The Beach & San Diego Temple

So, I put that the temple was yesterday, but it wasn't I was just getting ahead of myself. The temple was actually today.
This was our free day, just make it to L.A. area. So, we slept in, drove slowly and stopped at a couple different beaches. It was great. The first one we went to was Coronado, which was beautiful. The hotel was wonderful as well. The kids had so much fun playing in the ocean. Keep in mind it was November, so pretty chilly. Good thing kids are so resilient.
Jaxon shouting to the entire Pacific Ocean, "I'm the King of the World."
These next two are Jake being oh so brave. Jaxon would challenge he and Josh to go out with him, not realizing that they are shorter and so the ocean is a lot higher on them than him. Anyway, Jake went out and then decided he was cold so he would outrun the waves. Fun, fun until. . .
Kaboom! down he went! A mouthful of seawater, yum yum. He was a bit more cautious afterward. I think the other boys also went all the way under, but on purpose. Jared & I got up to about mid-thigh. Josie was pretty wet and Jainie, well, she liked the sand best.
I love his face in this pic - shows Joshua's sheer determination.
I couldn't find anything in Utah to make sandcastles in Nov. but I thought for sure California would have supplies. FYI: Californians also think beaches are not to be used in Nov apparently. They had no beach toys either. We stopped at probably 6+ stores looking for even a bucket and a shovel. Nope, nothing. Finally, when I decided to quit it was because when I asked the lady in Target, she said "That is a summer item, Ma'am, we wouldn't have any at this time of year." Like it isn't always summer in CA!!! The nerve of some people. So, we compromised with spoons, cups, & bowls! Not quite the same, I learned my lesson.
Josie is always a trooper - ready for whatever we have planned. She loved both the ocean and the beach. She is leaning over her sandcastle. (Is that one word?)
Jared getting creative with the camera. I enjoyed sitting by our stuff, protecting it from the crazy seagulls, relaxing, entertaining children, Jared enjoyed walking around taking pics. Some people just don't know how to sit. I am an expert at it!
We have about 20 pics of this pose, but in every one someone is either not looking or grumpy, this is as good as it gets. But I really like it. Such cute kids.
You can see us straggling along getting ready to leave Coronado, I would definitely go again.
I am glad we stopped at the temple, even though we were very inappropriately dressed in our swimsuit attire. Beautiful!

Funny, I accidentally deleted the picture for right here and the bottom one is not the one I wanted since you can tell my perfect little family is fighting. Yes, it happens on minute to minute basis. This is why I snap at least 3-4 pics of every picture I take. I figure there has to be one where they are distracted enough by me to not be bugging anyone by them. This is NOT that picture!

Jainie is a flower lover. Do not try to take her on a walk without realizing she will try to smell every single flower she walks past. I think she gets it from my mom!
We stopped at one other beach, which was fun, but windy before getting to LA and going to Balboa Island. I love it here. It was obviously really dark at this point so no getting in water. But there were some sand hills the boys loved playing spy or something on. I thought I had lost them for a minute, it was pretty scary. Boys!
We decided to eat dinner at Ruby's on the pier. It was great. I had the best french fries ever, they had specialty fries, I think mine were garlic. Notice how the girls pose, & the boys, well, they are boys.