What I Did During My Summer Vacation: Part 2

After church on Sunday, we parted ways with the Clayton and Haley's family and headed to lovely San Juan Capistrano to visit with John Stephen.  John lives right on the edge of Dana Point, a relatively quiet beach town (at least during the first week of June).  And the beach is just what we did to start this portion of our visit.  Before heading to work, John took us to the Dana Point Harbor's Kiddie Beach so we could try our legs at paddle boarding.

 

That's me - I did it, didn't fall, and loved it!

 

We continued by walking around the harbor and heading to the actual harbor front.  The kids were stunned - there were WAVES!  It was ROUGH!  They had fun chasing and screaming (why?) at the receding waves, and running away as they crashed back on shore.  It was lovely listening to the sounds of the ocean, looking for shells,  and watching the pelicans fly by.  

After seeing the waves, the kids had no interest in returning to the safety of Baby Beach.  While John had to go to work, he showed us how to get to Strands Beach and we spent the rest of the afternoon there.  The kids were in heaven, but so were Beth and I lounging in the sun.  

Strands is a huge beach with a huge free parking lot, but it isn't as well known by tourists.  While school in California hadn't ended yet, we were surprised how few people were at the beach on this perfect day.  To get to the beach, one must actually hike down a lot of steps and in between a few huge beachfront homes, but once there, this clean, soft beach is so worth the hike (even the hike back up the stairs!).

Mikey couldn't be persuaded away from the water and waves.  

This girls is more of a daredevil than one might expect.  I had a lot of fun swinging this girl into the oncoming waves.  I think she liked it too.  

After this beautiful day and the days that followed, Dana Point is my new favorite spot for a California beach vacation.  I had never been to this area before, but am so glad that I know of its existence.  I would highly recommend this are for a beach getaway.