Beach Day

Going to the beach is hard work.  When you're just making a day trip you have to take food, and water, and more snacks, and chairs, and beach toys, and somewhere for the baby to take a nap.  And then you have to CARRY all this crap to the beach, with two unhelpful children who just don't carry a damn thing themselves.  And then you get there and everyone wants a snack, and doesn't want to get sandy, and HEAVEN FORBID you even mention going close to the water because there's just no way that's gonna fly.  And then it's time for lunch, and someone needs to go potty, and someone else has poopy in their diaper, and someone is mildly entertained by the water and the sand til so much sand gets in their mouth that they are gagging on it, and someone STILL won't go in the water because it bites.  Or tickles their feet.  Or makes the sand move under them.  Or whatever.  And then someone needs a nap, and someone STILL won't go in the water til someone picks that someone's ass right up and just carries that someone in, literally kicking and screaming, til that screaming someone realizes that, hey, this is actually kind of cool and the waves are ok out here and I can swim and LOOK I AM TREADING WATER!  And then someone wakes up from a way too short nap, and it's time for another snack and another quick swim, and then suddenly it's time to pack up and go home so we can have dinner and shower and go to bed.  Holy man, am I ever tired.  There's no way I could take both kids to the beach by myself these days.  Thank heavens John came, too.

Erin checks out this strange new world

Huh.  What's this strange sandy stuff that I can throw all over the place?

I didn't see it happen, but apparently Dex went down to the water the first time and freaked out when he stood in the water and a wave made the sand come out from under his feet.  Aaaaaaand that was about the end of the water for him.

She was pretty proud of herself.

Erin was mildly entertained.  I sat with her at the edge of the water for a while and she was giggling.  She liked eating the wet sand.  I took her in to swim a few times.  Sometimes she was cool.  Sometimes she was crying.

This was a "crying"version

Dex was working on some sand castles, and also a little pool for Erin to sit in.  So he needed some water for his pool.  We made him go get his own.  Watching him try to scoop up water with his bucket while not actually STEPPING in the water?  Priceless.

Time for lunch

Time for lunch!

Official beach shot for the summer

Sleepy here was SO TIRED, but wanted to watch everything.  So she'd be sitting, and then lean over and put her head in her lap to rest for a while.  Somehow, I don't think you can sleep that way little girl.

Not sure this loungey way is going to work out for you, either.

Ahhhh.  That's better.

So I picked Dex up and walked in to the ocean with him.  He freaked out.  But once he was in and I distracted him a little bit with chatter about boats and paddle boards and the like, he realized that the ocean is ok.  I get it, his fear of waves.  They are not my favorite, either.  But floating around in the salty water and being lifted by the waves a bit is kind of fun.  And he loved it.  So we came back in and I traded with Daddy, so Dex could swim with Daddy, too.  And then after Erin woke up we all went back in one more time.  And then we decided it was high time to head on home.  So glad we ended on a high note.

After being grumpy and not seeming like he was having much fun all day, til the very end, Dexter said in the car "I like this place.  When we come back tomorrow I will go swimming again."