Surfing, or at least trying to...

Three summers ago while Paul and I were out here for internships, I tried surfing a couple of times.  I loved it, even though I never got up for very long and was always on baby waves right by the shore.  I have been wanting to go again for a long time now.  So on Saturday when our friends Ryan & Nikki invited us to go surfing with them, we jumped at the chance.  Paul used to surf back in his high school days so he was lots better than me.  He can actually get up on the board and stay there for a few seconds.  I am lucky if I make it to a standing position at all, only to be tossed into the water a second later.   

Here is our little surfing family.  Nikki let me borrow one of her old wetsuits and Paul still fits into the one he wore during high school.  I have a huge crush on Paul in his wetsuit.  A massive crush.  I am also thinking that this could be our Christmas card photo for the year?

The weather was gorgeous when we got to Manresa (the beach where we were surfing) and Paul and I both ended up with sunburns even though we weren't uncovered for very long.  But by the time we were ready to head into the water with the surfboard the sky had turned gray so none of our photos turned out very well.  But at least we got some cute ones of Clara's first true beach outing where she was coherent enough to take it all in.

Clara was still taking her afternoon nap when we arrived so Paul and I did a little sunbathing.  As you can see from these photos, we don't sunbathe very often and are both ridiculously pale.  I'm beyond the point of embarassment though and have come to accept this lot in life so I don't mind posting the photo evidence of my lack of tan.

Clara woke up after not too long a time and we got to play with her at the beach for the first time ever.

Look at those feet and toes! Look at that face!  Look at those thighs!  Hers, not mine, please.  So darling.  

I let her put her little feet against the cold, wet sand.

She pulled her feet back up right quick.  It was CHILLY.  The beaches up here are nothing like the beaches in Hawaii or Mexico where the water is nice and warm.  The water temp was 60 degrees on Saturday and that is considered really nice for the Bay Area.

Nikki took a turn holding Clara too so I could take some photos.  Nikki is my yoga and surfing mentor/guru and pretty much should be a fitness model I think.  Paul has been friends with Nikki's husband Ryan since second grade. 

I love this photo.  It makes my heart smile.  I remember my dad singing "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys to me when I was little and for some reason this photo just makes me think of that and how much I love my own dad and how much I love my little family of three right now.

Paul got in the water before me.

Yeah, my husband is pretty smokin' hot.

Shimmying into a wetsuit is the worst part about surfing, in my opinion.  But it makes for a good laugh if you can get over the self-consciousness of how mortifyingly ridiculous you look stuffing your disappointingly flabby body into the skin-tight neoprene.

But I made it in the water too and tried to catch waves on my own for a while.

I wasn't very successful though, so Paul came back out to help me.  Our friends kept an eye on Clara who had decided to take another little cat nap at this point.  Paul would give me a boost from behind to get on to the wave so I didn't have to rely on my paddling skills alone.

Then he watched as I wobbled, ...

... and teetered, ...

... and tottered, ...

...to reach a standing position.

Triumph!  The mighty ocean cannot conquer me!  Is Paul giving me a fist pump in the background?

Success was was short-lived.

Paul didn't need my help so I cheered from the side.  I don't know why I am clapping in this photo.  I am a dork.

Nice form, Paul.

He had some wipeouts too though...

We had such a good time.  We really loved experiencing the beach with our baby girl and Clara was good and slept all the way home.  I can't wait to go back again and have already told Paul that we need to hit up the Labor Day sale on wetsuits to get one for me this year.