Brighton

For my birthday I wanted to go to one of my happy places - the beach!  Luckily the rest of the family were all for that idea and the weather cooperated with bright blue skies and warm sun.

After card & present unwrapping, we packed our bags with bathing suits and towels (and if you were C, about 5 books, legos, dolls and a water bottle) and grabbed the tube to Victoria Station.  The station was packed...many people clearly had the same idea.  We took the train to Brighton Beach, which was about an hour and a half train ride.  Luckily we got seats but the train car was packed, people standing shoulder to should in the aisles (we made a mental note to get to the station early for our return ride to ensure we got seats).

We arrived at lunch time, so after a quick check on Yelp we picked a tapas restaurant, Don Carlos, in "the lanes".  The lanes is a maze of small alleyways with cute shops and restaurants.  Sangria and tapas are my favorites and the restaurant did not disappointed.  While the kids didn't like all the dishes, the braised lamb dish was a hit.  And K ate almost an entire loaf of bread himself.


After lunch headed to the beach, about a 10 min. walk from the restaurant.  I was pleasantly surprised by the color of the water; I was expecting more of a dark grey/brown color but it was actually aqua blue and green .  The unfortunate part - which I knew in advance - was that the beach itself was completely full of rocks.  No sand anywhere.  This definitely took some getting used to.  The kids jumped right into the water but K quickly decided it was too cold.  C didn't mind at all though and spent most of her time in the water riding the small waves.





From the beach we could see rides at the end of the Pier, so around 4pm we packed up and headed for the pier.  I had never experienced a pier like this one.  It was so wide that their were shops, restaurants and arcades in the middle with walkways on either side.




At the end, was an amusement park with quite a lot of rides.  We didn't have a ton of time but we still managed to go on a few rides and the lines weren't too bad.
J & Caroline in the Haunted House

K on the trampoline


And the family favorite - the flume ride - which we rode multiple times.  Lovely views of the beach from up top.  Sadly I lost my beloved Yankee visor to the sea during the drop.



Before leaving we stopped into one of the arcades and played air hockey and skeeball.  Such a blast.

The kids insisted on ice cream before heading back to the station.  We took a different route, walking past the palace and colorful houses, shops & restaurants.




As planned we arrived early to the station so that we were able to secure seats.  I'm glad we did because once again it was standing room only. I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday.  Lovely memories and smiles all around.