Miss L and I abandoned the valley heat last weekend for a coastal “vacation” to Grandma & Grandpa L’s house. And while it was only a brief 36-hour getaway, it was such a pretty weekend that it felt like we hopped on a plane and truly escaped to a new locale.

On Sunday morning, we headed to Carmel River State beach, where Miss L had little initial interest in the river and just wanted to escape over to the big ocean.

Well.. until those big waves started crashing and making lots of noise.

Suddenly the calm mouth of the river seemed so much more inviting!

There was also ample sand time with a basket of beach toys…

..and some bird watching with Mommy as well. (ironic that she loved seagulls and pelicans here… but rarely cares about the hawks at home)

In all, she was quite enamored with her splashing and sand time on an amazingly beautiful (and rare) sunny summer day!

Of course, one can’t call it a beach vacation without swimming… so we headed back to the house for the solar-heated warmth of a swimming pool.

And that ocean doesn’t have Uncle Mark to swim with all afternoon long!

I’m pretty certain Miss L would love being on vacation every single day of the summer!