From the Ocean to the Moon

Today, we woke up with no plan at all.  I figured we'd just stay home and have a lazy day, but Eliza wanted to "make a plan."  She said, "I know Mommy, my plan is to go play at a playground."  So we got dressed and ready to go explore a new playground on Shelter Island.  I had been wanting to take the girls to check out some of the local piers, so this one with the playground was perfect for today.

The walkway along the bay was beautiful!  It was speckled with benches that were placed under arbors for shade.  There were statues, and other works of art to check out too.

We started on the pier, looking for fish and other sea life.  We saw lots of seagulls, and pelicans, a great blue heron, and even a sea lion.  The view of downtown San Diego was gorgeous too.

Eliza being a good model for Mommy.

Audrey jumping excitedly on the pier.

After we walked out on the pier and back, we followed the walkway past the playground to watch the boats and explore more of the park.  We stopped along the way to watch the terns (birds) fly high above the water, then dive down into the water for a fish, or perhaps a drink.

This huge fishing statue held the girls attention for a minute.

They loved the Japanese Friendship bell.

Checking out the anchor.

The "Pearl of the Pacific" was by far their favorite.  They loved it when I told them they could touch it, and get their hands wet.  It was a beautiful mosaic work of art.

We headed back to the playground to finally let them play.  They had so much fun!  They made some new friends, and were pretending to be pirates and mermaids.  Audrey was a sea monster for a while too - she loves to chase people and roar!  

Audrey was also Captain Hook - but a nice one.  She loves to turn the wheel at the playground, and what could be better than captaining a ship while looking right out on the water!

We watched two large ships come in from sea and pass right by us - Audrey did a great job steering us out of the ships path.  The moon was in view as well, so Eliza decided that we should take our magical ship to the moon.  We disembarked - after putting on our space suits of course - and went to explore some more.

We walked past the pier to see what was in the other direction.  We left the moon, and traveled to Mars, Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.

Eliza sprayed us with special stuff to keep us from floating away, but on Mars we had to hop everywhere.  Aren't imaginations the best?  Audrey probably had no idea what Eliza was talking about, but loved every minute of skipping her nap to hop around by the sea.

What visit to the ocean would be complete without bare feet on sand?  Eliza was off and running as soon as her shoes were off.  She went straight to the edge of the water and waited for Audrey and I to catch up.

Then she was in the cool, clear water, and happy as could be.  She proclaimed the rings of Saturn to be the best part of our space adventure!

Of course, she got soaked up to her hips and I didn't have extra clothes or even a towel... but the sun was shining and she just stripped down before getting into her carseat.

Loving the sand.
Audrey was pretty close to the water since the dry sand was hot on our feet.  She had to stand on the wet sand, but stayed as far back as she could.  I did talk her in to walking a little closer so the tiny waves could lap up onto her feet for a few minutes.  I was holding on to her tightly so she knew I was there, and she said she liked it.  Later she told me, "I had fun in the water Mommy."  There's still hope!

We walked up and down the small stretch of beach, then headed back to the car to brush the sand off and head home.