San O: A Tale of Six Summers

During the summer of 2002, when Finney was about a month old, John and I took him to Old Man's at San Onofre State Beach for his very first beach day. Here's a rough scan of his baby scrapbook, marking that momentous rite of passage as a Southern Californian.

A year later, that little baby somehow became a toddler, and it was at San Onofre where he practiced taking his first steps.

Then, when that little toddler turned two, we held his birthday party at San Onofre, under the Dogpatch palapa. Here's a scan of his baby book page commemorating that day.

The next year we welcomed a little sister for Finn, and promptly initiated sweet Shea into the San Onofre lifestyle.

And, just like her brother, that small babe turned into a toddler, stumbling across the sand, growing more confident with each wobbly step. Again, we visited San Onofre.



And yet again.



And then we moved to Hawaii, which has countless gorgeous beaches, but no San Onofre. So we were delighted to visit our old summer playground -- "San O" -- for an evening barbecue and campfire with Cari and her family during our mainland vacation.