ahhhh...the beach

Since I'm watching the snow fall and freezing my jibblets I decided to post about Sunny California. Our trip was fantastic. Jeff and the kids came home with tan lines (not so much for me, I had 3 books to read. Now do you see why I'm not the fun parent?)

So here we are at Newport Beach. Its on Emily and Gilly's top places to go. I happen to love it too because I get a huge kick out of them finding creatures and begging me to let them keep them. Some things include:

three dead lobsters

numerous hermit crabs

sea cucumbers

sea anemones

sea snails

tons of seashells

(its a state park so you can't take anything out which is why we sneak them in our pockets)

Abby here wouldn't touch anything at first. She didn't want to get her feet wet..

That apple didn't fall far from the tree

I finally convinced her that its okay to get her feet wet and explore

but she still wouldn't touch the dead lobster.

This was probably the coolest thing I've seen so far...Its a sea anemone eating a lobster tail.

Also notice the little hermit crabs. I love tide pools.

And here is Emily holding up some of her goods.

She actually found a midsize conch shell.

She named it chonchy and takes it everywhere she goes.

ahhhh well, I guess I'll go shovel some snow now.

sigh