Surf's Up, Dude!

When Ashlee found out we were going to the West Coast, she asked if she could take a surfing lesson.  And this was AFTER she saw the movie “Soul Surfer” – the story of the young girl who had her arm torn off by a shark while she was surfing.  Emilee originally wanted nothing to do with surfing lessons unless, in her words, she could take the lessons in a swimming pool.  However, Ashlee was actually able to coax her into doing it.

We arrived at the surf shop a bit early for their one-on-one lessons, so we browsed the shop for a bit and found some fun surf boards.

Doesn't this look like a surf board she would choose?

Yes, this board actually says "Murphy" on it!

The instructors came out, introduced themselves, and then gave each of the girls a wet suit.  Standing outside the dressing rooms, it sounded like they were wrestling a pig – lots of grunting and groaning going on.  That made me very glad I didn’t sign up for a lesson.  I think trying to get one of those rubber suits onto my body would have sent me to the emergency room.  If I had ever managed to get it on, they would have had to cut it off of me to get me out of it.  After what seemed like forever, Ashlee had hers on.  Emilee, however, needed help.  By the time we finished tugging and pulling and yanking her wetsuit into place, I was sweating.  They were so embarrassed walking out of the dressing room in those things, you would have thought they were in string bikinis.  So I was snapping pictures like crazy!

Squeezing into the wetsuit

I'm sure I'll pay for taking this shot.

Running away from the camera

The instructors took the girls on out to the beach and started their lesson on land in the sand by showing them different ways to position their bodies, how to stand on the board, when to paddle, etc.

Learning on land

The "surf" pose

Then they took to the ocean!  They spent about an hour learning to ride the waves.  Emilee hates getting salt water in her face, hates it with a passion.  However, her biggest fear and what almost kept her from doing a lesson was sharks.  She was in the water for about 60 seconds when the first wave smacked her good, and she forgot all about watching for sharks.  I wish you could have seen her trying to stay balanced on the board while trying to hold her nose in case she went down.  It didn’t take her long to realize that she wasn’t going to be able to do both.

Ashlee’s biggest fear was not being able to get up on the board.  She said it was a whole lot harder than it looked.   I think if we had another couple of days to spend here, she would have been begging us to rent a surfboard so she could practice some more.  She picked it up pretty quickly.  They both did a great job and had a blast.  And we had a blast watching them.  They took a beating from the waves, but they were determined to do it.

Before their lesson, the surf shop’s photographer came over to introduce himself and told us that he would also be taking pictures during the girls’ lessons, and we could purchase them if we wanted to.  Since I had my camera and camcorder, we figured that would be good enough, and I had no intention of buying his.  It wasn’t good enough… not even close.  He was able to capture the determination in their facial expressions when they were trying to stand as well as the frustration when they were getting ready to do a face plant into the wave.  So, of course, we bought the whole CD of 154 pics.  Ha!  Here are the best shots from both my camera and his... it won't be hard to tell the difference!  I know there are a lot, but I couldn't choose which ones to post.

Emilee took a face full of saltwater.

She got up on this one!

High Five!

Can you see Emilee's foot?

Is this considered a Hang 10 or a Yeehaw?

Check out the determination on Ashlee's face!

And Ashlee's up!

Can she do it this time?

"I knew I should have grabbed my nose!"

Going...

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Check me out now!

Ashlee makes falling look good!

This can't be good!

Emilee's ready.

And she's up!

Falling with style!

And she stayed on her feet!

 

"Whew! That was close!"

"Oh, yeah!"

"Oh, dear!"

"Where did Ashlee go?"

Sister Surf

Synchronized Surfing

Someone's not in sync.

Double Trouble

Try, try again

This is the one!

 

"Yippeeeeeeeeee!"

"Yikes!"

"Can I just stay on my knees?"

"Okay, okay, okay!"

"Up, Up, and Away!"

After surfing lessons we headed back to the hotel.  The girls wanted to take a “dip” in the bay.  Our resort was directly on the bay on one side and had the ocean about a block away on the other side.  They lasted about 15 minutes in the cold ocean water before they took off to the heated pool!  

Swimming in the bay

The heated pool is much more comfy!

Goofing off with grapes

We had a blast in San Diego and loved having a 6-night stay in one place.  The girls loved being greeted by the duckies every day.  It wasn’t until the third or fourth day that we saw the sign telling us not to feed the “water fowl.”  Oops!  It’s no wonder the ducks practically camped out on our patio every morning, afternoon, and night!  If they weren’t already there when we opened the curtains, all we had to do was open the patio door and they would come waddling for a duckie smorgasbord of bread, cereal, pop-tart crumbs, doritos, etc!  I’m not sure who fed them more… the girls or Scott!

Do you see who is luring the ducks into the room with Doritos?

And they're in!  UGH!