Love, Learn, Play: California Remix- Day 13

With Jon only having a one day weekend, we decided to take a longer trip and really enjoy the day. After our pancake breakfast (which had to be Pancake Sunday instead of Pancake Saturday this week, much to the boys' dismay), we put on our bathing suits and headed out to Malibu for a day at the beach. We decided on El Matador- it is so incredible gorgeous! We got to the beach before it got too crowded and got a great spot in the sand. The boys could play in the sand for hours on end and that is exactly what they did. Jon actually went for a swim. For some reason it seems like more people actually swim in the ocean this summer than when we were here two years ago- literally no one swam without a wetsuit! But the water was actually pretty nice! After the tide starting going back out we were able to move to a spot further down the beach where we got a spot in a little cave. It was great for getting out of the sun for a little bit and it was right by some tide pools so Jon and I got to explore a bit while the boys continued to do who knows what in the sand! Both of the boys ventured out to the tide pools and touched a sea anemone- and Jon caught a giant crab of course. By about 3:30 after nearly four hours at the beach we decided to call it a day. We drove the PCH to Topanga Canyon and took that over into Sherman Oaks. Jon and I are quite curious about the little hippy community on Topanga Canyon- some day we'll have to check it out! We stopped at our trusty old Poquito Mas that is across the street from our old condo in Sherman Oaks. They give the kids little balls of tortilla dough as play-doh and the boys totally dig it! We took the boys to Menchies for a little treat after. The boys enjoyed it, but Jon and I decided not to get anything- when you go for so long without eating artificial food dyes and flavors, anything with artificial flavors just tastes awful. We let the boys get a tiny bit of coconut frozen yogurt but none of it tasted remotely good to Jon and I. I can't complain though, I guess its a good thing that we can't tolerate that stuff anymore. After baths and showers at home, we ran out to the market to shop for the week. There is this incredible market right near us called Sprouts Farmers Market- Jon has been twice already but the boys and I went for the first time tonight. It is like a cross between a fresh farmer's market, a Whole Foods, and Bulk Foods- tons of natural and organic stuff and great produce that is remarkably well priced. You can also buy spices and nuts and all sorts of stuff in bulk which is awesome for us especially here when we only need little bits of things. I'm praying they open a store in Michigan sometime soon because I totally love the place!

Matthew