Laguna

       Yeh, I'm struggling with titles for my posts...sorry.  Seems to be a lot of Laguna on my mind...

Here's where we stayed:

                The bambini loved to swim in the pool...and here's the 'Big White Whale' parked in the lot, surrounded by palm trees and BMW's.
                 To get down to the beach, you walk through the Montage resort...the term 'excessive' comes to mind as you stroll across their grounds...go to http://www.montagelagunabeach.com/ and see for yourself...

                       962 steps to the bottom, where you are greeted by a curving pathway through lush flora.  Autumn and Tonio could barely make it back up them at the end of the day...

                  The hotel looms above a random, tiled seascape...grass so green and soft...

                                        Oh, here's that curving walkway...

                    And, as I mentioned, I'd wake up around dawn, and sneak out, with the bambini still dreaming of riding the surf and Bella and I would run the beach. The first morning, there was a group of environmentalists, releasing a healed seal back into the ocean.  It tentatively swam through the waves and stopped on a large rock protruding from the ocean about 20 yards off the beach.  It was peaceful, the sounds of the surf, the pelicans flying over head...
                    On the 12th, our first full day in beautiful California, I woke the bambini around 7:30 and we filed down to the office for the continental breakfast.  What a show that was.  There were a bunch of 'regulars' there, 'helping' Tonio make hot chocolate (after a night of puking, I was thankful), Autumn and Cody grabbing as many muffins as they could hold...and we all straggled back to the room to eat, before hitting the beach.
                   Cody spent the day riding waves on his boogie board and trying to show Tonio how to catch a wave...to no avail.  Tonio preferred digging for sand crabs and building sand castles.  Autumn floated in between the two.  She remembered, that on this very beach, nearly 7 years ago, a large wave knocked her off her feet and started sucking her out to sea - I scooped her up, never having run that fast before, or ever again...

                                                     Nice waves!

                                      Cody builds himself a man cave...

                                     Autumn and Cody look for shells....

A boy and his dog...

Tonio enjoyed the tide pools - there were huge starfish in them!

                We decided to head towards town for lunch, to eat at Gina's Pizza, where we had eaten the last two times we visited Laguna...

                 It was good to be back there...the kids remembered eating on the veranda the last time we visited.  Autumn got the pasta...Tonio and Cody the pizza, and I always go for the big Italian sandwhich and was not disappointed...
                We went back to the beach until around 6:30 and then ventured downtown Laguna...Cody wanted to try to get into Salerno's again...he said he had a feeling that we'd be able to get a table tonight.  Sure enough, they had one table for 4 left!

             At Salerno's, they loved my Italia sweatshirt and treated me as brethen...

Autumn ate cioppino - from the adult menu - and demolished it!!  It had clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp and scallops over pasta.  Tonio and Cody had calarmari and I ate caprese and scavenged from the bambini.

                I asked the waitress if they sold t-shirts, she said sadly, they did not.  I explained that Solerno's was Kimmy's favorite Italian restaurant in all of Laguna and that I needed a souvenior...she let me take the Moretti glass...Now, 5 or 6 years ago, we were in Little Italy, San Diego, at Zagarella's, and they let me take a Moretti glass, as it was Kim and my wedding anniversary...I wore that glass out, so it was very nice to get a new one...
                We went to her two favorite shops, Crazy Tees ( I found a great T with sea turtles on it) and to Bubbles, kind of a Bath and Bodyworks type shop, before heading back to the hotel so the bambini could recharge their batteries...
               Sitting on the beach that day, I could feel Kimmy's presence...as I watched the bambini play, and looked at the beautful surf, I felt as though I was seeing it through her eyes...
               Love,
                    Dave

                     Tonight's sunset...full of peach...just like Father Harry promised....