beach trip with the cleggs

 may days at the coast are lovely and cool, so it was a great time to take a trip with great friends.

 

we were excited to take the cleggs on their first trip down 17 mile drive. clearly olivia loved the view so much that she couldn't be bothered with a picture!

 don't worry. we didn't forget cora or something. she was sleeping happily in the car.

 i love my husband!

 and jen loves hers! okay but seriously jen you can't even tell you are 7 months pregnant in this picture! you are ridiculously cute!

17 miles is very long for little girls. they were very happy to have a chance to run around and watch their daddies have a very serious putting competition. 

 

trevor + steve.

best friends for life.

putting with shelby is like playing at a miniature golf course with a human windmill that knocks your ball away from the hole!

i love this. trevor is just looking at her thinking...is that really my kid crawling around the pebble beach putting green?

the whole crew. we can have fun just sitting in our living rooms, so actually going on a trip together was crazy fun!

this is cora's face when i told her how long a golf round takes (forever plus a day) AND how much a golf round costs! my mom and i have a rule we made up that we get to spend whatever the boys pay in green fees. feel free to adopt our rule into your own families.

shelby did not want to leave!

trevor had a fun daddy moment when he took her down to look at the 18th hole. he thought she would love to see the ocean. i stayed up in the lodge and didn't see it, but he told me what happened. she tried to run on the green of the 18th hole and when he stopped her she wouldn't stop screaming and was totally messing up these guys who were putting. oops. and that's why when trevor says optimistically, "oh! i'll take shelby with me! she'll love the golf cart!" i say um, how about NO, because you would need a muzzle for her and possibly a straight jacket for you by the end of the day. hello, i barely make it through the check out line at safeway!

but i know that one day they will have their daddy-daughter dates to the golf course! she won't be little forever!

olivia, the girl of a million faces. she was not happy that she had to get out of the spa.

and shelby was begging to stay in too. the spa is the perfect place while at the cold coast.

we hit up the boardwalk the next day, and despite the complete ghetto-ness and big presence of police in the middle of the day at the santa cruz beach boardwalk, we all still had a great time!

especially olivia! this is how she looked to whole time we were there. :)

for the first time, shelby was able to go on a few rides! first up was this little boat ride.

 she rang that bell the entire time...and it was an extra long ride, or so it seemed after all that ringing!

she was happy as a clam

 

and the matching clothes with the boat was just a coincidence! no really it was!

 next was this cute little orca whale ride. the orca is shelby's favorite ride so we thought it was a sure thing.

okay shelby! remember to put your hands up! the ride is about to start it's going to be soooo fun!

weeeee! this is fun!

 

 what an awesome ride!

okay, hold on a minute. the whale goes up AND down? um. i'm not quite sure i like this.

okay seriously. i've decided this isn't fun.

AT ALL!!!!!!

make it stop!!!!!!!!! (as you can see, people were looking by this point!)

 

 

the poor girl cried the rest of the ride. and though these pictures are very sad....

watching it happen was one of the funniest things i have ever seen in. my. life. i was hysterical. i was crying. it was so funny. people were probably thinking i was the worst mom ever after seeing me laughing and taking pictures. but what was i going to do? stop the ride? at the beginning she loved it! oh my goodness i won't forget that one. shelby forgot within two minutes after she got dipndots so don't worry about her!

cora really enjoyed her first trip to the boardwalk!

i love my baby. and jen, thanks for making sure that i was in a few photos this trip! :)

shelby loved helping her daddy with this huge, loud tennis ball shooter. she's fearless.

now this is one of my favorite memories from our trip. just look at their cute, excited faces! notice that the boys aren't taking their daughters on the carousel. this might surprise those who haven't been to the santa cruz beach boardwalk! but if you have been there then you know the reason that everyone, even boys, loves this ride. as you go around there are metal rings that you can grab and then try to throw into a clown's mouth painted on the wall as you spin. it's a simple thing, but for some reason it is an over the top fun thing to do.

jen did a great job capturing their cute excitement while i sat and nursed my cute baby.

those boys crack me up.

after cora was full, i got to take shelby on a ride too! we didn't throw any rings, but we still had fun.

we all look a little dazed and confused. the ride does spin after all.

awww. steve looks sad. maybe celebrating his wife's birthday will cheer him up!

 

so that's what we did. jen's birthday was a few days after our trip, and we wanted to start the party early for her!

and as always, shelby got to the candles first:

happy birthday jen! we had asked steve what her favorite ice cream cake was before the trip and he told us coldstone. since we are boring baskin robbins people we had never tried a coldstone version, and oh my gosh they are so much better! the cake is actually good and the flavor combos are endless! i highly recommend them. that makes me hungry....maybe i can convince shelby that she wants one for her birthday. hmmmm. 

so the next day we spent some time on the beach. and everyone was very nice to me even though i was super grumpy about it. sorry, but it's just sooo much work to go the beach with kids. also, it was cold and windy. not a good combo when you are already grumpy. but i ended up happy by the end of our little adventure. though i felt bad that i hadn't prepared the cleggs well enough for the nor cal beach experience. jen is from socal and naturally thought that you can wear summer clothes on the beach. oops. sorry. sweatshirts are required here! 

 

luckily we had towels so that she could bundle up! you know it's cold if the pregnant one is freezing.

oh and yes, cora was underneath the towels. she could breathe. i was just protecting her from the wind and sand.

see? she was just fine.

ah yes, there is my child, getting sand in every nook and cranny.

beach girl for life.

the boys weren't affected by the cold at all. though they were running around playing catch.

 

while we sat and huddled in the towels.

luckily the cold didn't keep olivia from being her darling, happy self.

and just like they promised, the dads did all the chasing. it was very nice.

especially nice for me since shelby always makes you chase her!

on the next trip there will be one more clegg along for the ride. i can't wait to meet baby brody!