brb, just for tonight

It hardly seems necessary for one to break away from one's own dreamy silver lining beach pad, which is in and of itself a break from one's own happy yellow house, but it's summer and it's San Diego and I'm on a mission to bring the happy back to  my original happy place. So off we go! Just for tonight

bears and stairs and surprises

I know I promised y'all part two of Uncle Mervie's Big Trip, and I fully intend to make good on that promise in a timely manner. However, this last week of my little summer break has been a continuation of the beloved whirlwind days of summer. 18 hours after arriving home from the east coast, I was dancing with these bears:

and John Mayer, of all people, who was weirdly awesome. Who knew? Bobby knew, that's who. 

nice headband, John.

And then just a few days later I was dancing up and down these stairs:

My Happy Place: San Elijo

Where I spent five glorious nights sleeping here

And I thought I'd be home snug as a bug in my home rug last night and could thus bore regale you with tales from New London, but a funny little opportunity came up that I don't yet know exactly how to describe, so for now I'll just share that I slept here:

(setting my alarm for midnight to insert a photo of where I slept. If this text is still here at publishing time, it means that I forgot/slept through it/got kidnapped. I left contact info at my house)

have I already written one called Happy Place?

Last week was our longest stretch in San Elijo - we were so lucky to snag 5 nights in an oceanfront site during my two week summer break!

And by we I of course mean *I* snagged it, who ever said that obsessive compulsion doesn't pay off?

Happy Place!

Five nights, ahhhh. We took our time setting up The Camp of Dreams, then got right down to the business of leisure.

The kids had a rotation of comings and goings, Bill and I each had to drive peeps to or fro at one point, but for the most part we were able to kick back and bask in the glory of our happy spot. I mean Happy Spot.

The girls wanted to go out at sunset to capture the money shots

this? is the money shot?

 My girl was hoping for something more along the lines of how she looked 10 seconds after this:

oops. I did not nail it.
and it was pretty flat out there, so I stood for a long time watching her do this:

which was really boring

Better luck tomorrow, honey!

We all slept well in our respective habitats

Girls slept here

Boys slept here

I slept here

love my westy view

brekkie before Beth came and stole her girl from us.

We loved having the kids' friends with us, but also enjoyed our family night toward the end of the week.

aww

Another day, another girlfriend

# hair

Oh, here's a funny - see that bandage on my girl's foot? It's covering an exponentially smaller wound. But she told all of her friends that a shark bit her, and offered this photo as proof:

Dude was just standing in knee deep water catching these fuckers!

On our last night, we were determined to go back out for the money shot

love

look at my baby out there. swoon!

I should crop it to zoom, but I can't bear to lose a single inch

Our final fire, last night

#laundry

It's official.

San E FTW

a major award

Soon after our most recent arrival at San Elijo, I grabbed my phone to take and post an instagram photo, as one often does when confronted with the wonders of nature and good fortune. When I opened the app, I caught sight of this post by my good friend SDPUBLICLIBRARY:

 

I immediately knew that I had just the photo to enter, it was perfect! I didn't have to stage it, I already had it captured from our last visit to San Elijo! perfect. I quickly searched for it on my phone. 

I did not find or post this:

very cute shot from an old blog post, with bonus cover shot of BOOK ABOUT DOG

No. I found and posted this:

complete with meandering cords and Ecuadorian pants with slippers

It did get the usual Insta-crop to a square shape, which eliminated the slippers.. but you can still see his shadow lurking back there. And the cords. Oy.

I used a filter to enhance the lighting and to be insta-cool

Then I went about the business of being blissful in San E.

A few days later, I saw this!

We won! I received a direct message about my major photographic triumph, also verifying that I was not in fact a library employee/ringer and seeking my mailing address.

I basked in my glory while awaiting the unveiling of my award. Days passed. Weeks, even. I grew impatient. I had a tracking number though, and soon discovered that the much anticipated prize was en route for delivery! Yesterday, it came.

I. die. Can you see it? It's an acryllic dog bowl with the winning photo forever immortalized in the bottom!

As if that wasn't enough of a winning tale, please indulge this aside: the package arrived just as I raced home to pick up my girl around lunchtime and drop her off at a friend's house. I had called ahead to say that I was in a big rush, she needed to be ready in the driveway, and had she eaten? She replied that she was making a sandwich. I pulled up and although she was ready in the driveway with sandwich in hand, I ran into the house to throw something in the fridge. That's when we saw the package! Naturally, we dropped everything to tear it open. We celebrated, photographed, then resumed our rushed exit. My girl grabbed her things from where she had dropped them and said: "Um, Moki ate my whole sandwich." She didn't even use her bowl.

float my boat

I think I've mentioned once or twice that we like going to San Elijo.

It's just so great there.

It's great even when we get a roadside site, but every once in a while the stars align and we luck in to an oceanfront gig.

we did have bushes, and were annoyed that the view was obstructed when you sat down too low. life is hard.

We've got our San Elijo system pretty well dialed in for a two night stay. A perfect balance of cooked meals and Bull Taco, long days at the beach, good lighting, a fire plan, a place for everything in the westy, and everything in its place.

This year, we introduced a new companion on our adventure.

the inflatable boat!

I can't believe we didn't have one before. It's the best thing ever. The kids spent hours out there
in that rig, scaring the beejesus out of me, especially when I was at camp and stood up to gaze over the bushes. From down on the beach they didn't look so far out

They took turns in and out of the boat and off an on the surfboard.

One person tended to be the task horse, but I won't name any names.

The boat was easy to carry up and down the stairs, a comfy lounge spot both in and out of the water.

It was hard to photograph, what with them always being 800 miles offshore and all.

But there were other times to photo document:

She Who Run The World

wide legged boys

Cool Cat Kellys

maybe the best photo ever? there's a whole photo shoot of her making demented faces in that perfect light.

Finally, it was time to deflate our new buddy and head home

Voila! All set for our next adventure. Thanks for the bitchin' bag, Janet!