Beach excursion (sun, mar 4)

It was such a beautiful day that we couldn't help visiting our favorite little local beach spot. C loves the beach-- he goes into a zen state of calm when he runs his toys over the sand and makes ditches and mountains with them.

It's difficult to imagine living anywhere further inland than we already live (it's a good 5 minute drive to the beach on a not-so-busy day)... especially since my husband and I are surfers. In fact, a few hours after writing my uncle to inquire about jobs at the VA where he works, my heart sunk at the thought of living more inland. On that note, it's depressing that it's practically impossible for a veteran who has NO connections to current staff at our local VA to get a job there. *sigh*

Oh well... I like the hospital I work at now, and I work with a lot of great nurses. I especially love the older nurses on my floor. I love the mentorship they provide me, both as nurses and as mothers. I have always cherished the ability to have more mature and experienced women around me to give me guidance and advice when I needed it, especially at times that I (in my own stubbornness) didn't think I needed help at all.

Playground knitting

We spent the afternoon at our favorite park. C got to burn off some energy and J napped for a few minutes. I got to squeeze in a little bit of time on a variation of the free Rocky ribbed beanie from Ravelry... And then Jordan was up for some people watching at the park when he woke up.

The hat is far from perfect.. I usually end up knitting it in the dark or in an awkward post-breastfeeding position, so it has definitely been a challenge to make. Especially since it uses fingering weight yarn. I'm happy with its progress so far, but the next hat will need to be made with yarn that's at least worsted weight. ^^;

Location Highlight: Fletcher Cove & Park in Solana Beach, CA

Now that the sun had decided to grace us with its presence in the afternoons lately in San Diego (and, of course, that C has also figured out that he can't inhale water), I've been taking him to the beach more often and introducing him to the gently-sloped shores of the beach at Fletcher Cove in Carmel Valley. This little area is truly a gem, and while the ramp down to the beach from the park seems daunting at first for a 30+week pregnant woman with a two year-old who runs wildly (and unsteadily) down anything that slopes steeply downhill, it's a worthwhile (short) hike to the bottom.

We've never really had any difficulty finding parking here or nearby, which is what attracts me most to the beach when compared to places like Moonlight or D-Street in Encinitas. In fact, when my husband and I first moved to Carmel Valley, we discovered that access to the shoreline along Solana beach wasn't as bad as the surrounding areas, and we also discovered there were a lot of nice surfable peaks along the beach that weren't exactly on the map (we did surf more often in Del Mar, though).

C loves the park/tot lot. The nice thing about it is the fact that there's a nice, wide tunnel slide that he can easily slide on during sunny days (the key: it doesn't get unbearably hot to slide on). Unfortunately, there are no baby swings, but he's big enough to enjoy the big kid swings now, as long as I don't push him too high.





The beach isn't terribly crowded, and it's easy to find somewhere to put up your umbrella for an adequate amount of shade (we're both dark enough already, so we don't need to work on our tans).



The beach is sloped gently so C can run around pretty bravely in the water (although I stay closeby since he's still really small AND lightweight).







There's a small airport closeby in Carlsbad and a Marine base by Oceanside, so there's no shortage of airplanes and helicopters for Caleb to spot in the sky for added entertainment...



And, of course, nothing beats a sleepy baby taking a peaceful nap on the beach during a sunny day:

Oceanside: a window of sunshine during rainy season...

My husband and I were able to enjoy a three day weekend together, and we started it off as a family day with my parents. Despite the pouring flurry of rain we had over that week, the sun peeked out for a few hours, presenting us with a window of opportunity to go for a walk around the Oceanside harbor area and have some fish and chips. :)

Why hadn't we done this earlier (when we originally moved to Oceanside)? The harbor is a nice, entertaining walk. I'd definitely do it again, especially when the weather lightens up.

We even found another little fishing pier... tiny and not as crowded as the Oceanside pier. I can't vouch for as much fishing success here, though...


...but it looks like a great place to have a picnic or lunch with lolo and lola! Besides, Caleb made a "friend" that day:


The walk was mellow, but it was still long enough to get our appetites worked up. Before we knew it, we turned around and headed back to Harbor Fish & Chips for some... fish and chips! Yum, yum, yum!


We finished our outing by visiting a local sunbathing sea lion pair who were bullying a third sea lion... poor guy just wanted to chill, but they wouldn't let him join them!


All in all a good mellow day. :)