Seriously? Seriously.

Dear Jo and Marc ~

It was our first full day in California. Grampa took us to the outlet shops in Petaluma, I hadn't brought enough warm clothing, especially for Kariah. You boys also desperately needed new sneakers for school. We had a great time shopping and Grampa helped you find super-fast shoes. Kariah needed a diaper change so I took her into the women's restroom and Grampa took you boys for a potty break.

I emerged 5 minutes later to find you all sitting down, Marcus' face buried in Grampa's chest, and a security guard talking sternly. Marcus has dialed 911 on the nearby payphone.

Seriously??? I was in shock. See, in my imaginary "I'm a perfect mommy" world, we had had a family night all about 911. We had unplugged the phone and everyone practiced and we talked about when to use 911, when not to, what to say, what to expect. Wouldn't that have just been great, if we had actually done that?!

Instead we were getting lectured by rent-a-cop. I assured him I would take care of it and Marcus received a stern talking-to. Okay, brush it off, move on, enjoy vacation.

We headed towards Dillon Beach, about 30 minutes away. As we drove through the beautiful hills, fingers of fog floated over the road making it feel so surreal. We finally parked and you boys exploded from the van. You took off running for the water and Grampa tried to catch up with you. "Isn't that cute" I thought, as I snapped a picture. I took my time getting Kariah out of the car, trying to get my new camera all set to take darling family beach pictures.

I climb over the dunes and try to find you. There's Grampa, stripping your sweatshirts off. "What?!" I think. It's like 58 degrees, what in the world is going on????

You had both barrelled right into the water. The water that is barely 50 degrees. You were soaked. Grampa wanted the sweatshirts off because they weighed like 20 pounds soaking wet and were going to take you under with the next wave. By the time I got to the water, you were both down to your pants and grinning ear to ear.

Grampa and I stood in the sand. Speechless. Seriously? Seriously.

You had five minutes. And then back into the van, stripped to your underwear, heater going full blast, while Grampa, Kariah and I sweated. As I told Daddy the story later on the phone, I realized. I had paid 7 bucks to park there. We averaged a buck a minute. Awesome.

Back to the outlet mall. More winter clothes, dressed you in the parking lot. But the story doesn't end there.

25 feet from the freeway entrance, "I have to pee." I thought Grampa's eyes were going to bug out of his head. Denny's bathroom to the rescue. Back on the freeway. Back to the hotel. Back to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be.....less eventful.