So Cal Beaches: Testing, Testing, 1,2,3...

This past month we've been getting out & enjoying the Spring weather!  A whole day or just the afternoon, lately this never seems like a bad idea.  So we've been testing out a few beaches, to see which one we like the most.

                                       We went to the beach...                                         

 (kids practiced casting at Newport Dunes)

not once...    (Corona Del Mar)

not twice...     (btw they're pretending to surf :)

not three times...    (Seal Beach)  

 but four.

Do you see that smile?  How can we say no?

(Balboa Beach)

 

Last year my boy hated the beach.  He literally screamed at the proscpect of getting his feet wet or sandy.  So sadly we never went.  This year is looking better.  The last 2 trips we got him to actually walk in the sand barefoot!   This little girl though, loves to do sand angels & slide down the sand bank.

A few bucks takes us on a tiny ferry ride to Balboa.  Kids get a kick out of riding a boat while we go through possible exit plans.  (The boats are old & the kids running them look like well, kids!) 

We are liking Balboa fore a few reasons: it's clean; there's shops & stuff to do w/in walking distance; there's a playground for the kids if you ever need to kill time; it's a straight shot off the toll roads/Jamboree; and we discovered a small but yummy pizza place at the Fun Zone.  But if you go, resist the urge to get ripped off at the rides.  We recently caved, but they did run for a good while.  And this probably goes without saying, but don't buy candy at the run-down place at th Fun Zone.  Walk past it & around the corner for a CLEAN & cute candy store. Sweet!  (as you can probably tell the "Fun Zone" isn't really all that "fun".  They are working on a nautical museum.  Maybe we'll check that out... possible field trip?)

The other one we want to go back to is Seal Beach.  It's the one that I would feel most comfortable with letting my kids play in the water, w/o getting thrown around by waves.

At Corona Del Mar we always seem to spot cool stuff.  Last time we saw some dolphins, a sea lion, & little crabs.  They also have tide pools but we never seem to be there at the right time.  

There just one thing we've been missing... Joe's Crab Shack!  Mmmm...I can taste it already...