We're. On. Vacation.

Every year we look forward to our week down in the beach town of Del Mar, California. It's about an hour south of where we live.

What a difference that hour south makes.

We've been coming here to this same beach house in Del Mar for the past 4 years and it always manages to feel both fresh and familiar. Unpacking and cooking is easy. I know my way around this kitchen just like I know my own.

Part of vacationing for me is attempting to un-plug from social media. This is HARD. (I said, attempting, okay? I know my limits.)  So, I do it in baby-steps. I start by limiting my reading-what-everyone-else-is-doing-right-this-minute on Facebook.

And I only post photos on Instagram. Also, because I work on Project Life all year, sharing on Instagram helps me remember and organize where we were and what we were up to on certain days, but that's not important right now.

Vacation. (On Instagram.)

The first thing we do when we get here is... drop everything. ("You can unpack later!") We head down to the beach immediately (It's exactly 238 steps from our front door) to get sand in our toes and feel the breeze in our hair.

Some days we make a big, fat, bacon-and-eggs-with-all-the-trimmings breakfast. Other days, there's cereal-that-reminds-them-of-childhood and coffee. Either way, it's all good. We're on vacation.

Our first day here, the kids asked,  "Can we just order a pizza from the beach for lunch?"

Answer: "Of course. We're on vacation."

Eric unwinds best when he surfs, so the first thing he did was wax down his board. There's something to be said for a happy husband. He's obviously on vacation.

We're usually here on the week that we celebrate our wedding anniversary and Lucy's birthday. Our tradition has been to go to Little Italy in San Diego to our favorite Italian restaurant called Filippi's Pizza Grotto.

Lucy was in LA for the summer, so we bumped our vacation to this week. But that's not stopping us from celebrating. It just means our celebration has been postponed.

Little Italy is all kinds of charming. You have to wait in line inside the Italian market to get to the restaurant in the back.

Our theme for the dinner was "Red Food." (I cracked my self up right there. Can you tell I'm already relaxing?)

Eric decided to surprise us and took us to the epic Mr. A's for dessert. It was a beautiful and clear night, with the lights of downtown San Diego just below us. Quite magical.

And that was just our first day.

Most days we sit around unwinding in our own distinct ways. We spend most of them on the beach for at least part of the day. We will have friends come down and visit sometime during the week. We play lots of games and take long walks on the beach. And we build sandcastles.

Also, we are definitely getting to the Del Mar Racetrack because that's one of the things on my Summer Manifesto. Of course.

The only rule is that there are no rules. This is our one week when we've given ourselves permission to do everything or nothing. This is our week to be very deliberate in re-charging, collectively and independently.

We're. On. Vacation.

I share my day-to-day vacation silliness on Instagram. If you're on there, you should follow me. I'm Smrtqbn.

I have to go now. The sun just broke through the clouds and my beach chair is calling...

I'm. On. Vacation. (via Instagram)

Every year, just like my parents used to in Cuba B.C.* (*before Castro), we enjoy spending a beautifully relaxing time at the beach. In this case, we're in Del Mar, California and the weather is perfect.

If you follow me on Instagram, you would already have this information, but that's not important right now.

Here's the documentation of the beginning of our vacation week (with captions), via Instagram.

This is where you'll find me all week.

Right now.

They're both good at boogieing, but she excels at frolicking.

My husband participates in vacation sports.

I'm. On. Vacation.

As you can see, we're working really hard at this whole vacation/relaxation thing. I think I've done really well with the documentation part of it, too.

If you want to enjoy some more of my personal vacation "relajo," please feel free to follow along on Instagram. I'm Smrtqbn. Coming to you live from my beach chair in Del Mar, California. ;-)

Seeing worlds in a grain of sand...

As you know, my childhood summers always involved the beach somehow. From the perfection that is Varadero to the surf in Santa Monica, every summer that I can recall was spent at the beach.

Of the many happy beach memories I have, however, one trumps them all.

