Simply the Stotts: September 2010

I took this pic the day we left.

I love it. This is a pic of Oceanside. We love it here. A tradition strong for 13 years. We have done San Juan Capistrano and other beach houses, but we finally have settled on North Shore Condo. They are perfect. They are nestled on the beach, a few hundred feet from those glorious waves. The beach is far and wide, plenty of sand and surf for the kids to play in. It is heaven! Palm trees, waves, sand, and cousin love.

Every year we all go the week after Labor Day.

It's a perfect because the beach's are empty, the weather is low 80's/high 70's, Disney has no lines....it's a week (Saturday to Saturday) of pure bliss! It has become a tradition that is so important to our kids, to us, to all the Brown fam. We can't wait till Sept rolls around because we know it is time. Summer is never over until the Beach house.

Let me begin.

Top 25 loves of the beach house. (this year )

1.SK donuts-

Every morning a fresh dozen of the most heavenly donuts. We eat them all day, every day... (the owners triple their batch when the Brown's are in town :)

2. The beach.

Waves, sun, and sand. enough said.

Jake wrote his name in the sand :)

3. Seeing the cousins for the first time. Mace ran into his second parents arms..Am and Ty. My kids were so happy to see their cousins again! It was joyous!

4. Hanging with the family from 9:00- 6:00. Beach time. Literally our trip is spent on the hot beach. We all wake up and run/fish/get donuts and then we are OUT to the waves...

5. Misty's Birthday dinner at the Harbor...Francesco's. We love this Italian restaurant. It is right on the Harbor and we have the view of the ocean..We sit outdoor and enjoy the night air. No kids this time...it was so great to catch up on every one's life!

6. The cousin love-

Seriously the best. I have the greatest fam...we left them 3 months ago and what an adjustment. It makes these reunions only sweeter for my kids. We are so blessed to have such a great extended family...Aus's cousins are like brothers to him..Jake and Lexi, well they would get married if they weren't related :)

And they did their own pose for this pic!!

Doesn't it look like an engagement pic?? :) so cute..click on it!

7. Waking up and running.

I couldn't wait to wake up and run...I look forward to this all year. Just me, the ocean, my ipod and good sea air...My lungs would run forever. I would usually do 8 to 10 miles a day. On Thurs, I ran 12.5. It was a glorious. I just love to run. It fills me up. I run along the sidewalk right by the waves..you can see it in the pic! Ash and Landri on the pole!

8. Watching Austin surf the waves...

He stayed in the first day for 4 hours. He wouldn't get out. The beach is part of my kids, they consider it their second home. I have pics of the twins at one years old, crawling around in the sand. They were raised beach babies. Far from their Utah, snow, mountains life...the beach is part of them. The first day he got sunburned because he didn't come in! But he was a happy boy out in those waves.

9. Mace hanging with his cousins!

Mace was back in his element. He has been a little shy in Colorado. The second he saw his cousins, the old Mace emerged...playing his heart out. He was so comfortable with his cousin buddies.(the 6-pack!) It made RY and I a little sad! Their favorite game was cops. They would arrest each other and go to "beach jail" under the lifeguards stand...love those boys.

10. My parents!

Their first year here. They had to come see what the fuss was all about. It was funny. My mom said by the third day, "so is this all you really do??? the beach all day, every day...no tours, museums, hikes..etc?! It was funny. Yup! that is all we do :) But we do just hang on the beach and every night, we go to dinner or build bonfires or late swim. We do Disney or Sea World, but we don't venture out much from the beach or each other. I looooved having my parents here! (and yes, they left to san diego for tours, museums, zoo..etc)

11. Walking out to the pier to Ruby's with Amber and Ty, Mom, and Kristin and kids...we love this. Tradition every year. It is the cutest 50's joint. We eat shakes and fries..the kids enjoy running around the pier and watching the waves crash down. Ruby's is at the end of the pier you see in the pic...Austin and Quinn..walking together.

Another perspective of the pier. I took that at the top of Ocean Drive.

Of course, the famous family pic at the end of the pier! You know what's funny, Mason is ALWAYS asleep in the pics!! He is so worn out by the end of the day!!!

