Fire!

This afternoon Nephi had some time to spend on a family adventure. While we sat around the kitchen table sweating in the August heat, we ditched our zoo plans and headed down to the beach instead. After finding a brilliant parking spot - shaded, no parallel parking, and close! - we proceeded to have a great afternoon. Joseph and I played in the waves for a while while Caleb crawled around on Nephi; then we switched and Nephi chased Joseph clear down to the beach dead-end at the Marine Room wall. Caleb really liked sitting on the wet sand and splashing in the waves that washed in around him.

The high drama of the afternoon came when we noticed some smoke rising from one of the mansions built on the cliffs immediately above the beach, and not three minutes later the entire home was billowing huge dark plumes and completely engulfed in flames. We were very close to the home - less than a quarter mile away, with a clear shot. Minutes later the sky was swarming with helicopters and airplanes (to Joseph's delight), and the fire department arrived momentarily. The fire was so huge it is amazing the whole neighborhood didn't go up. I took a break from staring at the fire to glance at the beach, and observed the entire crowd - probably thousands of people - also transfixed. It was like the scene from Independence Day when everyone is staring up at the sky equally curious and horrified by the spaceship hovering there.