Conlin Chaos Goes to California Episode Five: The Beach Calls and We Answer!

Thursday we spent about three-and-a-half hours at the beach. My mom needed to get to the airport in the afternoon, but we leeched out every possible moment of sand, sun and surf!

Luke wasn't too sure about any of it...the sand: strange; the surf: loud. So he stayed frimly on Nana's lap for the first 45 minutes. When we tried to get him to sit on the towel on the sand he just curled his legs up, like, "I don't think so! Uh uh! You are not putting me down there!"

But after watching his brothers a bit, he got braver.

And braver.

He even eventually made his way down to the wetter sand. It was so funny watching the progression as his confidence grew.
He even thought about boogie boarding for a bit.

But when Adam tried to take him close to the water, he changed his mind.
Ben and Josh were on the "Dig to China" project.
It's pretty far, so Dad chipped in.
Unfortunately, after about three feet they decided that our visit to China would have to wait. So they filled in the hole, with them inside.
"Hey, what's wrong with this surf board?" Zach wasn't quite sure how a boogie board worked at first.

Adam was willing to take him out and give him a lesson...but the water was FREEZING! After Zach got in to his knees he changed his mind. California beach water isn't even that warm in the hot summer months, but in March, it's really not. Hey, I'm not calling him a wimp...I wasn't going in there either!
But eventually Zach braved it! Adam and Zach are the two closest, Adam on the left. In the distance there was an actual surfer catching a few waves...in a wet suit...probably having a good chuckle at the crazy, cold tourists.
Zach warmed up in the dry, hot sand away from the water. Little did he know that getting buried like that meant he would have to go back in to wash off!

Ben and Josh gave boogie boarding a try too. It took many attempts for them, as well.
Josh went out to his belly, then walked back into the shallow water to lay on the board in the three-inches-deep water.

He was happier trying to stand on the board anyway. Maybe it could double as a surf board for a little dude like him. Adam's out there getting in a couple of good rides before he entered the first stages of hypothermia.

I'm just crazy about this guy! That's my handsome man, braving the frigid waters anytime one of his boys asked, even when he knew they were just going to turn around when they got cold and go back.

Ben went out for a ride, had a good start, but then got flipped by the wave, and never returned to the water, except for a quick wash when it was time to go. He was mad Dad had let go of the board, but he got over it pretty quickly.

The boys made sand castles like this:

And like this:

Josh could have stayed all day long. Scratch that. We all could have! It was a beautiful day!
Before heading to the airport, we shoobie doobied down to Ruby's on the Balboa Pier. I know it's a big chain now, but this Ruby's was one of the first two, and we used to visit it every time we had a visit down to our So Cal relatives. So we had to go. And I think the food tastes even better there out over the water.

My good friend from high school, Katie, and her son, Billy, met us for lunch. They live down in the sunny south, and it had been years since we had seen each other. It was so fun to do a little catch up, even if the visit was too short!

Tomorrow: The exciting conclusion to Conlin Chaos Goes to California! Episode Seven: Palm Springs Part B!