Beach Access...

I just returned from 5 days at the beach. 2 1/2 in Carpinteria & 2 1/2 in Morro Bay. The time in Carpinteria was spent with the Fast family, although just the 5 originals. Mom, Dad, Denise, & Ben and I harkened back to our roots and enjoyed some time together, just the 5 of us. I don't think we'd done that since prior to my college years, just 2 years shy of a decade ago (yikes, I'm old...) We laid around on the beach, read, took walks, ate Thai food, shopped in Santa Barbara & enjoyed burgers from "The Spot". John joined us Friday afternoon for lunch, and then he and I journeyed northward to Morro Bay.

Our trip almost didn't happen as I neglected to pick up the condo key from my Grandma Net's house before I left, but luckily for us, she called one of the neighbors and they had a spare for just such occasions. Crisis averted. While there we spent the majority of our time taking walks, browsing, going kayaking (see below), and sharing the remote. 50% of our TV viewing time was spent watching sports (darn those extra inning games) and the other 50% on HGTV. A weekend to relax together before the new school year begins.


Kayaking...in pictures:

The day couldn't have been more beautiful.

We got pretty close to these huge "loose" seals, but then I got scared they were going to jump on our kayak, so we paddled away.

John like to see how close he could get to these sea gulls before they flew away, I think this was his closest picture attempt.

Overall, we had a great time, neither of us were particularly skilled oarsmen, but we managed to glide around the bay with a relative amount of ease. I'm just thankful we didn't tip...