One adventure on our summer bucket list was to make it down to Victoria Beach in Laguna where I’d heard there was a pretty castle turret.

We packed light and had quite the adventure braving the end of summer tourist traffic in Laguna Beach (a reminder of why we don’t go there too often during the summer), eating dinner at La Serena, me pumping in the car, and finally catching a trolley (the girls were thrilled!) to a little neighborhood by the beach. From there, we walked through a tunnel and then a neighborhood of kabillion dollar beach houses, and finally, down a narrow stone staircase until we kicked off our flip flops and dug our toes into the sand.

Since it’s not a main beach and a bit of a trek to get there, it wasn’t too crowded for summer and the castle was so picturesque against the ocean. I almost felt like we were on the coast of France.

We didn’t lug our beach gear, so the girls explored and played in the sand.

The beach had the coolest little wading pool.

The lack of swim suits didn’t stop Samantha and Amelia from jumping in.

I would have loved this beach even more had there been bathrooms and showers, but I guess that’s what makes it more remote and keeps down the crowds.

After taking a catnap in the Ergo for most of our journey, Meredith awoke happily to the beautiful ocean scene.

Beach baby!

After taking our fill of the serene castle beach, everyone was overtired, and waiting over 30 minutes for the next trolley did not help matters. When we finally decided just to start walking, of course, a trolley pulled up a few minutes later, but we couldn’t get back in time. The girls were hysterical that we couldn’t ride the trolley back, and since they were already exhausted, Jake carried both of them a half mile back to our car. To the lucky people riding on the trolley, we must have looked piteous, trekking with two screaming three year olds and a tired baby along the side of PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) in the sunset.

Lots of love,