And the second set of photos - with my little man running around, happy as can be! This visit to the beach was honestly the perfect way to end our trip to the coast. We lucked out on weather - the morning we left was drizzling rain. And we really enjoyed spending time as a family and with our friends. I was totally apprehensive about a trip so soon after school started. Summer wiped me out, but I'm super glad we went! And now I'm leaning into the schedule and rhythm the school year brings.

Look, the smoke cleared up for the most beautiful beach visit! The lighting was amazing and the surroundings were gorgeous. It was all kind of surreal. I took a bunch of photos so I'm splitting them up into before Enoch took his clothes off and after. There's just something about being water that makes my boy want to run around in the nude. Haha! We took our time exploring the beach and we found so many starfish. Magic.

There is not a sepia filter on all these photos - this is just how smokey this day was! We mostly acclimatized to the color of everything when we were outside, but then looking at these photos - we all look like maybe we got a bad spray tan? I think it appears more smokey than it was because I don't feel great when it's really smokey, but this was fine. Anyways, clearly it didn't stop us! Nothin quite like playing on this beach! When Simon and Maeve showed up with a fistful of feathers each, I tried hard to let them be kids and reassure myself that all the gross bugs and germs were surely still not alive. They wanted to bring all the feathers home with them (yuck!).

Just another gorgeous Sunset at Manzanita! The sand was so soft!

Our first full day, we went to Ecola State Beach, which actually had me remembering a beach we went to in Ecuador. You know what's crazy to me? I was an adult with 2 children when I first saw the Pacific Ocean. It was when we moved to California that I first saw the Pacific (life changing btw). But my kids? They have seen so much already! Holly and Greta have been to the Pacific Ocean up and down the coast and in Ecuador. It's just a different world for them.

We loved playing at this beach. There was a little stream running into the ocean which was perfect for little ones. The older kid crew were in and out of the water so much. And Maeve and Simon - gosh those two were so cute the whole weekend! They played together so well and so much!

Gosh, and the weather! So, so warm! Conor and I were convinced that we never enjoyed a day with weather this good in Northern California!