Day 22, Friday, May 9

• We went to Avila Beach (thanks for the suggestion, Shari!). It was awesome. Best things about Avila Beach: 2 playgrounds (NICE ones), great community (lots of moms with strollers walking around), bike trails, calmer waters (I think because of the way the beach faces, if you look at the map), the ocean isn't too far from the parking area (not too far to walk w/kids), free parking, plenty of dry warm sand, plenty of wet sand for castles, not too busy, warm but not too hot, nice area to wash off feet, public restrooms, outdoor sinks for washing hands, 2 great picnic areas (1 on beach w/bbq pits @ each table). I think I want to come back to this beach every year, it was SO awesome!!!
• Ruby was quite the snacker today--she ate all of her snacks I had packed (for the day) before we got to Avila Beach (a 15 min drive), after having breakfast + a bottle! Isaac helped give her snacks in the car (he sits by her).
• We had lunch at Splash Cafe at Pismo Beach (thanks for the suggestion, Celina!). We had the "World's Best Clam Chowder" in bread bowls, and the kids had hot dogs and curly fries. It was so yummy!!
• Pismo Beach was rough & windy today, so we didn't hang out there long--we went in a few of the shops though.
• We went to an RV supply place at Grover Beach. Karry asked if I thought we needed anything, and I said "a flat screen TV." :) The guys at the store said they didn't have any, but they could order one (Karry, was of course, being funny when he asked about it). :)
• I got to stop in a bead shop and then a bakery right next door that was SO incredibly cute. I picked up some yummy dessert for this evening.
• We tried to get everyone to take a nap. Isaac and Kaleb whispered and kicked each other, Ruby stayed wide awake and then crawled all over us and punched keyes on my computer. ;)
• We played on the dunes right by our camp site. I think if I were a Roger Hargreaves character, my name would be Miss Cautious. I was scared of the kids walking off the ridges of sand (10' or more drops...they saw them as big slides...I saw them as soft sand waiting to cave in on my little kids!). Kaleb said "it's ok Mommy, we'll just walk up this big hill and we'll be ok." :) The boys LOVED running around out there, and so did Karry. When we were coming back to our camp, some bigger boys ran out there ahead of their mom, and Kaleb said "it's pretty dangerous out there," but they didn't listen. ;)
• Tomorrow we head out to Big Sur. I've read that the roads around there are pretty crazy (a big cliff w/the ocean down below). I'm glad we're heading North & the ocean will be on our left!! Pray that I fall asleep while we drive or something!! :) Our trailer sways in the wind, and roads along the coast tend to have more wind--which makes it harder to control. The thought of narrow, curvy roads next to a cliff (with wind) scares me!
• We’ll be dry camping tomorrow night (no water except what’s in our tanks, no electricity unless we use the generator) and I’m guessing they don’t have any internet connections there! I'll write more whenever we're online again (we're at a state campground after that, for 4 nights--not sure about that one either).
• PS, pray for Ruby, it's almost midnight here and she's been coughing through the night. Poor girl! I'm worried about her!!

1 of the playgrounds at Avila
There was a pirate ship there. See the pretty condos in the background? I read on Wikipedia that an oil company leaked oil in Avila in 1994 & has had to pay 30 million to demolish and completely rebuild the contaminated town. They took out all of the old dirt and brought in fill dirt. There was a town like that in WA (contaminated waters & soil) I studied in college, and the women were having miscarriages there...I wonder about Avila? It is now a beautiful town. Had I not read that, I would have no clue!!

Noah in his play jeans at the playground. ;)
My lovely family! We did get the kids' meals @ the wild animal park the other day, the buckets looked like perfect sand buckets to me. The boys carried thier "collections" of sea shells in their buckets all day.
Ruby in the backpack, which stands up nicely if we take it off and set it down.

An area with little tide pools and rocks to climb on.

Oh, I also read that there's been 1 reported shark attack at Avila (since the 50's), and the woman was swimming way off shore w/a wet suit and flippers (50 feet or 50 yards) with the seals. The seals disappeared, there was a big bubble, and then her friend couldn't find her. Lifeguards found her later and she had fatal wounds, just like those from a white shark. That was 2004, and tourism declined a bit in Avila after that, but it's picked back up now. It's a fishing town (a whole pier devoted to boats unloading fresh fish), and a tourist town.

My family at Splash Cafe. Ruby was in her stroller down low, these stools & table were high up.

Me with my bread bowl.

Splash Cafe.

The dunes.

Our campground is behind us on the left.

The line to the right of Karry was like a 15 or 20 foot drop off. It was like something out of Aladdin where the sand gobbles up the cave of wonders. ;)

It was SO fun to walk barefoot through the sand though. This is Kaleb's footprint & my footprint together.

Oh yeah, and the boys got to ride bikes tonight while I cooked dinner. Kaleb's $35 Walmart bike randomly broke and Karry had to put it back together. Well, it's working again--that's all that matters, right? :)