Beach Birthday

Today, I am 31 years old.  The last year has flown by.  I am happy that I got to spend my birthday with family again this year, being that we're so far away.  We spent the day in La Jolla doing more touristy stuff.

We started with Sunny Jim's Cave at the Shell Shop.  I had been wanting to take the girls for a while, but hadn't made it yet, so this was a first.  It is the only cave on the West coast that is accessible by land.

Looking out from inside the cave - I just happened to snap this picture when a bird was flying by and it looks like a face with an eye and all!

From the Shell Shop, we headed into a dark, damp tunnel with lots and lots of stairs.  The kids liked going up and down the stairs - like an adventure - more than standing at the bottom looking out to the sea.

At the bottom, heading across a bridge to the middle of the cave.

My girls and I

Next, we walked along the coastline and climbed out onto some of the rocks.

Amanda and Sage on the beach with one of the sea lions right behind them.

Sage in a little tunnel (where we did Christmas pictures a couple years ago).

Then we walked down the the Children's Pool Beach to see the seals.  Its seal pup season, so there were a few pups on the beach with all the others.

Sage checking out the seals.

Dad and Mom at the end of the wall

Eliza and Audrey.  We walked to the end of the wall that forms the "Children's Pool" and protects the beach from the waves a bit.  Unfortunately, the waves were crashing into the wall, and Audrey ended up totally soaked from head to toe - and not happy!

Over on Shell Beach, we were able to do a little tidepooling and shell collecting.  Audrey didn't want to get close to the water at all, so she sat with my mom and just watched us.

Eliza heading down the beach.

Sage - so happy to have her feet in the sand yet again!

Sage, Eliza and Amanda looking for crabs, anemones and other sea life

one of the pretty anemones

Next, we went to eat lunch at the Gliderport near Torrey Pines.  Another first for all of us, it was such an awesome place.  I was pleasantly surprised by the delicious soups and sandwiches too!

the girls watching one of the hang gliders getting ready

There wasn't the right amount of wind for much hang-gliding activity, but we did see a few people give it a go.  One guy seemed to jump off the cliff and just drop straight down to the beach below.  Another guy took off, caught the wind and headed up the cliff, and back again.

We decided to head to Pacific Beach next which is just down the road.  The pier there is where we went fishing for Eliza's birthday.

Sage under the pier.

We sat and watched the sunset over the water.  It was cool to see lots of surfers out there riding the waves, and the sunset was beautiful.