secret beach

My Sunday got off to a rocky start because a certain fool child of mine foiled the plans I had for a really good lunch. I won't bore you with all of the gory details, but suffice it to say that items complimentary to a certain bowl of leftie chili were purchased during a hungry, post-gym grocery run, yet what did I find upon my return? Someone had helped himself to the chili, which is annoying but forgiveable... but then he didn't eat it, and instead of putting it back in the fridge for me or any other person on this earth to enjoy, he put it in the sink where it was promptly filled with water. I nearly killed him. And then I yelled at him for telling me that he'd used up all the halloween blood and we needed to buy more. I angrily told him that he was a very wasteful person and suggested that he steer clear of me for a while. At least until I found something acceptable to eat.

Later, the kids cautiously approached me and asked if we could go to the beach. I assumed that this was a peace offering, because my kids know that nothing soothes a savage mommy like sand between her toes by the big, blue sea. Then they reminded me that last weekend I had promised that the very next time we went to the beach, we would set out to find the secret beach.

I might be mean when they eat my chili, but I'm usually good for a promise. So we parked at the beach in the usual spot, but instead of ambling down toward the sand and surf before us, we headed south in search of the secret beach that my boy had visited one day when he was at the beach with friends.

We started off toward the pier


and then continued right past that bad boy, pausing to look back at our regular stomping grounds

Secret? Yes. Secluded? Not so much. This area of the cliffs was crawling with peeps, perhaps due to the conspicuous absence of booze prohibiting life guards. And me without my cooler.

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While we traversed the moon-like, criminally damaged cliffs, my boy eagerly described the passageways we would soon encounter. I was dubious.

.

But then we arrived here...

and emerged here:

The Secret Beach!

Always strategizing, these two

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What a great spot. So what if it is just as easily reached by street and staircase ... our route was so much more adventurous! The kids swam and jumped and scrambled and gave me heart attacks and then went back and jumped some more. It was a really special, unexpected afternoon.

We celebrated our triumphant return with fish tacos, fries, and a screwdriver.

Chili? What chili?