To the beach!

I flew into SFO from China on July 15...Joshua also flew in to SFO from Thailand on July 15th.  He waited for 3 hours for me to land.  I apologized to him...but he said,"Jutze, it was great!  Everyone talking English, American restaurants...I loved it!"  

We rode BART to Lindsey's, spent the night...and he flew to Texas the next day with his Pops!  I stayed at Lindsey's....until the 20th.  On the 20th, I flew to Denver...and Joshua flew from Texas to Denver.  There we stayed until the afternoon of the 23rd.  Now that I'm writing this...I'm wondering...where are my pictures from Denver??????????????  

On the 23rd, Erica and Thalia drove up to Lindsey's from Southern California where they've been visiting...and Ron flew in from Texas...and Joshua and I flew in from Denver!  Whew!  We all came here on the 24th...except for Gabe who had to work!

That top photo is having some snacks after the drive up.

The next morning, (25th), Joshua and Emerson sat down to read the paper.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to go to a beach not too far from here.  It's located in a state park that Donnie had never been to!

To get down to the beach...you have to walk down a lot of steps.  We decided to have a picnic lunch before we headed down...the boys were hungry...plus, we didn't want to carry all the stuff down...and back up!

You can barely see the ocean below...it was foggy...but we could tell it was going to clear.  It had been clear at home...

What a sweet dad...feeding his baby girl!

The boys took off running on the trails...but it was a great time for a few pictures! 

We started heading down.  Isn't it beautiful?  I think this is one of the most beautiful  places on the planet...and it's right by my house!  The fog was clearing!

 Benjamin was thinking about those waves...

 William was half ready...(one shoe on, one shoe off)...Thalia kept her shoes on and being MY granddaughter, had a camera around her neck!  YeeHaw!

 Look at her!  She's just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside!  She's a SOPHOMORE this year!  I can hardly believe it!

 Benjamin and William were running from the waves....

 but Emerson wasn't too sure about that.  First of all, he preferred to keep his shoes on...but he watched his cousins...

well, he watched them for awhile.  Then he told me he was ready!  Boy did these boys have fun!

 When the tide goes out...you wade out a bit...then as a wave comes back in, you run from it. 

 

Joshua, Erica, and Thalia were looking for agates...

 I joined in the wave fun...

 When the waves come around you like in this picture, it makes me get a little...well, not sure how to describe it...you feel like YOU are moving, not just the waves.  That's why I'm holding onto Emerson...

 Emerson said this was the smallest rock "EVER"...

 

Joshua was still looking...

 Lindsey was just enjoying watching the boys...and the ocean!

 A SOPHOMORE!!!  A sophomore in HIGH SCHOOL!

 

"Jutze, is this an agate?"

 Before we left, the boys were writing their names in the sand with rocks.  Emerson first wrote his initials..

 Benjamin did his name...

 Then Emerson wrote his...but just with his finger!

 Oh, how I miss these three!!!  I just love having them here!

 After we climbed the 9,549 steps back up (total exaggeration), I wanted to take some more photos since we could now SEE the ocean! 

Seeing as we had already paid to come here (it's a state park), we decided to go on to another park a little further north...