off. Meanwhile, Olivia went around the house trying on and wearing their shoes everywhere. Rick and Angela never had kids and I'm pretty sure their decision was reaffirmed after our stay! They were extremely gracious hosts.

They gave us a tour of their lovely home and then fed us tacos, which were perfect. After dinner, we took a walk around the neighborhood and talked to many of their neighbors who they know well. They have a very comfortable life and seem so happy with their house, location and retirement which was great to see. After our walk, we returned to the house and I gave the girls a bath before putting them to bed.

Entertaining themselves while we drive