Aliso State Beach

When we woke up the next morning, we were going to head to Corona Del Mar.  Steve and I met while working at a children's home in Chino, CA. Every summer, we took all the kids to the beach on Fridays, and we always went to Corona Del Mar.  It is a great family beach, and because of where it is situated on the coast, the waves are usually pretty small.

However, as we headed north on the PCH from Dana Point, the boys spotted a playground right on the beach!  It was love at first sight, so we pulled over and just stopped at Aliso State Beach for the day.

This beach had much bigger waves than Laguna, and Dad had to have a little heart to heart with Seth about the dangers of the ocean.

The tide was really unpredictable here as well.  We set up our chairs and umbrella at what we thought was a safe distance from the water, but the tide came in really far every once in a while.  So Mr. Horvath thought he would build us a wall to protect our belongings.

This was my view from the beach chairs as the wall began to get higher and higher!

I took the boys on a walk down the beach to check out this cliff area.  Can you imagine the view from that house up on the hill?

As we made our way back, we saw Mr. Horvath (still working on the wall, he was determined!) checking out the incoming tide.  It was almost as if he was challenging it...daring it to take on his wall!

He enlisted some child labor to help in reinforcing the wall to protect the family belongings.

 Getting taller!

Seth got really invested in the project.  He REALLY wanted that tide to come in and fill the moat with water.  We had decided earlier to leave by 2:45pm to avoid rush hour traffic, and 2:45 came and went because the tide hadn't come in far enough yet!

Caleb was patrolling the area; he was on security detail.

Here comes the water.....

Finally!  The tide came in and filled the moat, and the wall stood strong. Three happy boys!

We ended up leaving at 3:45pm to head back.  In southern California, this is traffic suicide.  If we would have left at 2:45, it would have taken us about an hour to get back to Steve's dad's house.  Leaving at 3:45, it took us 2 hrs and 40 mins to get back.

However, when I asked Steve (as we were sitting completely still on the 57 Freeway) if he was still glad we stayed to wait for the tide, he answered with an emphatic, "Yes!"  And I didn't need to ask Seth.  I already knew what his answer would be!