Laars is Three Today

He smiles as we sing "Happy Birthday To You" while we drive to Long Beach for the day.

It was cold when we arrived, or so we thought.  It was good to have some of our heavier coats along.  But it didn't take long to throw them off.

First duty was to eat, all huddled together.  We had a few children we needed to teach etiquette when surrounded by sand, like
~ don't shake your towel near where people are eating their food
~don't step over the eating area

But you can cover yourself up with sand, away from where the adults congregate.
And you can pretend you are a turtle digging a hole to lay your eggs.

And be thankful you have a kind sister to rub the wet sand off with dry sand.  Somebody is smart!

Thanks, Tov.

Lots of sun-bleached logs for building a shelter.  When it started to drizzle it was a good place to tuck some of our clothes and towels.

Everette invited me for a walk down the beach together, but the littles invited themselves along, and I got this cute huddle of the guys.

We drove up to Radar Hill for some Rock Climbing

some nice views

some sisterly attention & instructions

and a futile wait for some water to boil in a kettle we just bought today that Everette used an adapter for.  We need a different adapter to use for further travel.

Home for a hot bath, and a late movie since the children slept on the windy road, and it was a successful family day at Long Beach.  Laars was happy even without a cake.  We actually had over-baked organic brownies that were more like a tasty brownie biscotti.  Yummy!