Sandcastles

I've always wanted to go see the sandcastle competition down in Imperial Beach, so having the family here was a good excuse to head down there. We loaded everyone into the van at the crack of dawn and drove WAY DOWN to Imperial Beach to see the 22nd US Open Sandcastle Competition.

Here's the girls in the back seat... aren't they cute?

There were lots of people there... and it involved lots of walking. We picked a great day to go, though. The morning was overcast (and cool) and then it cleared into a beautiful afternoon.

Here's some of the sandcastles that I liked the best. (To see the winners, check out the Official Sandcastle Competition pages).

Here's me & Jess looking cute :-)... and mom and Uncle Ronnie taking a break with Lizzy.

Birthday Celebration

A couple of days before everyone left, we held a birthday party for Susan & Lizzy. They turned 17 on July 31st. Of course we started with large quantities of food. We barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs. George helped man the grill... and everyone helped consume the food!

Jesse gives us "the look" -- as only she can do!

Once the food was done, we got down to the real festivities. Cake & presents!

No, no, no... eat the cake... not the candles!

Once we got that figured out, everyone enjoyed dessert....

...and then the girls opened their loot.

Even mom gets a present...

And a good time is had by all!

Hotel Del and Seaport Village

I stole the girls away for a day with me. We started at Seaport Village for a shopping expedition, but after a very long, slow pass through the parking lot (which yielded no parking spaces) we decided to just drive around aimlessly for a while and see where we ended up. We headed over the Coronado bridge, and a few minutes later were parking at Hotel Del Coronado.

We toured a few shops, stared at the ocean for a while, snapped a few pictures... and then loaded back in the car for another pass at Seaport Village on a souvenir quest.

This time we had parking -- and shopping -- success at Seaport Village. Lizzy found the California keychain she was looking for, Jesse found a California pin for a friend back home, and Susan and Lizzy found a cool surfboard keychain for their pastor (I think that's who it was for... girls???).

After strolling through most of the shops, we of course had to take a break for ice cream and pictures.

Departure

And before we knew it, the month was over and we loaded everyone back into Tom's van and my car and headed back to the airport. Partly because of security concerns... and partly to avoid big tearful good-byes... Tom and I pretty much dumped everyone at the curb and left! Alas, no good pictures as it was all a bit stressful!

Tom and I headed back up to north county... and stopped at Dalton's for one last meal together before he headed home. Hopefully, we won't wait until Pati's next visit (in October for Rachael's wedding) before we get back together again!