After a couple of action-packed, long(er) days, the day before we headed to Disney (which we knew would be long days) we took it easy and spent that day at the beach! Or so we thought it would be....
It started as trying to decide which beach/town/area to go to. After a lot of blog reading with tips and pictures and ideas, we decided on Malibu. It came down to Malibu and Catalina Island. While we thought Catalina Island was well worthy of a visit, it was an hour + boat ride there, and then back of course. And then we ran into a problem of being without our car while there, which defeated our idea of packing a picnic lunch. Or else we would've had to tote around our bags everywhere we went. Catalina Island is definitely a place I would want to go back someday. There, they do glass bottom boat tours and more. Plus it looks really beautiful! And after all, people from The Bachelor have gone on fantasy dates there! :P
So, coming in second...and not as far away (or so we thought) was Malibu. Malibu was a short 40 miles away and was the inspiration behind many of The Beach Boys songs/videos. Still definitely beautiful...and a lot of famous people reside in Malibu! So we were headed to check it out.
Now remember I said, it was a short 40 miles away? Ugh. Ya right!!! It took us over 2 hours to get there. We left early in the morning and were stuck in standstill traffic all. the. way. there. It was horrible! And the worst part? There was no rhyme or reason to the traffic. There wasn't tons of cars. There were no wrecks. Nothing. Just randomly, everyone decided to slow to a complete stop. We learned that driving in Southern California can be like that sometimes. And to us, it was extremely frustrating! Also, another interesting tidbit... during our whole week there, we never once saw a cop. We determined its because people never have the opportunity to speed there. Haha!
Anyway, I found it interesting that this sign was on our way to Malibu, as we are stuck in standstill traffic (as you can see!)...
It made me laugh. I mean, really. Only in California...
Then, finally (after literally 2 hours of driving), when we exited off the main interstate and got to drive on Pacific Coast Hwy, it turned into some really beautiful driving. I could feel us getting closer to the beach and was getting excited!
Until, we started hearing and seeing fire trucks. Then we started smelling and seeing the smoke. :(
I was worried, then, that whatever this fire was or was from would interfere with our beautiful day at the beach. But, I need not worry. Our destination (Zuma Beach in Malibu) was still far enough away.
On our way there, we passed some fabulous houses! I am sure they were famous people. So, you know, I'll just go ahead and venture to say that this house is where Jennifer Aniston lives... :P
We also passed Pepperdine University. I didn't know it was there. But we started seeing all the flags, and it was rather stunning.
Then I saw the sign that clued me in as to the location or reason for all the flags.
And finally, we arrived at Zuma Beach. I am not sure why I was worried about how beautiful it would be. It was fabulous! (and I'm not a 'beach person')
Even the lifeguard stands were pretty! :)
There were no people at all. Miles of clean, fresh sand. Beautiful clear water. Mountains in the background. So pretty!
I brought swimsuits, but I had heard the water was chilly, so we went there fully dressed with the thought that...well, we can change if we want to.
Needless to say, we didn't want to. The water was FUH-REEZING! Like, 50 degrees freezing. Yikes! Brad decided he would at least let his feet touch the Pacific Ocean. Me, not so much. And Brooke went for it too, but quickly darted out after a glacier hit her on the foot. ;P Seriously...it was COLD!
Regardless of not being able to swim, everyone had a blast! (and remember, I'm sooo not a 'beach person', but I loved it. I've been to Cancun and Cozumel...some of the prettiest beaches, and this was just as lovely)
Now, we were going to wait to eat lunch a bit, but the birds were attacking our bags! It's like they knew what was inside there! LOL
So we decided to picnic a little early.
Then afterwards, we gave our leftovers to the birds, which was fun.
Then, after lunch, Brooke spent the next 2 hours running down the beach. Literally. Every bit of 2 hours was spent running. Chasing birds. Just laughing and playing and enjoying herself.
It seems like most of the pictures of Brooke were from behind. I'm telling you, all she did was run and dance and play. The entire time!
Brenna took a bit longer to get into the swing of things, still shocked by the cold water earlier and not sure about how to run efficiently in the thick sand.
But, soon enough, she was having a blast too, trying to keep up with her big sister.
She did spend a lot of her time more stationary, digging in the sand for treasures.
