6. Play and Laugh like a Kid
Whenever I go on a cruise, the one thing I tell my travel mates is that at some time on the cruise, I want to do something that makes me laugh like a kid. That means doing something that is so fun that you actually giggle like when you were a child. The very first cruise I took, I felt that way as I sat on a rented banana boat that was being pulled behind a Sea Doo. I was laughing so hard that I could barely hold on as the inflated banana flew across the water bouncing back and forth. As we finished, I realized that I had gone back in time to my youth, to a simple time of fun and laughter…mission accomplished.
Children have no boundaries, no inhibitions. Sometimes as adults it would do us all good to go back to that feeling of pure joy and fun.
This week’s pictorial is about kids as well as adults having fun and enjoying life here in our back yard of California.
Sometimes it is the simplest things liking getting airborne on a swing at the beach, or riding a carousel, enjoying a Ferris Wheel, or any beach activity should do the trick. Surfing, as an example can be enjoyed by all ages and with 840 miles of coastline, I think you can find a beach.
California has so many things to do to bring back your inner child. The obvious attractions are Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Legoland , etc. but what about your local carnivals, or arcades such as they have in Newport Harbor or Belmont Park in Mission Beach.
If anything else this year, try to find something that gives you the same joy and excitement that a kid would have. Laugh and giggle out loud…it does the soul good.
Young Parker laughs with delight on a bungee swing at an event at the embarcadero in San Diego
Surfing can be enjoyed young or old and all year round in California.
This Ferris wheel is right on the water in Newport Harbor
These kids were laughing and enjoying themselves all afternoon. I know this shot makes them looked bored but believe me they weren’t. (faces blurred intentionally) On the dock across from Coronado, San Diego.
This young girl was enjoying the sunset while surf fishing in Northern California
This picture is a perfect example of an adult laughing like a kid. Here 70 year old Joyce, (pink hat on left) is enjoying this excursion to its fullest on Kern River by Bakersfield.
50 year olds can still slide like the best of them.
Enjoyed by both young and old, a roller coaster is the perfect ride. This one is on Santa Monica Pier.
We are often told to slow down and enjoy life by stopping to smell the roses. Here, young Alina shows us how it is done at Seaport Village in San Diego.
There is nothing like a swing to take us back in time. This one is right on the beach in Ventura.
Belmont Park In Pacific Beach has rides and carnival type games. Here an adult and a child share the same joy in simple moment in time.
Bare feet on a warm summer day. I never had shoes on when I was a kid, I don’t know about you.
Photos and story: Debbie Colwell
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