On Sunday (the day of the 4th), we all got up early to quickly pack up the vans and head out to claim a spot on the beach. Because it can fill up quickly, and we had a certain spot in mind that we wanted, we were there and set up by 6:30am!!! No joke. Seriously, though, other people were arriving at the same time as us, and some were even there staking out their site BEFORE us as well. It was insane (since we decided that next year we'll just camp out on the beach instead of 'renting' a campsite spot, we won't have to worry about getting up so early). The weather thru out the day was ok. It would lightly rain off and on. It would have been nice if the weather was better, but it could have been way worse. During the entire day (and even thru the fireworks!!) Clifford and Kristjan slept. They just sat in their little camping chairs, the hood of their sweatshirt pulled over their face, snoozing the day away (they were really exhausted).
To pass some time during the day, Pete decided to build some sand creations. He started off building a sand castle. When that was done, he moved on to building a turtle. He got tons of compliments from everyone who walked past our site. After lunch, Daniel decided to get in on the action, and the two of them made an octopus with a treasure chest. For their final creation, they built a shark. This was the first time either one of them had ever built a sand creation. They weren't pros at it, but the creations turned out pretty darn good. Everyone who passed us would come take pictures of them and tell them they were awesome. A few even suggested that they should enter the sand competition the following week in the amateur category. I think Pete was actually contemplating doing it next year (it's always the weekend after the 4th). It would be fun to do. Anyhow, later on in the evening Gordon and Michelle finally arrived to join us in the celebration. Shortly after it started getting dark, the fireworks began. It was insane and crazy with all the 'boom' of the fireworks. Everyone eventually stopped setting off their fireworks to watch the fireworks show the city of Long Beach put on (which was good). Once it was done, everyone started back up doing their own. Daniel and Gordon had purchased a lot of fireworks for us to do. Kristjan slept thru all of it, waking up at the very end. He did a sparkler, though he wasn't fond of it. Before Clifford fell back asleep for the night, he shot off some fireworks with Pete's help. I think he liked the sparklers as well. Damien REALLY enjoyed setting off fireworks. It was entertaining to watch him. (And of course, both Pete and Daniel supervised the kids during all of this). The night started to quiet down and people started leaving the beach around midnight. We cleaned up our site and headed out as well around that time. I was so exhausted. My sleeping bag and pillow felt wonderful once we made it back to our campsite. The next morning (Monday) we had a quick breakfast before packing everything up to leave. Since we didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with Gordon and Michelle, we went out for a small lunch with them before we headed back home.
The entire trip was great. We learned a few things on what we will do differently for next year. So far we're thinking that this will be our 4th of July tradition-vacation down in Long Beach!!!
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