Beach time, Pirate Park, and Bikes!

          We finally made it to the beach! That was our first order of fun on our first weekend of freedom, and last official weekend of summer break. (Summer break is over. Sad. 😢 )  Last Saturday, we went to the closest beach to us, called Glass Beach - so named because of sea glass that gets washed up on the beach. I was hopeful and super excited about finding some sea glass, but alas, there was none when we went... unless you count the broken beer bottle we found.  There were lots of shells!  I definitely want to go back to take a closer look at those.  With how hot its been, all we wanted to do was get in the water.  There is a shaded brick path that goes along the beach.  I loved it because it meant we could put all of our stuff in the shade, and then walk the 8 feet across the sand to the water.  We were all in our happy place! It was interesting that the salinity is so high that it doesn't take much effort to swim/tread water.  Even Milo could tread water for a long time without choking on water, which usually happens every few minutes in any other body of water.... poor kid.  We explored and threw rocks, collected a few pretty ones, and really just relaxed and enjoyed being in the water. ❤ There are a couple other beaches nearby, as well as a beautiful river, that we are anxious to check out!

Saturday evening, we went out to dinner at Hamazushi. This is one of those all automated sushi-go-round restaurants where you order on a screen and your food comes out to you on sliding track.  It was so fun for the boys!  And since they are some of the pickiest eaters out there, they had chicken nuggets and fries. 😂 They were not fans of the Japanese style chicken nuggets.  Good thing they had plenty of fries.  Blake loves sushi, so this place was a hit for him.  I don't eat seafood.  The pineapple was fresh. 

The boys thought this little hostess robot was so funny. 

 

On Sunday, we got to go to church - actually GO to the church - for the first time in months!  It was so nice to be able to sing hymns with other saints and take the sacrament in a congregation.  I really have missed that more than I realized. The church is itty bitty and different, as my boys were quick to point out, but it was the spirit there that made it all familiar. ❤  I love that we get to look forward to going to church every Sunday again.

Monday was the first day of school for Milo.  He had been counting down the days, and was so excited to go to school and see "friends".  He wasn't nervous at all about any of it, and banished me by day three from walking to school with him ever again.  😂This little boy is growing up too fast, and wants to be grown up NOW!  So far, he is loving school, even with masks and no access to the playgrounds.  They do get to go out to the sports field to do some running and playing.  So far, he's not complaining. 

(Sorry for stealing your pic, Denise. 😬😘)

Monday after taking Milo to school, we met up with some new friends for a playdate at a new park just around the corner from our house.  The pirate park is a favorite around here.  Toby and Sam were so excited to take Milo to this new park last night.  They miss having their big brother around to torment them all day. 😆

One of our shipments was delivered Monday afternoon.  The boys were thrilled to have their bikes and scooters!  No pics, but they were a sweaty sweaty mess after riding all over the parking lot for nearly an hour. Because I was busy unpacking, I had nothing ready for dinner. 6:30 rolled around and Blake suggested we go to Chili's for dinner since its right around the corner. We had to wait a bit for a table and our sweaty, tired boys were sure they would die of thirst and hunger.  As soon as we were seated, they devoured several baskets of chips and salsa. We ended up waiting around 45 minutes extra for Blake's meal, and the manager ended up comping all of our meals!  Service was great, other than the late meal, and the manager was awesome!  It was a good ending to a super busy Monday and first day of first grade.

Some other random things:

Toby is obsessed with The Greatest Showman.  Mostly the music, but he loves the movie too. I'm not mad about this.  

Driving on the left side of the road is not as hard as I thought it would be.  Although, I'm still too nervous to actually drive out in town.  Soon though!

Daiso is my new favorite store.  My friend took me out there for the first time today. Its like the Japanese version of Family Dollar stores, but quality and variety is so much better!  I need all the things!!