"If you are bored then you are probably a boring person." (Quote from 10th grade English class.)

I grew up in Chula Vista, which was recently named The Most Boring City in America by Forbes or some magazine. I'm not even kidding.

When the report came out, I figured the research was done by a bunch of ignorant white folk. I mean, yes, Chula Vista may be lacking in quality music venues and fancy restaurants, but it's a lot more interesting than the quiet suburban neighborhood where I live now.

In Chula Vista you hear so many different languages all the time. Spanish at the supermarket. Tagalog at the mall. English at the gas station. And you can find spices and foods from all over the world. The music blasting out of the cars can have beats or accordion or both. The people are different shapes and colors, unlike north of Del Mar, where I am often the most "ethnic" person at the party.

And for this reason I love going to Chula Vista's neighborhood beach, Imperial Beach, more than the ritzier La Jolla Shores or Coronado. Yes, IB gets a bad rap for being so close to the border and, yes, it's had water contamination problems. (But so has Mission Bay, people.)

IB is where we went for our first beach trip of the year this past weekend, and it was perfect. Front row parking, no more than 50 steps to a spot with wet sand for ultimate castle-building. Mexican kids playing with gringo kids. Lifeguards cruising on ATVs and waving to the girls.

Ella hasn't been to the beach since she's been able to walk and she didn't know what to do with so much open space. For the first 10 minutes, Marina and Ella ran in circles on the sand and then went straight for the waves.

Marina had more fun knocking down castles and jumping over sand hills and burying Matt's toes. Ella diligently worked on tiny little "cakes," filling a bowl with sand and then turning it over to reveal a perfect sand cake.

It wasn't boring. It wasn't boring at all.