BEACH! COLD!!

So, I convinced dear Jen and her sizeable family to come to a north coast beach - much nicer, in my very biased and neighborly opinion, than the one she was headed for. Pay for parking? Phooey!
Okay, so we did this on Thursday. But Jen is far more organized and fast as lightning!
Amazingly, I got my entire family (Dh- decidedly homebody) to come along, and amazingly still, our entire family arrived at the same time as did their entire family.
I am in love with Sophie. Oh. My. She is so smart, spritely and fearless - a great match for Supergirl! All of Jen's kiddos were sweet and interesting people, even though I did scare the heck out of Nate by asking him a direct question with eye contact.
If it had not been so damn cold, the girls might have been more inclined to build sand castles together than huddle shivering in blankets, nibbling the cookies that Amazing Jen had baked. THAT DAY. Not just one kind but two. Chocolate chip for the kids (I nabbed one - yum) and these tasty morsels for the adults. Ommmmmm....divine.
We did manage to stay for the sunset, but the visit was cut short by the freezing winds and the sight of my shivering infant. Once home, and after the children were bathed, warmed and sleeping, I poured myself a favorite flavor and sat down to read and eat some more of those addictive cookies that Jen sent home with me, and they magically disappeared. I am pretty sure the cat got into them when I got up to pee. Wow! Gotta get me some Ibarra to make some ASAP!
Sadly, I think I frightened Jen with my pinot-enhanced appreciation for her cookies (really though - the combination canNOT be beat!), because I sent her a little love note of thanks and quoted lyrics from a Partridge family song. So I can be a little overzealous if you give me a gift involving chocolate, admitted.
Anyway, I can't wait to do it again - see those kiddos fight pirates and defend castles together. OR just drag really large rocks around. Whatever. But next time I will bring wine - which is far more warming than the chilled beer we brought (doh!) - and probably an armload of firewood would be nice as well, so we won't have to make such a hurried and fussy exit.