12. El Torito with Brandon and Lindsey.

My sis's sis in law has become our family too. We have gone every year together. She has 3 girls and Ashlyn loves to hang with them. Ry and I love hanging with Brandon and Lindsay..they are great!

13. The Sweet Candy Shop.

Tradition every year too! Ice cream and candy. A short walk from the beach to the harbor and the kids are in heaven. We went for ice cream 3 times. The kids love getting their dollars out and buying candy.

14. The Street Fair.

Every year on Thursday morning, Oceanside has a Farmer's Market/Street Fair. My kids save all year for this. From homemade bracelets to bug necklaces, hot crepes and kettle corn...we buy it all. The fresh fruit is divine...peaches and nectarines this year! We see all the fam up there. We all let hte kids run around looking at all the booths. They get so excited over the littlest things..it's cute.

15. Bonfire for Brayden's Birthday.

My nephew turned 16 this year. Misty and Bri put together a bonfire on Wednesday night. It is so fun to be at the beach at night. You can hear the loud waves crashing down. The kids love the night air and run back and forth from the fire to the ocean. They played and played under the full moon and firelight...it was a great night.

16. Hot chocolate with Troy and Kristin

& families! Again another cute tradition. At the end of the Harbor is a small cafe. We walked with the kids after dinner to get hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls....divine! My kids LOVE Troy and Kristin's kids...Gracie, Carson, Chloe, and Sawyer. We miss those guys!

17. Beach walk

Every year we walk with Mace and the other kids to collect sand dollars. This year, not many dollars! But we had fun walking up and down the beach sand....(we ran into our friends the McNiells who go every year too...!)

18. Chatting with my girls.

I have missed my sister love!!! I got to talk to Misty, Kristin, Brooke, Amber, Ali and Lindsay every single day, all day. We caught up on everything, we chatted the days away. We could never stop. They are my girls! I am so lucky to have them...

19. Hanging with RY..at the beach and in the evening.... Our beach house overlooks the beautiful pool and hot tub. WE love to lower our lights and look out to the pool. The palm trees, flowers and glow of the pool is calming...we love our house.

20. Sunsets.

Nothing more beautiful. The sun goes red and sinks down into the ocean horizon. I don't know why, but the sun looks 10 times bigger as it sinks down. It is so beautiful. WE got to see the sunset almost EVERY night!
Ry watching all the boys surf (start of sunset!!)...Matt, Bray, Brian, Tyler, Aus, Coley, and Quinn

21. Laguna Beach.

Every year on the last day, (Sat). Ry and I head to Laguna Beach.

WE have a favorite pizza shop we hit and then we hang at the beach . This year I was told to go to Las Brisa's for their guacamole! Oh diiiiivine. They were a fancy sit down restaurant with the most amazing views of the ocean...(omg!) they didn't do take out, but the server did it just for me! WE took our guac and Gina's pizza and went to Heisler park and looked out to the ocean. Just the Stott family...it was a great day.

22. Anita's Mexican.

The first night we all arrived..we went to Anita's for mexican. Let me just say, it is crazy when we are all there...we get lots of looks like,"are those all your kids!?" It is not that fancy, but we all enjoy their food! It's a fun night. The best plate:carne asada!

23. Fishing.

The boys go fishing in the morning and at night. They also venture off to the pier and fish off the high planks. We were so sad this year, we couldn't bring our poles..(we flew!)But Aus would go out and watch Matt and Cole fish all morning...they love it. They catch sand sharks, sting rays, starfish...wow!

24. Speaking of..sting rays!

Poor Troy got stung right in between the toes. Low tide, in the evening. We know to steer clear of the waves at 5:00 p.m. but the waves were to tempting...Austin and Troy were out boogie boarding and he got stung! He said it was the most painful experience. It felt like his toe got cut off! Austin helped Troy walk back into the surf.

25. Cindee!

Ry's sis lives in Venice, so we flew into LAX so that we could spend a few hours with her. She lives a street a way from the beach itself...let me just say, Venince Beach is interesting! The boardwalk..a bit crazy. I think my kids were shocked left and right :) It was great to see Cindee!

26.Willis fam... Mary!

I got to see my cute friend Mary and her family! It was great. They were off to Disney and the Beach all week...we were able to hang with them Friday afternoon/evening.