I still remember the magical moment when my dad filled my plastic bucket with the perfect ratio of wet-to-dry sand, turned it upside down, tapped it a few times with his palm and then pulled it up.

Voilá! A Sand Castle! Ay Dios mio!! Pure magic!! (<--The double exclamation points are used to convey my excitement and on-going fascination with the still-to-this-day amazing process.)

When I had kids of my own, I couldn't wait to show them this same bit of beach magic. I remember watching their faces intently and sharing their excitement as they quickly grabbed the bucket to make this magic happen for themselves.

Fast forward to last week while we were on vacation....

While waiting for the surf to be up and being thwarted from playing beach games by the strategically placed flags on the beach, (see this post for clarification) we had to find another method of amusing ourselves.

Sand castles have come a long way since my childhood. It has now evolved into an art called Sand Sculpturing.

It turns out that the sand in Del Mar was Designed by God Himself for the express purpose of making exquisite Sand Creations.

So the boys started by creating a basic pyramid shape. This involved a lot of digging to get the right amount of sand to build up that pyramid-y base. Plus it took hours of concentration and work. (The really good kind of fun-work that happens when you're super focused on a task.)

 

Then while Eric cut away layers on the original pyramid, Jonathan created a little Egyptian village with its very own obelisk and Sphinx. (No, really...it gets way nerdier than this, I promise.)

 

Encouraged by the positive feedback (and personal pride) from their first attempt at sand sculpture, the next day, they went on to dig a wider perimeter and created a Sphinx.

 

Jon added detail to the face. (Yes, he first added a nose and then broke it off, but that's not important right now.)

Inspired by their sculpting success and the ease of sand manipulation, they ventured off to try other creations.

 

Reminiscent of Eric's first car. Pretty sweet ride, right?

 

Sometimes the creating just devolved into sand-stacking fun.

Finally, emboldened by his ability to make the sand bow to his will, Jonathan pulled out all the stops and went for creating The Great Pit of Carkoon*.

[*Explanatory note from Wookieepedia - The Star Wars Wiki: The Great Pit of Carkoon was located within the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine. The large depression in the sand was the home of the rapacious, if slow-eating, sarlacc of Tatooine. Its proximity to Jabba's Palace, paired with the torturous death provided by the sarlacc, made it an ideal spot for executions to be carried out for Jabba the Hutt's pleasure. It would be the place of the Skirmish at Carkoon, and the subsequent death of Jabba.] <--But all you uber-geeks like us already knew that. =D

 

What was I doing? Mostly just sitting there shouting directions:

"This side needs to be built up more."

"Add some more suction cups."

"That tentacle needs more detail."

It took a while for them to realize that I was just sitting there "dirijiendo." Basically, I sat in my chair, under my umbrella and flag (!) telling them what to do (like the good, bossy Cuban mother that I am), while they were sweating and sculpting in the hot sun. (The Pharaoh to Israelite correlation was not lost on me, but that's not important right now.)

They never uttered a word of protest, but by the end of the day, Jonathan managed to convey his true feelings...

 

=D

She's a Grand Old Flag

So, we're on our Beach Vacation. That's code for Marta-is-doing-nothing-but-eating-and-sitting-in-the-sun-thankyouverymuch. ;-)

Our home away from home is exactly 238 steps from the sand and we've been enjoying every minute of sunshine and surf and major do-nothingness.

 

But the beach here at Del Mar is a bit quirky.

First of all, there are flags with codes to let you know where it's safe to swim and to surf and where you are allowed to play.

Here's the all-important key to the Del Mar Flag Facts:

 

Here's the Red-No-Swimming-But-You-May-Play-Beach-Games Flag next to the Yellow-With-Black-Dot-No-Surfing-and-No-Beach-Games Flag:

And here's a sample of the Surfing/Guarded-Navy-Beach Street Flag:

This one was not listed on the sign, but it's the famous The-Darbys-Are-On-The-Beach Flag.

 

Yes, we do have waaaay too much time on our hands. But isn't that what vacation is all about? =D