The Beach: Day 1-3

Last year we decided to leave a day early for the beach...and we absolutely loved having the extra time.  We wanted to do it again this year, but I couldn't find a hotel room for under $350 anywhere remotely close to Imperial Beach.  Every hotel in the San Diego area  was booked or super expensive, so we thought it might not work.  I decided to ask my sister-in-law if we could bunk with them for a night...and she agreed! As we got closer to our vacation...we were all getting anxious to get out of this place...the heat, work, etc.  We were just over it.  

As Blip was getting more and more excited, so were we.  Then we got a crazy idea to leave for the beach house two days early (instead of one), but I still couldn't find a hotel for under $350 a night.  I was bummed, but thought it wasn't meant to be.  I finally decided to ask my sister-in-law if she would mind us for two extra nights instead of one...and she said we were welcome to come! Yay! We were thrilled...and I couldn't pack us fast enough.

So we loaded up early Thursday morning and made our way to better weather, family time, and the beach.  Blip is great in the car...as long as he has a movie to watch or a game to play, he's perfect.  He can even give a good heads up when he needs to use the bathroom, so life is good.  Our baby sister was excellent...like always.  She slept, talked, played with her feet, ate, and was just happy to be. Which is pretty much her norm.

We arrived in the afternoon and were happy to see Regina's family for a couple days before they headed home and Brooklyn headed off to Hawaii for college.  We spent our extra time doing nothing, playing on the beach, and going for yummy hamburgers at Ho-Dads in Ocean Beach.  On Friday night we took all the kiddos to the drive-ins to see Minions and Inside Out.  The weather was so nice!  Perfect for a drive-in movie...with just a light jacket needed after dark.  We had already seen Inside Out, so we left and headed for bed after Minions.  Luckily Blip didn't know there was another movie about to start, so he was perfectly happy to go back to the house for bedtime.

On Saturday we moved the few things we unpacked out so it could be cleaned and then moved all of our stuff in for the week.  Our first "official" night always included ordering the largest pizza ever.  We all walk down to order it and the continue on to the local 7-11 for slurpees.  The last two years we've been there on July 11, so free slurpees for us! It's a fun way to kill time while we wait for our pizza.  This year there were so many of us that it wasn't really that big of a pizza!  With Derek, Jordan (Derek's friend), and Ryan's family eating with us it made that huge pizza just the right amount.

I was super excited that Ryan's family would be with us this year.  We never get to see the kiddos and I've been wanting to get Roy and Blip together.  They are almost exactly the same amount of time apart (in age) as Carol Ann and I are, so I always imagine they will be buddies, too.

We love the beach! I'm so glad Blip finally loved it this year too!