And they just took her to the sea for the first time. Now they're under, under, underneath a big umbrella...

Family outings are a some of my favorite days.  Sure, I love kicking back on a Friday afternoon when Ben gets home from work and looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home with no events going on, but there is nothing like getting up at a crazy hour and hitting the road for a getaway...and a getaway with the love of my life and my sweet Shapirti.  

This past weekend was such a weekend.  We had already planned on being on the western side of the state for a tea party and staying with some good friends, but when Ben got home from work and checked the weather reports he asked if I wanted to hit the beach...  

HA!!!

Would I like to hit the beach?!?!?  

Oh, would I ever!!!

So, we had a dress rehearsal to make sure we had all of the pieces belonging to our Regencey era outfits, went to the grocery store (all dressed up...you should've seen the looks we got!!!  The "I'm staring at you and taking pictures of you on my phone while acting like I'm not looking at you" people are my favorite.), came home for a quick dinner, packed our suitcases and went to bed.  

4:30 am rolled around and phone vibrated.

Ugh.

I don't like early mornings that come after late nights.

4:35 was shower time.  

Ben, my wonderful, thoughtful, amazing, sweet, kind, knight in shining armor husband made me some tea. 

Nothing like hot tea on an early morning.

5:11 we were in the car all bundled up and heading for the coast.

After the car tires rolled for a while 7:30 rolled around and this was our view:

Shapirti was hungry, so I fed her and then we went to Trader Joe's for some food stuff (and my wonderful, thoughtful, amazing, sweet, kind, knight in shining armor husband bought me another SD card for my camera since I forgot it at home) and then we drove for a few more minutes until we made it to Wilder Ranch...a state park on the beach!

We tumbled out of the car, grabbed the stroller and jam-packed it with stuff and went for a beautiful stroll.

Shapirti loves to take walks.  She's getting so big and she looooves to sit up and take in God's beautiful creation with her big blue eyes.

 She also gets a ton of attention from passerby's...sometimes they offer to take a family picture for us! 

 Just around the corner from the train tracks.  Ahhh...I love the ocean. 

 I've been to the coast several times since Ben and I were married...we took our mini-moon up the California coast...Hwy 1 is one of the most beautiful roads in the country.  

 And no matter how many times I've been to the coast, I am still amazed at this incredible creation...  The crashing sound of the waves on the rocks, the way the curl as they head towards the shore, the power, the majesty, the fear they invoke, the calming effects of the smell, feel and sound...the way the water moves as one...it's just all so overwhelmingly amazing.

 We stood on the cliff for quite a while watching as the waves would build and come crashing upon the rocks where we stood.  

 On the edge looking down...and it's quite a way down there!  We never got sprayed, but there were some seagulls near us that kept getting showered by the waves coming up to the cliff.  It was most amusing.

 There he is...the man I love so much.

 Shapirti had been sleeping, but when we stopped she woke up.  We put her gauze blanket over the stroller to keep the sun out of her face, but when she woke up she found a way out.

She wanted to see the ocean, too!

 More water. Sorry for all of the water shots. :P

 Ben ran back to the car to grab the sunscreen.  I remembered to pack it, but I didn't get it in the swim bag.  

I ditched the coat shortly after this picture was taken...it was that warm!!

 Do you see the sandy beach over to the left?  Yeah, right below the green grass?  That was our little beach. A pretty, quiet, deserted beach.

 We climbed down, bringing the stroller with us.  Honest, we did!  See the stroller marks on the sand?  

*sigh* Lovely view, isn't it?

Oh, and do you see the cliff off in the distant?  That's where we were standing when I took all of the water pictures above.

 Wuv.

 No passerby's to take a picture, so we used the self timer.  Oh, it was sooo beautiful out there!

 Homeschooling on the beach.  

"Daddy!!!!  There's something attacking my feet!!!!!"

 Baby feet in the sand.

Okay, that was pretty self-explanatory...

 Baby loves the beach.  Look at that cute face!

 Ben had so much fun with her this trip.  Last time we were at the beach, she didn't do much...she just kind of sat around.  This time she was very interested in everything!

 "Daddy, that's the stuff that was sticking to me!"

 I just love her expression in this picture.  She loved it when Ben would bury her feet.  She'd get sooo excited when she pulled them out.

 My cutie-pies.

 Daddy love is good...daddy love on the beach is very good!

 On the hunt for trouble.

 While baby and I played with the sand, Ben was off to explore.  He loves the coast, too.  The animals fascinate him.

 "Okay, seriously...enough pictures yet?"

Our time quickly escaped us and around 2:00 we were back on the road to visit our good friends, the Buciaks.  Once we arrived at their lovely home, we got our things set up, I finished sewing buttons on Ben's waistcoat, and we freshened up for the party.

 Here's my dapper looking husband just sitting down for tea.

 Across the table (on the right) was our dear friend, Morgen and a new acquaintance, Meg.

 Our good friends and our host and hostess, Joe and Mary Fatula of Lumenaris. This is the only picture I got of them. :(  They hosted a loverly party, and we so look forward to more!

 Yes it's very possible to look goofy when you're all dressed up.

 The game of the night.  Morgen and I were dead set on making Knox win...

 ...especially since he was Kitty Bennet and was hoping to lose.

Joe was kind enough to lend a hand.

What do you mean no shots?!?!

 Oh, come, Knox!  The public in very interested!

He's got a pretty nice scar underneath that bandage.

 Later on in the game he needed some help from Ben.

We were successful.  Knox won. *grin*

 Our little party.  There were more people at the event, but this was our table, minus our lovely hostess, Mary.

 Okay....you didn't see this one.....

 The next morning, Lilyana was soaking up all of the attention that Chandler and BJ lavished on her.  Food, friends, cozy outfit...yeah, it's a good life.

 BJ was so funny with that phone...he took so many pictures of Lilyana!  

We hit the road again, this time heading South.  It was a beeeeautiful drive!  Such a view!

 No tripod means self portraits taken with long arms.

 We pulled off to take a quick picture and Lilyana decided that she was hungry.  So grabbed our blanket, some snacky things and sat down on the cliff to eat with this view.  Yeah, it would be a nasty fall down there.

 A BLIMP?  

Yeah, that's what we said.  We didn't think that the pilot knew what he was doing...he kept getting closer and closer to the ocean and going in circles.  Once we got pretty close to him, though, he moved on.  

I want a Blimp.

So, if you feel the need to donate to my Blimp fund, please let me know.

I'll give you a ride in it!

 We finally found a beach!  Once you get South of Big Sur, there aren't very many beaches until you reach San Simeon.  But we found a nice place where we ate some lunch and went beachcombing. 

I snapped this picture, and then my battery died. :(  And, being me, I left my spare battery at home. :(

The tide was coming in, but we had fun walking, finding shells, seeing the HUGE Elephant Seal (which I didn't get a picture of because my camera was dead and I couldn't get a good shot on my phone), and strolling back to the car.  I did get one more shot on my phone, though:

My sweet Shapirti is finally getting some teeth.  She hasn't been in too much pain...a little discomfort and some achy ears, but she's been an angel about it!  I seriously love this girl.

Okay, that was pretty long, wasn't it?

Have a loverly afternoon...and thanks for stopping by! 

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Tiffany for BLT