Gwyneth's First Trip to the Beach

Grandmama and Granddaddy Raymond have been visiting with us this week and Gwyneth is loving spending time with them.  I was worried she would be a bit scared of them since she hasn't seen them in person in about four months.  Occasionally she has a bit of stranger danger and we never know how she will react to unfamiliar people.  Gwyneth took to them well and you'd never know she doesn't see them on a regular basis.  I know she will be sad to see them go Sunday; as will I.

My parents mentioned an interest in going to the local beaches.  Once we heard the news that the space shuttle Endeavour was being retired to a Los Angeles museum and would be performing a fly over on it's way to the Los Angeles airport, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see both the beaches and a piece of history.

We almost had to cancel our trip since Gwyneth was feeling a bit under the weather.  We have been battling ear infections lately and she started showing the tell tale signs of another infection Thursday.  When she woke up Friday morning I knew we needed to get her to the doctor before the weekend started.  We are leaving for Hawaii at the end of the month and we can't fly with a sick baby girl!  I was able to get an appointment with her doctor Friday afternoon so we decided to still make our trip to see the shuttle and beach that morning.

I knew we were close to the beaches, but have yet to visit them since we arrived in Riverside.  It was just over an hour to Newport Beach and well worth the drive.  I absolutely love the beach!  I have dreams of one day living on the beach yet I somehow don't see that in our near future. :(  The weather couldn't have been more perfect, a warm 80 degrees and sunny with a constant beach breeze.

We arrived at Huntington Beach where we decided to park and wait for the space shuttle.  Gwyneth has never been to the beach so I wasn't sure how she would react.  This was a good trial run for our Hawaii trip. :)  She really liked the beach, but was a bit scared of the sand.  I think the texture of it and the fact that it stuck to her was a bit awkward for her.  We decided it would be best to leave her tennis shoes on to lessen the chance of a possible beach meltdown....it worked.

Gwyneth really enjoyed watching the seagulls walk the beach.  She kept pointing and yelling "bu", her pronunciation of "bird."  She also enjoyed watching the many surfers and other beach visitors.  We were not the only people with the idea of catching a glimpse of the shuttle from the beach.  The beach slowly became more crowded as we drew closer to the arrival of the flyover.  Unfortunately, the shuttle left much to be desired for us.  We thought we were in the direct path of it's decent into the airport, however we were only able to see the shuttle from afar as it headed further up the coast.  We didn't get that spectacular flyover we anticipated, but I am still glad we were able to witness a piece of American history.

We then headed back to Riverside for Gwyneth's appointment with the pediatrician.  I am so glad I made the appointment because just as I suspected she had another ear infection.  The doctor indicated it was a pretty nasty one and since this is now the third ear infection in just two months we have been referred to an ear, nose, and throat specialist to help determine the cause of her recurring infections.  We immediately started antibiotics and hopefully can knock this thing out before we fly to Hawaii next weekend....aloha for now!