R&R and #18 Accomplished!

Well I am sad to say that our vacation week has to come to an end. We had such a relaxing time in our little rented beach house (#18 on the 101 list, check!) and simply could not get enough of the perfect weather there in Manhattan Beach. I thought that I would blog during our stay, but I found after arriving, I just didn't feel like cracking open the laptop. We slept, we read, we drank wine (lots of wine), we beached, we saw dear friends, and Jordan made a whole bunch of new buddies. And we stayed outside in the cool beach breeze as much as possible.

I've lived in southern CA and have been to the Manhattan Beach area cities a dozen or so times, but I have never rented a beach house for a full week, so this was great. I highly recommend doing this if you need a little getaway.

Here was our happy little home for the week on the most idyllic walk street.



This was one morning before the haze and clouds burned off. It was during this time that I loved to walk the short walk into town to get my Peet's Coffee. We literally walked everywhere or rode bikes.



Our short walk to the beach.


It is such a great place to vacation with kids, because Jordan could play in the no-cars-allowed street with all the kids all week. She made lots of new friends and cried when we had to leave because she insisted this was her new home.

Somehow I understood.




This is my dear friend Shauna, pregnant with her first child, due in early December. We met in Redlands, CA in the fourth grade, hit it off quickly after we discovered we had the same backback and the same crush on a certain boy that wore a pink Izod shirt (as well as a million other things in common) and have been friends ever since. Our family was transferred away a few years later, but we stayed in touch over the years, visited each other often and have been there to watch each other grow up.



Beach time! Chris taught Jordan how to fly a kite.


The view from Hermosa Beach Pier up to Manhattan Beach.



Me and Jordan on the pier.



A little family self potrait with the point and shoot.


The Manhattan Beach pier at Sunset.



We took a little drive down the coast through Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes.
The lighthouse park was closed since its owned by the Coast Guard and is only open on the second Saturday of the month.





Our last evening there before a great dinner at Rockin Fish.
The blackened Halibut was muy bueno.


A little direct sun shot.


Dad and Jordan under the pier. She hated the waves in CA! I think because they are bigger than the ones off the Gulf of Mexico in Florida where she loved the water.

Shauna's husband Steve and Chris golfed at the Trump National golf course in Palos Verdes one afternoon so we girls just beached it and then shopped and tooled around town.

Later in the week I ventured over to the Canon facility in Irvine. Fear not, I'm not that much of a photo geek that I wanted a tour, I just needed to get my sensor cleaned and since they do it for free there, I thought I may as well make the trek over. For all you Canon shooters, they turned it around in about 2 hours and it's good as new again. Good stuff!

I also had two (well basically 3) great beach photo shoots while there and I will post some pictures from those soon. We all got very wet and sandy and it was fun fun!

Bye 4th Street. We had a great time!

P.S. We never made it to Disneyland. We decided to wait another year or two so she can really appreciate it and actually go on many of the rides. I guess the kid in me will have to wait a little longer as well.