August 29, 2010

We have been in Ventura the last week, renting a house by the beach for our vacation. The first day, Sabine got knocked over by a wave so she has been kind of scared of the ocean since. But yesterday she stood in the wet sand for the first time since then, holding Dad's hand, letting the water wash over her feet. Vivian has used this time to learn how to ride her bike! She is really great at it. Yesterday she rode around for about 2 hours, 1st with Dad and then with Mom. She & Dad stopped at a restaurant for a fish taco. We've also gone fishing, played in the sand, went into town and had dinner at a restaurant, and Sabine and mom went to a kids' museum which she really liked. The highlight was last night when we went on a boat ride and saw a whale! The boat was supposed to only go around the harbor but they'd heard there was a whale nearby which is very unusual for this time of year so we went out into the open ocean. The waves started rocking the boat and you both just laughed and laughed-- you weren't scared at all (unlike some of the adults on board!). Then someone saw the whale and we went outside to see. Several times we saw its fins on its back and saw it blow air and water up, and a few times we even saw its tale which was the most exciting. A whale's tail looks just like it's supposed to, it's funny. Then you girls danced to the music and then we went home.