Hot town, summer in the city

In Mexico, Casey and our friend Brett were trying to remember the words to a song. They kept humming the tune over and over and ending it with "daddy's little cutie". I kept insisting that no...it's "hot town, summer in the city...not daddy's little cutie." We both went back and forth trying to make sense of it all and piece the song together. Well, ends up they were singing Ragdoll by Aerosmith and I was singing some Joe Cocker song (I don't even know who that is, I had to google it). We've had a good laugh over that for years.
So, it only seemed appropriate to title my post as such. Because, man...it was hot this weekend!

We threw away our little blue pool at the end of summer last year. So on Friday I got out the pots and pans for Lucy to splash in. I thought she'd stand in it, as she's done in the past. But I guess she wanted to take a dip and so, she squished her whole little body down in there (there's not much to squish). It really made me laugh.

On Saturday we had Owen's allergist appt (No real news. But his stool samples came back negative, no blood. Hooray. So we can keep him on this formula or try him on the soy and see how he does on that for a month. We'll do another sample at the end of the soy month and see if it's negative). Well, since his appt was on the westside, we decided to make a family event of it. We all went to his appt and then it was off to the beach! Of course, In N Out for lunch first.
Owen looks like Casey to me in this picture:We found parking at Venice Beach, strapped all of our chairs, bags, kids, and coolers on our shoulders and headed down to sand. Total workout.
The beach was crowded. But that always makes it more fun. And the weather was perfect: hot and sunny with a slight pleasant breeze. You can see the Santa Monica Pier in the background:
And all I can say about Lucy and the beach is, WHAT a difference a year makes.
Last year she had no fear. She darted into the water and waves and we spent most of the day rescuing her from drowning. This year.....
She did not want any sand on her hands or feet. She kept asking me to wipe it off. (Hmm, maybe she gets that from me?) And she was very unsure about the water. She didn't want to go in. I like her uncertain glance back:
Once she was down there, we tried to make it fun. We helped her jump over and into the waves. And she liked it. She spent the whole time saying "here it comes! here it comes! (referring to the waves). But she would not let go of our hands. And she didn't last long before "mommy off?" She wanted her swimsuit off. Probably because there was sand in it or she didn't like the wet clingy fabric. Funny girl.
Overall, we had a fun time. But it was hard work with two little kids at the beach. I felt more worn out than Disneyland. We didn't come as prepared as we should have though. We didn't have a beach umbrella. So Owen had to chill in his car seat with our little rain umbrella. And if he wanted to get out, I had to hold him and the umbrella at the same time. We'll be purchasing a beach umbrella now.
After the beach we hit up Jamba Juice and Rite Aid (one for Casey, one for me. Guess who got what). And the kids fell asleep on the drive home! Hot weekend, but fun family outings.