We made it to the ocean! Yay!
But I’ll go back a few days first. We had such a wonderful visit with my great aunt. She is an amazing woman who has been an important part of my life from the get go. She is so full of love and generosity and kindness and it was incredibly meaningful to me for her to get to know my kiddos. She is in her late eighties and does not miss a beat! Her energy level was higher than mine, in spite of countless aches and pains (that she did not once complain about). We had great, regular family meals around a real dining room table as we caught up and reminisced with her. It was a delightful visit.
She lives in Palm Desert where the temperature reaches the 100s daily now. It was hot, hot, hot. Even with the heat, the vegetation is beautiful…flowers of every color of the rainbow fill the yards of rocks, not grass. As pretty as it was to look at, I really don’t understand why anyone would live there in the summer. It was too hot to do anything!
We said our goodbyes this morning and made our way to LA. Our first stop was, of course, an In N Out. It was probably our first fast food hamburger in a decade, and it was good. Zak researched quite a bit about the company and they seem to be very good to their employees and are committed to quality food. It was no Burgerwurks, but tasty enough.
Then we headed to Venice Beach and introduced the girls to the ocean. They LOVED it! Zoe could have spent all day jumping in the waves and splashing around in the water. Ellie enjoyed the water, but really loved the sand. I do think one of the most memorable aspects of the ocean for them is being allowed to pee in the water.
We are treating ourselves to a nice hotel tonight after a run of more questionable ones. It’s lovely, although they only had a room with one queen bed in it by the time we made our last minute reservations. Should be a cozy night!
Tomorrow we’re heading back to the beach in the morning, then to meet an old friend from high school and college for lunch. We’ll take off in the afternoon for Yosemite and start working our way back east.
Thanks to our neighbors, friends, and my mom for helping us figure out the status of our house after the horrible storms.
