birds and dogs

to celebrate the first day of october,

we headed down to newport beach.

we are on a quest to find the best beach for our family.

good parking (that doesn't cost a bajillion dollars),

bathroom access (because bella has not yet mastered the art of 'peeing like a mermaid'),

clean and pretty.

the kids really don't care, as long as it has sand and the ocean.

jeff was teaching the big kids how to jump over the waves.

charlotte was more interested in chasing the birds

jackson & bella loved practicing their new trick

in a month, 

this little boy has gone from ocean-fear to ocean-lover.

bella loves scooping the sand up when the waves come in and throwing it into the ocean.

i just love these little biscuits.

the girls got busy building sand castles.

 

daddy is an excellent castle-maker.

he even builds bridges and makes kelp-flags.

the castle-making crew with their creation.

 sand, sand everywhere!

a rare mommy photo :)

after a few hours of wave-jumping, bird-chasing, and castle-making

we'd built up quite an appetite!

we rinsed off and walked over to one of the local food stands.

i have a strange love affair with corn dogs.

i go to the fair just to eat the corn dogs that are as big as your head.

fresh lemonade & corn dogs sounded like a good beach lunch!

probably not our healthiest meal ever.

don't worry, we ate asparagus for dinner.

jackson enjoyed his dog.

charlotte was not too sure about her corn dog, but she loved dipping it.

she's normally a big ketchup fan

(think grapes dipped in ketchup, cheese sticks in ketchup.... she loves it)

daddy is not a ketchup fan, so he got mustard.

charlotte wanted to try.

whoa!

what is that?

our bellies full of fried carbs, it was time to head home.

bella was insistent on feeding the birds.

i'm not sure if fries are considered bird food.

this guy didn't seem to mind.

we had a fun family morning kicking off october.

newport was a good beach, but we're still searching for perfection.

any suggestions?

come on down and join us in the quest!