beach day

I'm not quite ready to give up my blog.  I've been struggling with posting.  I want to give this one last try by really simplifying things here.  I'm going to limit myself to posting only 1-3 photos per post.  That in itself is a big relief.  And I'm going to just post random stuff.  What appeals to me about continuing the blog is the journal aspect of it.  I love the memories and family photos.  My blog is the closest I have to a family album.  I hate to give up the documenting of all of that. 

We are on summer break now.  The first week we spent in Palm Springs--we had the funnest vacation--Ken and I and the two little boys.  I love a true "resort" type vacation.  Maybe I'll blog about it tomorrow (posting only 1-3 photos!  LOL).  Now were are back and settling into summer.  It's actually a harder transition than one might expect.  I thrive so well with structure and a schedule.  I love my ordinary day of commuting, working, coming home and making dinner, having pizza on Tuesdays.  I'm sort of at loose ends without that.  But yesterday was a better day and maybe I'm starting to hit my stride.  I took the boys to the beach in Carpinteria.  I kept the outing so simple and it turned out to be a great afternoon.  The boys were so good and barely fought and they even carried all our stuff down to the beach for me.  Dieter loves to jump in the waves and sit and think.  Rainer likes the waves too and he spent a long time working on a big sand castle complex.  I gathered rocks for him and placed them around the castle, which was awesome.  I love the sound of the waves so much and I love getting out of my head a little bit while being there. 

Also of note, I'm getting so so much better at driving the "mountain route" to Carpinteria, which is making me very happy.  I used to stick to the main highways, but I'm finding I love taking the mountain pass.  I like to take the curvy roads pretty conservatively, and yesterday I had plenty of practice with pulling over to let cars pass me. 

I'm thinking I want to take the boys to the beach twice a week in summer.  It's good for my soul.  We got a tiny bit sunburned yesterday (mostly me) so I'm vowing to be more careful re. sunscreen in the future.

I'm off to yoga right now--also a healthy summer thing.