Beach House 2008

Ok, so I have been back a few days now and I have been "procrastinating the day" of this post because I knew it would be a long one....so, here I am because I know that so many of you are on pins and needles just waiting for the run down!!!
We left for the long drive on Thursday Oct. 30th after Jesse got out of school and made it to Flagstaff, AZ by about 8pm. Here's a picture of the beautiful sunset that evening: (no I am not the best photographer even when I have both hands and am not trying to keep the car on the road!)The natural beauty is still there despite my lack of photo skilz! (I've never used that word before...does it make me sound cool?!?)
We stayed in Flagstaff for the night and were on the road bright and early the next day. As we drove into Carpinteria (9 hours later, ugh!) they were having trick or treating on the main street in all the little shops, so we pulled over and put on costumes so we could join in the festivities (and I knew that it would get me out of going door to door later!) It was so much fun, they had a little haunted house set up and face painting. The kids had a great time and I was done with Halloween for another year!The rest of the week was spent relaxing on the beach, playing with cousins and just having a grand old time. We love going to the beach house, it's always a good time. Sometimes we head up to Santa Barbara zoo and the wharf, but this year we just stayed put and relaxed the time away with my family. Here are some of the good times:Grandma Christie (my mom) with all her grandkids...Grace was having a moment and would not look at the camera! Notice how all my nieces and nephews are smiling and looking cute...what happened to my kids???Cute cousins ready for a pajama party! The uncles (my two bros.) dug this big hole for the kids and they played in it for hours. It was their little restaurant and they kept serving us their delicacies non-stop. A little sand anyone?My s.i.l, Melissa (the young, fun aunt!) doing a silly dance with the kids, they loved it. I should really try to be more fun...nah! That's what we have aunts for!Dyl with his newest cousin, Addison (she's only 4 months old!) She was such an amazingly good baby and I am praying for one just like her. She spent most of the time hanging out in her bouncer and watching all the fun go on around her. Where do I place my order?Jesse's impressive, never-ending shell collection. I'm glad we made it away without the bulk of them!Dyl loved sliding on his belly into the "restaurant". I'm afraid that his shirt didn't make it (I forgot to spray it before I washed it, bummer!)My three little beach bums (don't ask me about the "statue of liberty" boy...I don't have an answer!)Another beautiful sunset. It's times like these that I wish that I had a really cool camera and some picture taking know how. It really was a lot more beautiful than depicted above. There really is nothing like a sunset over the ocean.Just a little shadow fun...check out that belly!
I was originally going to just put up a slide show, but this was much more fun. I have more fun pics so here are the rest in slide show format.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So, that was our week. We had a little rain, some cool days and some 75 degree, sunny perfect days. Well worth the long drive. We love spending time with the family and playing at the beach. Thanks, Grandma Christie for making it possible.

PS... from sunny California to this:We ran into a snow storm in Flagstaff on the way home...welcome to winter! It was beautiful, though.