By The Sea, You And Me, Oh, How Happy We'll Be.

It's almost the end of summer, and we finally got to squeeze in a day at the beach. We picked Newport because of the clean, soft sand and the clear blue water...and apparently everyone else in Southern California did, too. It took us a half hour to find parking; every lot was full and every inch of curb space was taken. I'm glad we got there early--who knows how it would have been later in the day.

The beach itself wasn't packed, so that was good. It was the perfect day for Clarke's first time at the beach! As you can see from the picture above, it wasn't too successful when I dipped his toes in, but he loved the sound of the waves and the warm sun on his skin. (Don't worry, I liberally applied baby sun screen on him all day. Me, not so much. I have the red skin to prove it.) It's days like these that make me so grateful and lucky to live close (enough) to the shore. I never want to move away!

Thanks, Nichole & Mike for the invitation. We had a blast!