Ventura Beach House!

Another week at the beach this summer! This time at a California beach where the water, waves, scenery, air temperature, and sand is different than North Carolina. This year we went August 1st-8th.

Stacie and Randy pulled up not long after us so I snatched Volcom and said, "Macy look who I have!" She immediately said, " I want to hold baby Volcom!" He's not so much of a baby but he still let Macy hold him. I think he may have liked all the attention and happy to be out of his carseat. 

Of course Anna wanted to hold the "baby" too. He looks the same size as Anna in this picture but she is indeed taller than him. 

They are such cute cousins!

Volcom trying to hold Macy's hand.

Like I said, the scenery is so different from NC beaches. It is something special to have a huge hill right behind our house. We actually had quite a few very clear days where the sky was clear enough to see the Channel Islands.

Since Elle and I are both pregnant I thought it would be fun to do something fun to reveal the gender of our babies. I filled two boxes with blue balloons and let them float up to the sky. I confused people by having two boxes but I thought both of my kids would want to open a box (because they typically fight over things like that) but turns out Anna didn't care. Fortunately I'm not having twins! Elle and Kenny also confused people because they wrote on shirts to reveal the gender. Problem was their shirts were bright pink. Kenny's shirt said "Real men wear pink" and Elle's said "Real Man" with an arrow pointing to her belly. Turns out the whole gender reveal thing was confusing for everyone but in the end there will be two new boy cousins this year!

The whole family was together and we had great scenery so we had to take family pictures.

I wanted one of just the grandparents and grandkids. This is how Anna felt about that idea.

I thought this was a great one of my parents.

Volcom turned 1 on August 6th so we were all able to celebrate with him. He was not a fan of getting cake on his face!

Stacie provided the cute party hats.

Some people also brought presents for Anna so we had an early birthday celebration for her too.

Anna actually loved being sung to and started dancing to Happy Birthday.

Two-year olds are much more likely to try their own cake.

Especially when they have a big sister to show them how it's done.

Anna was more than thrilled to get this Minnie Mouse from Great Grandma and Grandpa Francis. Her whole body shook with excitement and she did not let anyone near it. She was also thrilled that her bathing suit was pink with polka-dots just like Minnie. She wore that bathing suit everyday for the whole week. She even wore it to bed sometimes. Also notice her little pony tail pulled out from underneath the hat. She had to pull it out so she could twirl it.

The house had this blue thing called the Sea Mat. It's a giant blue mat that floats on the water- even with 6 adults on it. People were floating over the waves, doing flips off of it, and getting knocked off of it by waves. Macy was brave enough to go on it too. She had to have Ja hold her the whole time but I was still proud of her for trying.

Macy loved all of her Aunt Jill time!

My cousin Ashley waxed Ja's chest and stomach. PAINFUL.

 Anna was in love with Grandma this week. She was always looking for "Gamma," wanted to be held my Gamma, and even requested that Gamma get her out of the crib. This was very helpful for me. It was great having someone else Anna trusted to help watch her.

Sometimes I call Anna my little cheese ball because of a certain smile she gives me. This smile is close to it and it fits because she's eating Cheetos so she turned orange. Her and Macy loved all the Cheetos that were at the house that week. 

My cousin Ashley also painted Macy's nails. Always a favorite.

This picture is too far away but Macy is in that kayak! She went out with Ja twice that week. Ja was telling her that some people have seen sea lions out by the sea weed patches. As they got out there she tells him, "I don't want to see a sea monster daddy!" Then he told her it's a sea lion but she still didn't want to see it. Probably in her mind she's thinking it's a real lion out in the ocean! 

We had a great week full of family, games, food, ocean, sun, and good memories. I was very said to leave California and say good-bye to all the family. I really wish we could live closer to my siblings! Or any family for that matter. Macy and Anna had a short warming-up period which was great. They were both talking to people and giving high fives. Macy loved being with Aunt Jill and took any chance she got to be with Jill. We are very grateful we could go. Next trip in two years we'll have 3 kids! Yikes!