twice is nice!

As I'm driving into LAX, the first thing I see is a cute little man jumping up and down like a monkey! Kevin is here! We survived the first month apart, and almost got a ticket from the airport police for hugging too long in the pick-up lane. Oops!

We stopped to grab a bite to eat, and then headed back to Torrance to sleep! Kevin got a taste of my morning surf schedule as he came with us at 5:45 a.m. to go surfing. It was a really foggy morning, so it was hard to get great pictures. But, he got to see me actually stand on the surfboard--a big change from the last time he was here! That afternoon, we took some pictures together, ate at Chipotle (my first time since I’ve been here), and then we drove down to Rancho Palos Verdes to see Wayfarers Chapel, and the Trump National Golf Club. We found some public walking paths at the club that went all the way down to the ocean, so we tromped down the dusty paths in our cheap flip-flops with my camera in hand. At the base of the cliff was an awesome rocky beach. Kevin and I collected some colorful rocks that had washed up onto the shore, and almost got washed up ourselves as one wave came in and got us pretty wet! We sat to watch some surfers and boogey-boarders riding the waves in a dangerous surfing spot. One guy was even wearing a helmet for protection from the rocks.

We hopped back in Vera to head home and got a call from Pastor Bob. He had gotten a call from a friend who said that the tide had come in near the cove. I had never been surfing in the evening, and Kevin wanted to try boogey-boarding himself, so we rushed home to grab wetsuits and swim gear, hopped in the van with Pastor Bob, and sped out to the cove. It was an amazing spot. We hiked down a hill to get to the rocky shore. I wore my Keens, and thank goodness I did—it was a long walk. Kevin decided to wait on the boogey-boarding, so he watched us trip our way out into the water. This was no sandy beach. Sharp rocks were sticking out everywhere. I have cuts and bruises on my knees and feet to prove it. But it was worth it. We paddled out to face the setting sun. Because we were in a cove, we had to paddle out a long way! Once again, the waves were brutal. I finally told Pastor Bob to go on ahead without me, because it was taking me a while to get through all of them. The water was still shallow enough to touch, though the bottom was huge rocks and seaweed. I paddled out as far as I could, saw a wave coming, and figured, heck, why not? So, I turned around, paddled into it on my own, and STOOD UP! This was my first time going for a wave with no help (usually Bob tells me which ones to go for and when to start paddling). That was the only wave I actually rode that night. I eventually got out to the point where Bob was, tried a few more, but got beat up pretty badly by the waves and bottom. My poor arms even have bruises on them. The sun vanished beneath the horizon, so I started the half mile paddle back to shore. Kevin got some awesome shots from the shore! I caught the sunrise and sunset all in one day while out on a surfboard! LOVE IT!

We hiked back up the hill with our boards; it was dark. When we reached the top, Bob realized that he had lost his car key. Somewhere along the way, it had fallen out of the key pocket on his wetsuit. Luckily, someone pulled up and let us borrow their cell phone. Bob called Pam, and she eventually rescued us. Pastor Bob treated us to Thai food that night, and then ice cream at his house. We watched a few minutes of “Step into Liquid”—a surfing movie, but poor Kev was really sleepy, so we walked home and went to bed.