Leap Day Adventures

For Leap Day, I decided to surprise the girls with an adventure.  Since it is Wednesday, Eliza only had a half day at school, so she was done at 11:30.  We came home and ate lunch, I packed up lots of extra clothes, hats, gloves, and warm coats, and we hit the road.  The girls had no idea where we were going, and apparently had paid no attention to anything I'd been packing.  When I asked them if they had any guesses, Audrey said "Disneyland!"  I laughed and let her down gently.  Eliza's only guess was, "that place we went hiking..."  I have no idea which place she was referring to.

So we drove east and the excitement built as we sang along to some of their favorite CD's.  Audrey was the first to point out snow on the side of the road, and Eliza asked if we were going somewhere with snow.  When I said yes, she was sooo excited!

Just before Winter Break, Eliza was pretty upset to find out it wouldn't be snowing at our house.  We told her it snows in the mountains, and there are some we could drive to, so she was happy with that.  Unfortunately, we didn't make it out there during the "winter."  So after some really heavy rain and even some hail here on Monday, I knew there would be snow in the mountains.  I wanted to do something for Leap Day, and this worked out perfectly.

We pulled over where there were lots of other families at Mt. Laguna and put on our snow gear.  Even Audrey, who didn't care for the snow last winter in Ohio, was off and running up the hill happily.  Eliza wasted no time making a snowball, and throwing it right at Audrey's head/shoulder.

Audrey all bundled up and smiling.

Eliza

Audrey tasting snow for the first time

Both of them were super happy when I told them they could give the snow a little taste - such a big part of being a kid in the snow!

Eliza and I both made snow angels.

Audrey threw little snowballs at me while I was making my angel.

Then we all made a little snowman.  Audrey put the pine cone nose on and Eliza did the arms.

We stayed just under an hour, then we decided to finally do something I've talked about doing since we moved here - go to the mountains and the beach in the same day!

We made it to Mission Beach in about an hour, and hopped out to find a nearly empty stretch of beautiful beach.

The girls enjoyed a quick snack, and laughed at all the seagulls that came to claim any sandy leftovers.

Audrey

Eliza

We walked up and down the beach, gathering shells and rocks.  Each of us found our own whole sand dollar too!  It was the first one for both of the girls, though Eliza has found lots of halves and pieces of them before.

Audrey's footprints

What an awesome adventure!  The girls were both happy and worn out - who could ask for anything more.  Eliza told me when I tucked her in, that it was the best adventure she'd ever been on.