78 Degrees in November: A Day at the Beach

Oh how it is nice to be back in our own bed! That said, I have more pictures from our California adventures tonight. One of our days there it hit 78 degrees on the beach, which blew the mind of this New England girl. While my family in New Hampshire was snowed in, without power, over Thanskgiving weekend (which sounds magical to me),  we were applying sunscreen and lounging on the sand (which was its own kind of magic).

Just a bit from our day at Natural Bridges beach in Santa Cruz: 
^the one thing all the homes along the beach do right is windows ….so many glorious windows 
^Ben soaking up some rays 

^I had fun sitting in my chair and snapping pictures…turns out it is really difficult to lay on the beach when you’re 33 weeks pregnant. No lying on your back, no lying on your stomach…so sitting in a chair it was 🙂 
^the birds just hanging out at the top of the rock 
^and yes, I did take a series of pictures of Ben sleeping on the beach (I’ll just share this one close-up though) 
^one family made the mistake of leaving all of their things unattended on the other side of the beach – despite attempts from neighbors to scatter the birds, they managed to get into a few snacks (and this trip reminded me why I generally dislike those animals…Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds anyone?)

^deciding weather or not to take a dip (and by a dip I mean an icy plunge…because even if the beach was warm…the water was most definitely not)
^I’m not sure I will ever get over the beauty of the ocean

^glittering beaches
^one of my favorite shots of Ben from the trip 
^timid steps into the water 
^a 33 week baby bump 
^this was the one day I wished I had a maternity swim suit — this guy will have to wait for his first dip in the ocean after he’s born 😉

^Ben and his dad braved the cold water and went for a full on swim (I stopped when the water got to my knees…by which time my toes were numb). 
^we also took a walk right behind the beach where we could see hundreds (thousands?) of monarch butterflies!
^a little bump silhouette before we left the beach (and grabbed some dinner + ice cream)