The beach in January?!

Mr. and Mrs. Downey.  That's us.

You can't tell here, but she really does love me.

Nick and Berlyn's feetses.

See our hand woven crowns?  We're a royal family.

King of the hut.

I know we are in desperate need of rain in California, but it's hard not to LOVE these sunny January days.  We were at the beach for four hours today, loving every minute.  The girls (I mean Nick) built a pretty amazing sand castle.  The girls ran (and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran).  I'm pretty sure for a solid hour Talullah and Berlyn pretended to be monkeys, inventing an entire monkey language and using their hand gestures to help communicate when we couldn't understand.  What's that you say, Talullah?  Big waves are coming our way?  She would nod, appreciating our effort to understand.  Months and months ago we came across this little makeshift hut that has become our special spot.  The girls think it's our 'secret spot', but since we didn't build it, I'm guessing someone else has seen it, too.  While the sisters played monkeys in the hut, Nick wove us each a grass crown to wear.  He never ceases to amaze me with his hidden talents.  I, on the other hand, am still recuperating from the recent hospital excitement.  I did a lot of sitting.  But that was pretty fun, too.