Vacation, day two

****Disclaimer: this post is incredibly long, and might be boring to those who are not involved. But, blogs are a good journal, especially when you have forgotten yours at home, the one that you've taken everywhere for the past 2 years, including the top of Timpanogas. I suck. If you don't make it to the bottom, I don't blame you. But, there are pictures. They might make up for all the boring text.******

One pm today found us at our hotel, 3 hours early. I had imagined us trying to find somewhere to park, all our luggage/life stuffed into our rental car, as we played on the beach and prayed no one would break in and steal everything. How silly I am.

Our hotel graciously let us check in when we arrived in town. As we drove down the street, which I knew was ONE. BLOCK. from the Pacific ocean, I caught one tiny glimpse of the wide expanse of water. My heart skipped a beat and I couldn't wait to get checked in to our hotel and walk down to the ocean. The four of us found ourselves walking through the sand down to the water's edge, our feet sandy, hair blowing every which way in the breeze, and huge smiles of happiness (me), incredulity (Ben and Thomas) and amazement (Shane) that we were there. The ocean was erasing my footsteps, and I couldn't have been happier.

We only stayed a few minutes. Long enough to learn that very few ocean swells fail to deposit seaweed at your feet, and that sand sticks to every possible skin surface. We walked to a little pizza shop a stich away from the boardwalk, where we devowered 2 pizzas in moments. A few blocks further we found a grocery store so would could buy milk and gatorades (because who can live without milk and gatorade, right?).

Our hotel is right on the Mission Bay Beach. I had no clue that this locale existed before it came up on my trip planner a few months ago. I gave up a hotel with free breakfast when I found this one, and paid an extra few dollars, and boom! we have a beach vacation. We no longer had to plan a day to spend at the beach; it is just part of what we will do here in San Diego. We can walk to to the beach in minutes; heaven, I say.

Late in the afternoon, the boys were playing in the sand on the Bay, and the itch I'd had to go running finally could not be satisfied. I set off down the Bay, wending my way past more streets than I wanted to count, knowing that in a few minutes I would turn west, cross a couple more streets, and be running on the beach. I never run without my headphones, and today wasn't an exception. But once I turned the corner onto the boardwalk, I took my headphones out of my ears. The only sounds I wanted to hear were the crash and pull of the waves, the gulls flying over head, the jingle of bike chains and pounding of feet from all the other runners. It was pure.......heaven? I don't have a good enough word to describe the joy I felt at running on the beach. It was a heady combination of so many things, physical and mental, spiritual and environmental, that I can't describe it. I imagine I will run every day I am here, just because I find myself unable to stop myself from wanting to be right back there again.

I feel so lucky. I can't believe I am staying at a hotel like this. I can't believe that we are really on vacation, that I'm showing my boys this little neck of the wide world. Their view of the world will be widened so much by this experience. How grateful I am for that. And that I get to spend it with them is just incredible. I want to pinch myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming (Thomas just offered to do it for me. Thanks, but no!). I am blessed. So, so blessed.

One picture I'm going to include is one of all of our feet on the beach. Back in the day, Amy, me, and our parents were at Lake Tahoe. We took a picture of our feet. I did the same thing today the moment we all were barefoot on the sand. It seemed an appropriate throw back to my past, and a wonderful portrait of who my little family is today.

San Diego, I love you.

The view out our hotel room. Squee!

Our feet. Clockwise from the top - Ben, Thomas, Me, Shane.

At the beach. I could post about 100 of these, but I'll spare you.



Me and Thomas at a restaurant right. off. the. beach.

Shane buried the boys in the sand in front of our hotel room. They loved it!