Happy Mother's Day...

Happy mother's day all you mamas out there (and yes I am fully aware that it's almost June)! For my special day the girls, Ben and I took a trip to Ventura just to wander the parts we haven't seen yet, which are numerous. We started at the Seaward beach district and enjoyed the sand for a little bit then walked a block down the street to Seaward's Fish and Chips and had the best fish and chips and chowder I have ever had in my life. So much closer than Carpinteria too! Then we headed downtown to wander Main St, browsed antique shops, played outside the mission, enjoyed some much needed Starbucks and headed down to the pier to enjoy even more sand and so the girls could play at the playground on the beach. After we played for a bit we headed down to Ventura Harbor Village where we played in the arcade, ate way too must salt water taffy and watched the sunset into the ocean. The perfect way to end a most perfect day.

Enjoying the sand before lunch

Waiting for our lunch... so serious!

Always stealing mama's drink!

Mmm... so good!

Playing in the fountain outside the Mission

Nothing beats a playground right on the sand!

Abby was crazy good at this... it was almost scary!

Look what I won mama!

Watching the sunset

I think it was more than time to end the day!

Heaven on Earth...

This last weekend we were incredibly fortunate to snag a beach cottage on the highly coveted Crystal Cove State Beach (between Newport Beach and Laguna... just in case you were wondering)! Somebody just happened to cancel their reservation for a Friday night (you crazy, crazy people) and I just happened be online at the right time and got extremely lucky. These places go fast... I mean really fast. There's only 13 to rent from in the state park system and they are all gone, within minutes of the morning they open reservations for 6 months in advance... it's absolutely insane. I've wanted to go to Crystal Cove ever since we moved to socal and I still can't believe we even spent the night there on the beach and on our anniversary to boot. It truly was the closest thing to heaven on earth. Ben and I could have stayed there forever and been perfectly happy, well Ben might want his xbox eventually though.

We stayed in Cottage #27 - The Dive Shack. It was built in 1931 and completely decked-out with vintage nautical trinkets... the kitchen cabinets were even built of wood from a shipwrecked boat. It totally reminded me of a grandma's beach house... from the decor all the way to the smell. Definitely not a hotel/resort experience and if you didn't enjoy summer camp or loosely "roughing it" it's so not for you, but for Ben, I and the girls it was awesome. You still had a bathroom with a shower and in the kitchen there was a microwave, fridge and a toaster. No stove or oven though since they don't allow any open flames, but you could bring a little propane barbecue to use in the backyard.

Our cottage was the one in the middle between the palm trees

The view from our balcony... so cool to be so close to the ocean and watch everyone play in the sand.

The girls watching daddy boogie board from inside... almost the whole front of the cottage was one big glorious window.

Oh sunsets why must you happen way too fast?!

The girls had their very own room... it was really a loft and they totally loved it.

The living room where Ben and I stayed up way too late the night before watching the waves.

The backyard from our bedroom window.

Playing around outside while enjoying our coffee before heading out to the beach. Ben is up the the loft area.

Wandering through the tide pools while the tide was out that morning.

Back to the beach for one last time before our wondrous, way too sort, but totally amazing 19 hours is up.

The view from up at the Shake Shack (the banana shake is awesome, by the way). You can see our backyard with all the beautiful pink and red wild flowers in bloom.

I cannot wait to go back and for longer than one night... hopefully we'll get lucky again someday soon!

Camping...

A couple weeks ago Ben finally had a much needed vacation (feels like we haven't seen much of him lately with his crazy work schedule) so we went camping! We chose a place by the beach again, of course, and spent 4 whole days enjoying the beauty and our family. The campground was a little up past Santa Barbara called El Capitan. Such a great place with so much to do and explore. Half woods, half ocean beach and with a bike trail as an added bonus. The girls did great. I should say Abby did great, wasn't too worried about Lizzie, she's been camping before, but it was Abby's very first time and my littlest was more than fine... filthy dirty the whole time, but thoroughly enjoyed herself. I wish we could go camping more, it's just so nice to unplug and get away from it all. To walk barefoot on the beach, explore the vastness of the woods, to see the stars in all their glory and remember how black the darkness of night really is.

Sunset on the first night we were there, just steps from our campsite

Our site, complete with little play tent for the girls

The ocean view from our spot

Nap time!

Exploring the far shore. Love the danger sign in the background!

A walk through the woods. They had some huge crazy trees there.

The beach at El Capitan

Finding critters in the tide pools. Abby loved poking the sea anemones.

Getting ready for our 2 mile bike ride up to Refugio State Beach.

Refugio was beautiful... lined with palm trees and shaded in fog. I know it looks super cold, but it was actually very warm.

Ah, so ready to do it all over again!

Beach Day...

Last Sunday Ben took a "mental health" day off from work (I know, so wrong he even has to work on Sundays lately. Poor guy's been working like crazy to finish his game... such stinky scheduling on this project... anyways) to do something fun, so we pack up the kids and headed for the beach. We didn't go to our usual spot, didn't feel like driving all the way up to Santa Barbara, so we played in Ventura's Harbor Cove for the day. It was so nice and way cooler than being stuck in the heat at home. The cove has a little wave less beach just inside the jetty breaks, perfect for swimming in the ocean, but we played to the left of the big jetty with the waves. It was pretty cool to see the big huge sailboats go in and out of the harbor all day long too. Ben's so awesome for ditching work and the world of Ratchet to come play with us for the day! We miss you!!!

Who is that crazy mountain man? Oh, wait that's my husband!

Abby was way obsessed with daddy's boogie board

It's so odd to me that Abby is perfectly fine chillin' in the ocean and getting wet, but Lizzie not. When did my little Abby become so adventurous?

Surfers are so cool!

Even the Littlest Pet Shop pets got a clubhouse built right on the sandy beach!