Long Beach - Birthday Week - Part 2

I already shared the Day in the Life post explaining that for my birthday, we spent a week at the beach in a house that belonged to a friend of OJ's. Bill, Elyse and I were there for half of the time, then Bill left and the girls came. I never got around to sharing the rest of the photos or telling the rest of the story.

It has been a crazy few weeks and I literally haven't had a moment to catch up. Here we go - a month later!

First, this was a proud moment. Elyse requested a unicorn pancake. If you can't see it - you are not my friend (smile).

The day Bill left there was just about an hour break where Elyse and I were on our own. I took her to the park to play while we waited for OJ.

That night, Anna and OJ arrived and our friend, Sandi, drove into town and met us for dinner at The Pickled Fish. We had a great time! If only you could hear these giggles behind this photo.

I had the most amazing dinner. Albacore tuna wrapped in bacon over corn salsa, blackberry relish and greens on top. It was absolutely delicious - not to mention gorgeous!

We stopped at the bakery and got Elyse a cupcake. She was so excited.

Sandi couldn't stay, but she did come back to the house for a gel manicure by OJ! I loved that she and OJ had just met hours before and it was like they had known each other for years. I love it when people can be that comfortable!

OJ's picture - Anna and her injured knee!

The next day we went to this awesome country store in a tiny town and Sue and I were so excited to find her favorite blue cream soda!

Posing in town.

It cost just a quarter. And it entertained Elyse. Enough said.

Love this picture!

Soup!

Such a cool experience for OJ and Sue - they went down to the beach and saw these strange creatures all over the beach. They had not been there other days - and we didn't seem them since. They are "velella velella" similar to jellyfish. Every now and then, currents and winds change and instead of being pushed out to sea, they wind up on the beach (more here).

Sue got some this awesome photo with her camera phone.

Back at the house, Elyse worked some more on her cupcake from the night before. Can you say hyper?

OJ bought this amazing cake at the bakery and we did the Happy Birthday song (Elyse missed it - no naps meant on-time bedtimes!).

OJ was so amazing. She had handmade decorations, had thoughtful gift bags for all of us (even Elyse) and amazing birthday gifts. It was very cool.

OJ had Courtney is Fabulous at 40 on everything as well as this quote that she knows is my life mantra.

The amazing cake!

Sue gave me an amazing owl necklace. I will point it out in later pictures. Everyone was so thoughtful - it was overwhelming - in a good way!

Marcie came into town the next day. We did the horse drawn carriage through town. Elyse loved it - of course!

Carousel again - Elyse had the pleasure of doing this every day of our trip!

Our last day we headed to the beach. We had such a fun time. Just chairs and sand!

Sue was the only cold one. She was fine once she got all bundled!

This kiddo loves the beach.

I admit I balked at doing this, but the pic did turn out cute. You win on this one, Marcie! :-)

It was breezy, but all you needed was a sweatshirt. The sand itself was WARM. PS: Even after a few washings, I keep finding sand in the pockets of this sweatshirt!

Good fun wrestling...

Can you see my owl necklace/pendant hanging from my neck? Just after this photo, Sue noticed it wasn't on my neck. Had to have been from all that roughhousing with Elyse. All of us scoured the sand searching for it! We even planned who would head to town to find where to rent a metal detector! Leave it to OJ - she finds everything. She found the chain first, then the pendant. OJ saves the day!

Good day!

My favorite photo! Love how it turned out. Love these women!

I'm always kind of embarrassed when I see my tan lines at work when I'm wearing my dress shoes, but it also makes me happy. Sign of a good summer!

Great birthday with people I love and who love my family! So thankful!