I love the beach! AND I love fall! So when they have a pumpkin festival ... at the beach ... I am a HAPPY GIRL!

Until of course

• it takes 3.5 hours to get there
• the kids are whiney starting at the .5 hour mark
• the weather is iffy
• the traffic is BAD
• the husband is whiney
• the crowd is OUTRAGEOUS - like wall to wall in the middle of the street
• you can't even FIND the food vendors and it's past lunch
• when you DO find them it's $6 for a plain hotdog from Costco

and got the HELL outta there! We drove up the road a piece to Montara Beach and were immediately relieved of our stress and happy again :)

On the way we got some food for the kids and some provisions for ourselves. Some cheese, crackers & a bottle of wine = me a HAPPY GIRL AGAIN!

Despite the iffy and sometimes windy weather, the beach IS the beach and by definition, heaven.

The girls played in the sand & waves, and enjoyed some snacks. We all agreed it was the best. day. ever :)

:)

Love this picture ... though all beach pictures are awesome if you ask me!

We are a beach goin family, it's just in our blood I think.

And this is just a beautiful place. The coast is full of them and I guess that's what makes California worth the cost of living here!

Which is why I drag my peoples 3.5 whine filled hours from home for just an afternoon basking in the sun and sea air, getting sand in our toes & ears.

And enjoying every second of it. I hope these are the memories my kids hold on to. And if they don't ... I will MAKE SURE they read this blog ;-)

Maybe it will be daily reading material lol. I can tell them "SEE! SEE! WE DID STUFF! I TOOK YOU PLACES! Not just your DAD does!" ... egh ... but THAT is a story for another day.

For now I'll just hope they can remember how much fun we had together and not compare it to anyone else. There's not much I can do about that anyway. I'll just remember these times and create more of them!

I mean look at this place! How can you NOT remember this place and think back on it fondly, right? :)