First Day at Old Man's 2009

After a yucky week filled with boogers, coughs and children's tylenol Ashley was feeling better and I some how escaped the germs. We had a relaxing Saturday and just ran a few errands and it was pretty warm but it was supposed to be even hotter on Sunday. Jas and I decided we'd make our first family trip to Old Man's Beach as long as Ash was feeling fine.

If you don't know already I'm addicted to lists. I make lists for anything and everything. Once I was pregnant with Ashley I felt like all of the juices my brain needed to remember things were sucked dry so lists were my only hope of having a productive day. So, as soon as we decided we were going I started my lists, we had a toy list, food list, clothing list, etc. After doing everything on those lists we were ready for bed and I was not looking forward to waking up at 5:15am so we could leave the house at 6. I think my sister was dreading it even more than I was because she had a 20 minute drive from Tustin to get to our house and we warned her if she wasn't there at 6 we were going to be gone. Amazingly enough, Erin showed up early- REALLY EARLY and we were only running 4 minutes behind.

As we drove towards the beach I was so happy, I had my family and it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and we didn't even have any fog. Once we got there we found a great spot to set up everything and before I knew it Jason was out surfing. I went down to the water to take pictures of Jas and Erin and Ashley came down to greet me with a "surprise". Ashley had caught a lady bug (lovingly named Mr. Ladybug) and was so excited to show it to me. While we played with the lady bug and collected rocks we could feel the sun come over the ridge and start to warm our backs, it was more than welcome since we were all in shorts and it was about 60 degrees. Once Jason got out of the water we all hung out, Erin took a nap face first into her towel, Jason slept in the back of his truck and Ashley built sand castles for me.

Once the naps were over Jason was ready to surf again and this time Ashley wanted to go with me to watch. We didn't really do much watching but had fun collecting shells, Ash is not a fan of shells that still have creatures dwelling in them, she was quite startled when a snail popped out of one. When Jason came back in Ashley begged to go out with him on her surfboard. Jason was so excited and I was too but I have to admit there was a little tiny bit in my stomach that was a little nervous. As I watched my husband walk in the sand with a surfboard in one arm and our girl in the other my heart just melted- how could it not? I was expecting serious hesitation from Ashley since the water was only 57 degrees but she didn't think twice about it. At this point it was low tide so they had to go out quite a bit to even get knee deep in the water but I think that made Ashley feel even more grown up because I was quickly getting further and further away when she looked back at me. I stood with my camera with the huge lens and tried my best to balance on rocks (very difficult when you're pregnant, probably a lovely site for those on shore too). I was determined to get some pictures for both of them to enjoy and luckily Ashley's face was full of giggles and smiles and Jason just looked at her with so much joy and love- I know he was so incredibly happy to share that time with her, he's waited 4 long years to do this and it finally was happening! I have to admit my eyes were a little misty while I snapped away because I was just so happy for both of them.

After about 30 minutes in the water Jason started to paddle back towards me and when they got close Ashley realized what was going on and almost started to cry saying, "Daddy I don't want to go to the beach, I want to surf" (I think those words made Jason's year). So they quickly made a U-turn and didn't come back in for another 15 or 20 minutes and this time Ashley helped Jason paddle in- too cute! The three of us walked back to our stuff, Ash and Jas were exhausted and my finger was tired from taking 530 pictures of their first surfing session (I'm a little embarrassed about that but it had to be properly documented, right?)

After all the surfing Ash and Jas took a nap in the back of his truck while I roasted in the sun with Erin. When Jason woke up it was around 2:30 and it was SO hot. We were all kind of silent and eventually we all looked at each other with these eyes that said, "Please take me home and get me out of the heat!" We read each other's minds and started packing up everything in record time. Ashley of course slept through it all and continued to nap at home until 5pm. I'd have to say this was one of the most memorable days at the beach for me and I'm sure it will be something Jason and Ashley will always remember. (Sorry there are a ton pictures but I've really edited them down from the 654 I took that day).