Evening on the Beach

Our favorite beach these days is on the west side- which makes for fantastic sunsets! Which also means that if we're there at the right time we also have fantastic lighting. These photos are SOOTC (straight out of the camera), completely unedited. 

Anyway, even though we hit the road later than we should have (we paid dearly in time spent in traffic- 20 min of drive time turned into an hour!), the beach was perfect- the water was warm, the sky was gorgeous, view amazing and the beach, as usual, uncrowded. 

The kids got right to work getting soaked and building sand cities.

Roman is pointing out the various important buildings in his town: the church, the temple, Tripler and our house. He later added a tree- a grapeless grape stem.

I took Mr. Max out into the water- that boy is a water baby through and through! He loves the ocean, the pool, his baths and the shower and asks for at least one of those on a daily basis. So when we get to the beach, you can bet he'll be pulling someone big out to the water to play with him. 

Aside: His favorite things these days? All of his assortment of balls (soccer, beach, basket-, volley-, etc- if it's round and it bounces it belongs to him!), his boogie board, his skateboard and anything with wheels. Oh and his bubble blower. It's shaped like a gun and has those little foam fan wheels that blow the bubbles. He uses it like a gun, plants his feet in a nice, wide stance, gives his best threatening baby glare, takes aim and blows a terrifyingly gentle breeze on his intended victim. With sound effects. End of aside.

Since the lighting was so perfect, Derek snagged the camera and started snapping away and since I was in a bikini at the beach it started to turn into a Halle Berry/Ursula Andress-esque Bond girl beach scene- which.... well, a picture's worth a thousand words.

 You gotta hand it to the kid- she's a natural photo bomb!

Xandri of course was not far behind- these girls are so fun!

I took over the camera and caught a few ponderous shots of Derek enjoying a perfect scene.

Then the real fun began- a couple had brought their little toy chihuahua puppy to the beach for the first time. She was SO tiny, it was seriously a miracle she didn't get swept into the ocean! Of course the kids all fawned all over her, it was love at first sight. Max was fascinated by a puppy so small (and shaky).

Xandri's compulsion towards all things cute kicked into high gear and I'm pretty sure in her heart she took over ownership of the little thing. 

 

And of course Roman couldn't miss out on the action. The little thing was wrapped up nice and snug and Roman stood and snuggled and talked to her so sweetly.

Even Derek couldn't resist the pull!

And the end of the day looked like this:

I love my life.