Life's A Beach

San Clemente's T Street Beach

What better way to celebrate summer than to spend a day at the beach.  Even though I grew up in Southern California, life gets busy and I don't get a chance to enjoy the beach like I should.  I had no meetings, games, or other scheduled commitments, so I was determined to take advantage and spend some time at the beach today.

First on the agenda, however, was a quick trip to Costco with the kids.  My ulterior motive was to buy this bad boy.  I promised the kids "brunch" and they fell for it.  Next time I take the kids to eat at Costco, please remind me that I could probably feed all three kids on one slice of pizza.

This Light Speed Quick Shelter set up in about 3 minutes...

We went to North Beach first and were all set to unpack and invade the beach--as if we were camping our for a week or staking our very own claim under the Homestead Act.  Then our friends, Chris and JPL, reminded us that we're neither tourists nor from Temecula--so there was no reason to settle for a crappy beach.  And San Clemente has a lot of good beaches (unlike other local cities (Oceanside anyone?)), so we had plenty to choose from.

We quickly loaded back up and headed for one of my recent favorite local beaches--T Street.  Once we got there and I got my new quick shelter set up, I was able to enjoy a little light reading--and a great view.

I actually got some crap from J. and our friends about the quick shelter, but I think it's a keeper.  It was light, easy to set up, and easy to carry.  I hate taking a bunch of crap to the beach (something that only tourists do), but I have to admit that this may be something that I have to add to my normal repertoire.

The weather was great.  High 70s and low 80s.  Not much of a breeze.  Hardly any clouds in the sky.  And although there were quite a few people at T Street, the beach was not too crowded nor was the water.

S. and R. were really excited to get me into the water with them.  I held off for as long as I could, but eventually I acquiesced.  The water was cool, but refreshing once I got used to it.

I enjoyed getting a chance to bodysurf, but even though I'm a much better swimmer than I used to be, it would have been nice to have fins.  But I did get a couple of nice rides in.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't give a special shout out to the middle aged, tourist boogie boarder who managed to nail me in the head at the end of one of my better rides of the day.  Next time, feel free to watch where you're going lady!  My neck is still smarting...She's lucky I don't know any good lawyers to take my case!  ;-)

Cute Kids...Even Though They're Not Mine!

Even though you're at the beach, it's not easy chasing a bunch of kids around.  One thing you might consider is how to slow them down a little bit.  One of my kids (R.) was begging to get buried in the sand.  I buried him and then the rest of the kids literally started lining up.  Pretty soon, this is what it looked like:

Buried in the sand!

Our friend's 16-month old couldn't leave these kids alone.  I think he's so used to being bossed around by the older kids, that he couldn't resist the chance to "get even."  You can see him in these pictures laughing and trying to tease the older kids.

Digging with a plastic shovel at the beach is not all that relaxing...

Anyway, a good time was had by all.  We are lucky to have great beaches in San Clemente.  And I'm grateful that we were able to make a day of it