Beach day #1 - We made it!

Saturday, July 19: We arrived at the beach with not enough people sleeping on the way, but everyone survived. Lonnie & Josh successfully packed the car to it's brim the night before with little aggravation. Lonnie missed his packing buddy, Leah, & even sent her a text message saying, "Leah, I need your help packing the car." The two of them did not get along very well when Leah lived at home. He was amazingly enough, the one who argued with her the least. He usually let her sassing go in one ear & out the other. I still don't know how he did it. Anyway, it finally hit them both at vacation time that they really do miss & love each other. The rest of us knew it. I just don't know if they always did. His text message sent Leah into a bundle of tears. Who would ever have thought your 18 year old getting married & moving over a thousand miles a way would make your family so much closer? I would never have believed it. Anyway, we arrived in OC with little incident & much singing, & then headed to breakfast. My husband loves a breakfast buffet, so off to English's we went. Everyone left with a full belly.

We made our way to the beach till we could get into our condo. The kids LOVED it. This was our first time taking Kirsten & Aaron so we did not know quite what to expect. Aaron's not that thrilled with the pool so we didn't know what he would think of the ocean. He was full of giggles. The waves were not as strong as last year, but the kids still did not wander too far in on this first day. Josh had so much fun just watching the reaction of Kirsten & Aaron. It was really sweet.

Our condo was much nicer than we remembered. This was a new place for us this year, & I had looked at so many I couldn't remember what it looked like. Wooh. What a relief. The best part was the view. I could sit right out on the little porch & see the boats coming in. I picked this place specifically because the view right outside our porch was of the little lighthouse where Lonnie & I stayed for our honeymoon. I LOVED this condo the best of all the places we've stayed.