Quite funny, actually, she (or Brooke maybe?) found a toy plastic lizard that was buried somewhere. She really thought she had something there! LOL
She also spent some time burying her feet in the sand.
All the while Brooke was running and dancing and playing. She really had fun at the beach!
She also enjoyed writing our names in the sand. :)
Now, most of the time, when you leave a beach, I hate that sandy feeling. Sand everywhere. It gets in your car and all over everything. Blech. But, here? The sand is so clean, it comes off of you before you even get to your car. Its so amazing and pretty. I brought baby powder to get the sand off, but none of us had to use anything! I even brought a change of clothes, just in case we didn't want the girls in their carseats all sandy. Didn't need that either! These beaches in Southern California were awesome! (if only the water wasn't so darn cold!)
Everyone was having a lot of fun. But we finally had to MAKE the girls stop and get in the car. Noses were starting to sniffle from the coolish breeze and I didn't want them to get sick right before going to Disneyland. I thought we might just drive a little bit and go to another beach after they napped for a bit (and warmed up!). But we ended up, after they conked out!, just heading back to Anaheim and going to check out DownTown Disney. Which worked out ok we found out later...because the girls (well, mainly our little fair-skinned Brenna) was a tad bit sunburned after our few hours at the beach. Every other time, I am the sunscreen Nazi (used it at the zoo, in LA, etc) but completely forgot at the beach... of all places. Ha. I guess since it was so chilly, it just didn't dawn on me. Doh!
But she wasn't too bad. Just a little pink to her cheeks. :)
Anyway, so on to DownTown Disney for the evening...
Talk about excited. When we actually were inside the 'gates' off the park and we could SEE Disneyland, the girls were so excited. But also so confused as to why we couldn't go in right then! You see, their are three parks or areas to Disneyland in California. But all their entrances meet in the middle. So the entrance to DownTown Disney, Disneyland California Adventure Park, and Disneyland itself were all right there. You just pick, left, right or center. The monorail ran through here as well. This particular evening it was nearly dinner time. So we just took some time and walked around DownTown Disney shopping and eating. :) (besides, the next 3 days were reserved for all of Disneyland)
Inside, we came across a Build-A-Bear. Normally, I'm not a fan of Build-A-Bear. Again, overpriced stuff. For a stuffed animal. I mean, really.
But. We were at Disney. And they had special Disneyland Build-A-Bears you could make. So we let each of the girls do one. It was expensive, but we decided on this trip, we weren't going to go all cheapie. It was a big trip and we didn't want to miss out because of money. The money was 'there' (had been saved up), so we were going to do what we wanted to do (within reason of course).
Anyway, I digress. Back to Build-A-Bear. They both got the Disney ones.
Neither of them had ever done one of these before, so it was a new fun experience there. They got to stuff their bears...
They got to bath, scrub, and brush their bears clean and pretty...
And then dress the bears in the outfits they chose. We insisted they get outfits characteristic to Disneyland, so Brenna chose a Mickey Mouse outfit, while Brooke chose Minnie Mouse.
Also, while at DownTown Disney, we went and checked out the Lego Store. Now, I have girls. Neither of which have ever been into Legos, so forgive our lack of excitement over the humongous Lego store. But they did enjoy seeing Woody (made from legos)...
And Darth Vador (made from legos)...
Another of one of my favorite stores we visited there was Little Miss Matched. Ok, so it wasn't really something for me per say, but I did get Tara her birthday gift there - a set of 3 socks. Not 4...3. None of which matched. Hence the name of the store. :P Brad thought it was dumb, but if you know Tara (or perhaps any teenager these days?), you know she never has matching socks on. So I thought it appropriate and a cute gift. :)
We also ate a nice restaurant while there. And then went into the largest Disney store EVER! Literally. It's called World of Disney. While we were walking around it, Brooke commented to me, "Mommy! This is like the biggest Disney store ever!" A nearby employee overheard her and replied, "why, yes it is actually. It's over 25,000 sq ft and it is the largest Disney store", etc etc... This is just one of the entrances to it (I think there were 4? Or 5?)....
It was really really huge. We didn't get anything on that trip (remember, cheap souvenirs at WalMart???), but would be stopping there again before we left.
From there, we went back to our condo to go to bed (semi) early and rest up for the next three fun-filled days at Disneyland!
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