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The plan is to take the bus to the beach. Steve is
supposed to stay back and work in the parking lot so he can at
least feel like he is at the beach. Truth be told, I think his
idea of a good day at the beach would sooner include sitting
inside somewhere watching the waves at a safe distance than
actually strolling through the hot sand in bare feet or – god
forbid – get wet…
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Lilli can’t wait to jump into the surf and wants to set
up camp as soon as we hit the sand. I on the other hand – the
eternal meanie - want to walk further down the beach and
explore. The waves up here are too strong anyhow and I am afraid
to let anyone go in, but I don’t tell her that. Actually I know
that the water is way too cold for her, which means I won’t have
to worry about anyone getting washed out to sea, I don’t tell
her that either. Some things you keep to yourself.
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Little tufts of grass are clinging to the sandy hills as
they slope down like terraces towards the water. Kites dot the
sky, only a few windswept clouds hover to the north. This is
Half Moon Bay. The beach is strewn with dead crabs, dried up,
brittle crab bodies and legs laying around every few yards.
Lilli puts on her disgusted face and – imagine that – complains
“ I hate this beach. It’s gross. Why can’t we go back to the
pool. What’s the point of going to the beach if you can’t go in
the water anyway. I hate the beach” on and on and on…Why don’t
they make earplugs for parents? After a while I let the kids
pick a place to stay and set up the blanket. While they work on
a sandcastle I go down the beach some more and pick up
interesting stuff…when I get back I notice that they decided to
decorate their castle with crab body parts, I think it was
Lilli’s idea. A fog horn in the distance keeps blowing every few
minutes and the kids are singing in tune with it as it sways in
and out of range with the wind…
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By now hours have passed, it feels like maybe we should
get back. I round them up. On the way back Julia decides to
climb up the sand dunes. My little monkey is having a grand old
time, digging her feet into the semi hardened clayish sand. As
she makes it up the 15 feet or so I can see her smiling as she
is checking out her climb from the top. Lilli follows suit, and
then Jonah. Once Jonah is up there I decide to check it out
myself, I don’t what’s up there. Here I am carrying a big beach
bag full of unused towels, bags full of rocks and shells and
sticks while I am climbing a steep sandy hill…what’s wrong with
me? Actually I am very happy I did b/c as it turns out the top
of the dunes have been trodden down to make a nice path to walk
to the other beach we’d seen as we were driving down here. We
didn’t stay at that one b/c there was no parking for a 40 foot
bus, we couldn’t even go into the parking lot, we had to turn
around at the entrance which is always fun!
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Lilli, of course, is saying she is hungry and wants to go
back…and I am even entertaining that thought for a minute b/f I
make an executive decision that we are too close to turn around
w/o at least taking a little look. And so we forge ahead. Oh,
how lovely it turns out to be! As we are descending from the
dunes we are rewarded with the vast expanse of an immaculate
beachscape. We are all taken aback with the obvious beauty of
what we have just discovered as if by accident. Everyone is
quiet for a moment, idle chatter won’t do right now.
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The tide is going out and the water has retreated far
back onto itself. I drop our bags and just walk and walk over
the cold, flat mud into the water. The water is so cold we joke
about ice cubes in our veins. It isn’t until my feet are numb
from the cold that I can stop thinking about how cold it is. The
chickies are playing in the mud a little further up as I am
walking a little down the beach. The sea has taken the water but
left all sorts of treasures. And here I see Sand dollars for the
first time. I collect some and bring them back to show Lilli,
since we just read about them in a book and didn’t know what
they were…she gets all excited and we collect as many as we can.
I make a mental note to research what they actually are.
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It’s getting really late now and we still have to walk
all the way back to the bus. I am sadly announcing that it is
time to go but that we will come back tomorrow to show Daddy.
This last promise is more for me than for the kids b/c I really
don’t want to go.
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As we get back to the bus Steve is still working and
looks as if we just woke him up from a trance as we are
excitedly telling him of our adventures of the day.
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After we get cleaned up and fed we go into town before
heading back to our spot at the campground. What a forsaken
place. Tacky “novelty shops” line the walk along a tired looking
marina. What a sad little place.
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I buy the girls some pretty bracelets from what looks to
be a local artist so they can have s/th to remember their trip
by…Jonah insists on wanting a kite…he loved the ones at the
beach. At night he wants to sleep with the kite in the package,
which I won’t let him take out until we are ready to fly it. Of
course, I won’t let him do that b/c it will either break or hurt
s/o or both b/f we even fly it! I put it in the closet – out of
sight out of mind I am thinking – but he carries on until I let
him say good-night to the kite in the closet. Of course, the
little man doesn’t miss a beat and asks to say good-morning to
the kite the minute he gets up…
Insisting that we must buy some freshly caught fish since we are
directly at the ocean in a fishery town we scope out a fish
monger. Uninitiated we ask the girl behind the counter about the
difference btw. King Salmon and other Salmon, all she can tell
us is that King Salmon is bigger and so it costs more…the
obvious dim-wittedness of what she says to us completely
escaping her…We buy some very expensive King Salmon anyway and
mosey on back home
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