Saturday, October 16, 2010

Ocean of My Soul

It is mid-October and we are having more summer weather now than we had all summer! I'm not complaining, even though I LOVE skiing and all that goes with winter (sweaters, holiday decorations), I am truly a beach person at heart. Actually, I even love the beach in the winter. No lie.

We went on a great trip last week, and I am still on vacation high. We spent several glorious days in Malibu, CA and visited Santa Monica a couple times. It is so beautiful down there, I told my husband that even the traffic is prettier. Going to sleep and waking up to the sound of crashing waves is my idea of paradise. It was in the mid 80's and perfectly sunny. We had leisurely mornings and after breakfast headed to the beach. I love watching my 4 year-old Monkey build sand castles with the serious expression of a scientist. It was such a joyful feeling to watch him run to the small waves breaking on shore and jump over them and run back laughing. My little Buddha, who is only 23 months old, could not get enough of the sand. Literally. He didn't care to walk on it much, he just wanted to scoop it up, fill up a bucket, fling sand in the air and all over himself. The tub was full of sand during his shower. For all I know he ate some, the way he was flinging it everywhere.


What I love about the beach is the relaxed, slow pace...not much to do but sit back and people watch. You sit, you talk, you might doze (if someone else is keeping an eye on your kids), you get hot, you jump in the water, dry off, snack, repeat. The beach can be an active place too. There were plenty of people roller-blading, running, biking, playing volleyball. And when I was younger and lived at the beach I did that too. But now that I'm older (but not too old!), married with kids,  and stretched thin on most days - when I hit the beach I just want to chill.

We also spent some time at the Santa Monica Pier which I highly recommend if you have small kids. They have a few rides such as the Ferris Wheel you see in the beginning of all the TV shows that take place in Southern CA when they do an aerial pan along the coast. Plan to also visit the beach that day, as the pier will only keep you busy for so long and the beach right there is great for kids. Parking was $6, which wasn't bad considering there were lots right next to the pier and right behind the beach. No crazy traffic-filled streets to cross or anything.

The Third Street Promenade  in downtown Santa Monica is awesome. Blocks and blocks of stores and restaurants, and a nice stretch of it is closed to traffic, so you can stroll, shop, eat and hang out. We happened to be there on the day of the Farmer's Market, which was just AMAZING. I live in a small town so for me to see such a huge Farmer's Market that went for several blocks (just 2 blocks from the coast) is heavenly. The selection of items for sale was way beyond your typical fruits and vegetables that we see here where I live. Since we were out of town on the day our market usually occurs, I was having withdrawals since that is something I look forward to every weekend. I was tempted to buy many things but I stopped myself since buying hoards of vegetables, fruit and other food items I really don't need while on vacation wasn't realistic. We had lunch at this great Italian place called Locanda del Lago. We were first drawn to it because of the al fresco dining and we really wanted to eat outside since it was such a nice day and there was plenty of people watching to be had. And we were also suckers for the yummy bread on the tables with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Our service, salads and entrees were fabulous and we would definitely eat there again.

I haven't mentioned yet that our 6th wedding anniversary fell over this weekend. We loved celebrating in our "happy place" and even toyed around with the idea of living there someday. Our last night there we took our kids to the beach at sunset, and stayed long after the sun went down and just ran around. Unexpectedly a school of dolphins started hanging out in the water in front of us, and we watched them jump out of the water by the light of the moon. It was almost unbelievable. We had the BEST time, and I can't wait to visit Malibu again. We hope to have a couple beach days over Thanksgiving weekend - here in CA we can do that - and I very much look forward to it.

Hope you all make time to relax and rejuvinate your mind, body and spirit.

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures! Lory from http://motherblogging.blogspot.com

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  2. Happy 6th Anniversary! Looks like a nice, relaxing vacation


    Thanks for stopping by my blog hop http://pinkdandychatter.blogspot.com

    Have a great weekend!!

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  3. Hi there!! I am your newest follower from the the weekend linky!!! I love finding new blogs and your is lovely:) You can find me at www.bouffeebambini.blogspot.com

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  4. I'm sooooo jealous of your beach access, and I the pictures of the fruits and veggies were making me salivate. Thanks for the follow... now following back! :)

    Om... And Then Some
    http://rduxler.blogspot.com

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  5. Hello. I am a new follower from Pink Dandy Sunday Blog Hop. I hope you will come follow me too.
    http://traci66.blogspot.com/2010/10/pink-dandy-sunday-blog-hop.html

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  6. Hello, I am a new follower. Great blog you have here! I look forward to your posts! Please stop on by!
    Thanks,
    Alissia
    Tips 4 Green
    http://tips4green.blogspot.com

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  7. Thanks for dropping by my blog.So nice to meet you....

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