Surf's Up!

Call us crazy, but this weekend we took a spontaneous vacation (horray!). We attended the Mavericks Big Wave Surf Contest in Half Moon Bay outside San Francisco. We have always wanted to go to Mavericks, but were never able to swing it. (The date is based on surf conditions, so they only give you 24 hour notice that the competition will take place.) In previous years, work commitments and pregnancy kept us from attending. But this year, our only impediments to hitting the beach were too small to tell us it was a crazy idea, so off we went!

Chris got the last hotel room in Half Moon Bay and we left Friday night after putting the boys to bed in their carseats. We got up really early the next morning and headed to the beach for the first three heats of the contest. It was terrific -- a cool day on the beach with 40,000 of our closest friends. Just to show you how cool this contest really is, while the final 6 surfers were paddling out for their final heat, they agreed that they would all split the winnings evenly no matter who was #1. And they did it! What a terrific message about sharing a passion for surfing, rather than just for $$! The surfing itself was FAR away from the beach, but Chris still got some cool shots of it.

That's a 35+ foot wave!

We really had fun walking the beach, eating good food (even if it didn't contain dairy, soy, eggs, nuts, citrus, or wheat), visiting friends, watching the Patriots kick butt, and just enjoying getting away from the daily grind. Half Moon Bay is gorgeous and VERY relaxing to visit. We even look relaxed!

Chris & Gabe on the beach outside our hotel room

Kathy and Elias walking back from Mavericks

(See the radar post in the background? The contest is on the other side)

For the boys, nothing is better than being worn and/or held 12 hours a day while flirting with pretty strangers. They made hundreds of new fans -- Chris and I felt like rockstars; everywhere we went, people whispered "look! twins!" and pointed at us! :-) The boys were also REALLY tired by the end of each day. Don't believe us? Check these little monkeys out!

Elias can't wake up to watch the game!

Gabriel konked out after a day of sun and surf

We figure it should be about 17 years before we are watching the boys out in the waves! :-) And then they can say they've been following surfing since they were infants!