Treasured family time

I find that we are all so busy anymore that we do not get many days to spend together alone as our family of 5. We decided to take advantage of the day off and travel north to check out this little gem of a beach that has tide pools and low waves. It is the perfect beach for the kids. Laguna Beach is about an hour north of where we live in Carlsbad. Instead of giving the kids snacks or an iPad to occupy them on the drive we just let them sit in their boosters together in the 3rd row. They spent the whole time giggling, drawing pictures for each other on the magna doodle, and looking at the scenery outside. It was a refreshing break from the every day schedule that is filled with work, school, homework, after school activities, the computer, and tv.  
The forecast said partly cloudy in the mid 60s but it turned out to be a gorgeous sunny, 70 degree day. Mason and Elizabeth ran in and out of the ocean, built castles, dug holes, and burried each other in the sand. Tommy, Addison, and I spent some time relaxing in the chairs watching the rascals play. We let Addie down in the sand thinking that she would hate it, but she ended up loving it! She was crawling all over and putting gobs full of sand in her mouth. During low tide we explored the tide pool area. There were great rocks to climb all over so that you could see the little sea creatures. We saw fish, muscles, crabs, urchins, and snails.  Mason and Ellie were fascinated!
It was a great day. One that I will truly treasure. I don't know what the future holds for us later this year when Tommy's contract ends with the Navy. These may be our last few months on the west coast so I'm going to do my best to live in the moment in this beautiful state that we have been lucky enough to call home.

Xo

Kirby