La Jolla Beach

We recently went on vacation - the first night, we arrived in La Jolla. We tried to go to the Birch Aquarium near UCSD but it was closing shortly so we decided to go to the beach. We found a great parking spot and decided to just load the kids out of the van in their clothes and no shoes and head to the beach without swimsuits or anything. Elly proclaimed, "I just want to play in the sand, not the ocean!" And Kes said, "Yeah, no othean!" (Fools we were to believe them.)

First, they did play in the sand. It was such fine, soft sand, that I even convinced Scott to take off his sandals pretty easily. They built sand castles, ran and jumped, chased each other and us, and Elly even made "sand angels". After a while, though, I said, "You know, we should at least get our feet wet while we're here," and somehow managed to get both kids to take my hands and the three of us took off running for the waves. (So, I suppose I started it.)

When we got to the waves, I realized that the grade was so subtle, if we went in an extra twenty feet, we'd only be an inch deeper. More importantly, we could stand in one spot and have every wave reach our feet and none go high enough to threaten to knock over one of my girls. The variability in waves in one place was only an inch or two, due to the gentle slope. Kes, for the first time, was unafraid as she got her feet wet. Before long, she was having a great time, jumping up and down in the waves. And shortly after that, I realized I could actually let go of them and there was no danger whatsoever of them being swept off to sea.

So, I did. For the first time ever, I let them play on the beach, in the waves, without holding my hand. Games of chase ensued. Elly and Kes made mud pies in the wet, fine sand and watched the waves slowly wash them away. They found seashells, seaweed, and rocks polished smooth by the waves. What I can't even try to capture here is the pure glee. They were gradually getting more and more soaked by seawater and covered in sand, and seemingly in tandem with their drenching did their laughter increase. Really, the only appropriate word for what was going on here is "cavorting".

And as for me... I had more fun than I'd had in years! I laughed as hard as they did and harder than I ever have as an adult. Part of me wishes we'd had our video, or at least our still camera with us, but another part of me is happy to lock it away in my memory, pure and magical and completely unique.