chill out

No literally, CHILL OUT!

Can you see what's missing from my beach picture?? I'll give you a hint...

...it's warm and yellow and round and USUALLY in the sky...

ding! ding! ding! if you said "THE SUN" you would be right. This picture was taken at 11 am. It has looked like this for 4 days now. Gray, overcast, cloudy, windy and downright COLD!

Since Saturday night when we checked in to our condo and the sun set--we have NOT seen the sun one time. It makes for a pretty lousy "beach vacation".

"Beach Vacation" usually conjures images of hours lounging on the sand, getting a sunburn, boogie boarding on the waves, sipping Dt. Coke and reading a good book. We have done none of those things.

See what else is missing in the picture? That would be PEOPLE ON THE BEACH. The beach is usually swarming with sun worshippers--well, without the sun, no one is there--you get the point. That has been the beach every day all day...empty-- except for a few brave souls in wetsuits.

It is LITERALLY sweatshirt and blanket "chilly" here. Which makes for a miserable swim in the ocean. Especially for the little girls. They turned blue the time we tried it.

So, instead of hanging out on the beach for the past 4 days, we have been improvising. Which has consisted of lots of driving and eating. We have found all the free fruit and veggie samples one could want at the Farmers Market. My favorite new fruit is the "Plumcot," a cross between a plum and apricot with sweet zippy reddish fruit and a greenish orange skin. SOOOOO good! We have munched our way through sun dried tomato hummus, dined on Margharita Pizza with fresh tomatoes, tried square cupcakes and round ones, tasted the best BBQ ribs (Phil's) this side of the Mississippi River. We've seen Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinatas and San Diego, are contemplating Los Angeles for later in the week as well. (the forecast is cloudy and cold til we depart on Saturday along the coast.)

We have seen movies (Inception... FABULOUS!) and Despicable Me (the girls loved it) and hung out in the hot tub (warmish water).

We're keeping ALL our body parts crossed for ONE day, or part of a day, to see the sun so we can splash in the ocean, tickle our toes in the surf, and get the smallest bit of a sunburn to prove we were actually here.

If not, we have some darn good hummus to eat on the way home!