We will be moving to the Ventura, California area in December. Ben will be stationed at Point Mugu, which is about 45 minutes north of LA and south of Santa Barbara. We are looking forward to making a trip up there in the next couple of months to get a lay of the land and already dreaming of the beach life. Talks of living in California came up quite a bit on our weekend trip to Carlsbad.
Eli and his entourage ready to hit the road Saturday morning:
Ben was running in the Carlsbad 5000 (America's fastest 5k) on Sunday, so our first stop was to pick up his race packet and we got bagels for lunch at a local bakery. I don't think our kids have ever had bagels like that...it's so sad that they are growing up without an Einstein's bagel.
Next stop, was car shopping!!! We are researching our next family vehicle and needed to see a few options in California that Yuma doesn't have. I think we may have a winner! This momma is SUPER excited, but Alison is feeling very sentimental about our trusty old minivan that she's basically grown up in. We may have lived in a lot of houses in her life, but we've always had that van. And let's be honest, they just don't make seats as comfy as this van anymore.
We *had* to stop by REI afterwards, tried Pure Burger for dinner and then headed to the beach to watch the sunset. It was cold, but the kids didn't care for a second.
Ben and I were freezing, like teeth chattering freezing.
How are kids immune to cold?
My favorite:
Sweatpants, long sleeves, bare feet and building sandcastles.
Sunday morning, we all went down to the race, bright and early. This was a BIG race, so we had to park pretty far away from all the action. We had scouted out a park, parked there and I let the kids play a bit while Ben warmed up and headed to the start line. This zip line was their favorite. We saw a lot of runners heading to the race while we played and Alison said, "Mom, you're going to love California because you won't feel left out anymore...everyone runs here!" (i.e. we never see any one run in AZ. We barely see anyone outside, period.). So yes, I am looking forward to being around fellow runners more and I do love that active community feel.
Waiting for daddy to run the race:
This was the most dramatic race I've ever seen. A train track ran through the course and runners crossed it twice. Racers were told that no trains were scheduled for that morning, but if one did come through, they would obviously have to stop and wait. So, there was forewarning and communication about the possibility and safety precautions taken. There were also races going all morning as they were broken up by age groups and elites. Ben's race starts and there's one person leading the race, with a pack of about 6 runners a little behind him. The final stretch of the race was a slight downhill, turning from the road that followed the ocean. The first runner turned the corner to come down the hill, everyone started cheering and the announcer was going crazy...and then the train rails start lowering and the whole crowd started saying, "NOOOO!!!". Two police officers had to stop the runner from attempting to sprint in front of the train and I am so glad they did. A train went full speed through the course and it was not slowing down for a millisecond! By the time the rails raised up, the pack following the leader had caught up to him and they were all standing there waiting. You could tell everyone was very gracious and still let the leader sprint to the finish and be the winner, but it definitely ruined a good race for at least 10 people. Thankfully, Ben was not affected by the train and finished 66th overall!!! Look at the time on the clock!
It was an amazing race and so fun to be a part of a lively crowd, who were equally as excited as I was. The kids would still say I cheer too loud, but it wasn't as embarrassing this time.
2 free beers for the runners. They had to stay in this gated area to drink, so Ben looked like a toddler in a playpen, waiting to get out.
The kids climbed a tree while they waited.
When we got back to the car, the kids wanted just a few more minutes at the park.
After lunch and checking out of our hotel, we were back on the beach. I was not planning on the kids playing in the sand like they did, so it was a messy day. Lesson learned; always plan for playing in the sand. I rolled up the boys' pants, but it didn't matter. They got completely soaked and then covered in sand.
You can see Eli sprinting through the water in the background:
While sitting there, watching our kids play, Ben asked me if I will be able to handle 3 years of this. My answer is a big, fat, YES. Three years of perfect weather every day, ocean air and kids jumping in waves. I think we will be doing a lot of sea life studies in school, because I am going to be spending a lot of days by the ocean.
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