Beach House 2012

 I stole this picture from Jen. We stayed here Friday night and it was disgusting. I am no hotel prude, but this place was gross. As was Primm's McDonald's in the morning. Seriously... so many dead flies everywhere and absolutely no Diet Coke.

Almost to the beach!

First look from our temporary digs. Pretty awesome, right?

 This is what swimming with a regular diaper looks like.

 Just a little junk in the trunk.

 Our first sunset of the week. Gorgeous.

 The next morning the sun was out early (and so were we) and we all headed to the surf to dig for sandcrabs.

 I don't know who enjoyed it more, the kids or Blaine.

 It didn't take Sarah long to warm up to the little creepers. I, however, did not warm up to them.

 I love Miles' face here.

 Dig, dig, dig.

 Oh, Van. You are adorable.

 Jack teaching Sarah the art of throwing them back, "Now, let them be with their families."

 Poppy and Van.

 Van and Jen.

 I think pictures like this are so funny.

 That's my boy!

 And my little family.

 Miles sitting still... for about two seconds. :) Love this guy.

 Taking it all in.

 Sarah has become quite the Daddy's girl.

 Dennis and Daddy with Jakey and sandcrabs.

 Happy.

 I love Blaine.

 Awe. The beach is super awesome.

 More digging. I think this is actually the next day (Monday.

Someone finally got tired... the beach will do that to you. :)

Jake is busy building sand castles with Brent and crew.

 I love my determined kid.

 Sarah's stance is a little more dainty. :)

 And she loves spending time with Poppy.

 Shovel in hand...

 And not above eating the sand.

 Taking a family walk to collect some rocks and shells. (This is kind of a tradition... we have vases full at home.)

 Sarah was loving the birds. She wanted to hold them all and pet them. She would try and mimic their beaks by sticking her tongue way out and bending over a little. It was hilarious and took Blaine and me forever to figure out what she was doing. We also laughed hard at her hurt feelings when they'd fly away when she tried to grab them.

 Took these with my cool lens off our balcony... did I mention that we got the bitchin' room this year? Lucky us. :)

S'mores. (Stolen from Sean.)

 We spent a good few hours in Carlsbad...

We hit a shoe shop (SCORE!), a book store (DOUBLE SCORE!), a waffle stand (YES!), and even saw the train (WOOT! WOOT!). Can't lose. Wish I had taken more pictures here.

Sunset Market. Jaana (LOVE!) came and took pictures of the whole Carter clan at the beach house and then came with us to Sunset Market afterward. We ate our faces off (did you see the chocobobs???) and oh, how much I love you Jaana. Thanks for coming! (And, I stole this picture from you. )

I also stole this one from Jen (also from Sunset Market), but I just love how Jakey makes little Van laugh so hard.

Last day. High tide.

Last light of our last day at the beach. Next stop: Disneyland!