Beach with my buds...

I had a wonderful day at the beach with The Carter Family.  

Our first stop was The Cottage ~ my favorite breakfast stop in South Orange County.  We had a yummy breakfast and then strolled around Laguna Beach for a bit.

Penny Jane loved her sweet potatoes.

And Sawyer thought the pancakes were pretty good too!

Our next stop was the Rainbow Flip Flop Factory in San Clemente.  I may have a small compulsion to buy flip flops that I don't need... but I live in Southern California and wear them year round, so aren't my impulse buys somewhat justified? :)

We signed the giant flip flop and then headed to the beach.



We parked near the train station and headed to the sand.  It was empty!  The joys of going to the beach on a Monday!

Tysha and sweet Penny Jane.



Tysha is a professional photographer and is super talented.  You can check out her work at www.littleredwagonphotography.com.

She snapped some photos of her favorite guys and I chilled with Aspen nearby.

Sawyer loved the rocks, but wasn't too sure about the water.



I hope that you had fun in the sun today.  Save travels, back to Seattle!

San Clemente

Today Brittnee and I spent the afternoon in San Clemente. We hit my favorite thrift stores and scored some amazing clothes for Britt and then hit the beach.

Brittnee had her first taste of the South Orange County women ~ napping in a bikini while your infant snoozes in the stroller?

AND who needs sunscreen when you can be brown? Hello MELANOMA.

First time in the Pacific Ocean

The Pier

Surfer Dude

Tomorrow's agenda: roller coasters.

Dia TRES~ Cascadas, Cabo San Lucas BCS Mexico

A beanie and sweater in Mexico? Yep. Kathi is always cold!

We took a taxi to Club Cascadas this morning for a visit with friends of Bob and Cathy. Banana pancakes and a spread of yumminess greeted us!

My family stayed at this property when I was in High School. It is the same way that I remember it and is a close second to the paradise found at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach.

Kath was a portrait model for me. I'm learning how to take soft photos. Don't you just love her look? I've seen it a time or two.

Senorita Bonita

Bob put his feet up for a bit...

The view from Medrano Beach

The best junk on the beach! I did speak some espanol with the vendors. Mucho silver (plata), sunglasses and sarongs a plenty. After a few minutes I was ready to get away from all of the bargaining!

Again. Nobody in the pool. No complaints here!

We took turns getting massages on the beach.

And then did some chillin' on the hammocks.

A flattering photo on a hammock? Next to impossible. But we tried!

We headed back to Sunset Beach for a bit and then headed back into Al Centro (downtown) for dinner.

The Happy Couple ~ Cathy and Bob. Is this the first photo of Cathy? I think she must hide a lot. We took the shuttle into town. The shuttle OUT of town is a lot more eventful though... nothing like watching the inexperienced and or underage drinkers struggling after a night of too much tequila. It's so much more fun to be the one doing the laughing versus being the one laughed out. I'm. Getting. Old.

With Little Missy Glamour Girl. I so can't do the at-the-pool all day have silky shiny cute hair. So it's a pony tail fancy twisty do for me!

An Italian dinner in Mexico? I had that same thought. UNTIL I ate at Salvatore's.

We enjoyed a brilliant home style Italian meal. It was affordable, the atmosphere amazing and the wait staff attentive and fun. I think I'll be a food critic in my next life. Hopefully I will learn to like vegetables.

Kathi, Cathy and MMH

A little love for our server!

Pucker up!

My (poor) attempt to capture the beautiful Luna Halo that we saw after dinner. Science lesson: The ring around the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size. Source: here

Nothing like ending the night with a scoop of helado from Thrifty ice cream. It's just like it was when I was a little girl (now at Rite Aid). Still rectangular scoops and still under a dollar. It was fun to translate all of the flavors from Spanish to English. I had a scoop of sorbeto de arco ~ rainbow sherbet.

Manana? Maybe some shopping. Maybe. But probably more of the pool. I'm loving it. Most of my recent trips have been so full of to-do's, to-sees, to-go. I'm liking this change of pace! I can keep up!