I love the beach!

After two day days and two nights of a quiet, kid-free home, Rich and I set off for my parents' house Friday morning.  I didn't really "catch up" on sleep like I had expected/hoped to.  It was super hot here - over 90 degrees both days and our house was an oven.  We do have central air and a window unit upstairs because that floor never seems to cool down enough.  We usually run both to cool the house down but not keep it cold.

We hadn't planned on making it a beach day but it was still hot and my parents had only brought the girls to the beach on Wednesday.  High tide was forecasted to hit between 1:30 and 2:00 so we figured we would just stay until the water rolled too close to camp.  I have to say that packing up beach items and getting out of the house without kids takes considerably less time.  I kept thinking that I was forgetting something because it usually such a long process with me running in and out of the house at least 10 times.



My kids really enjoy the beach.  At one point, Emily ran up from the shore line to grab a towel to wipe salt water from her face.  She screamed, "I LOVE THE BEACH!" before skipping back down to the water.  Having grown up so close to the coast, I can't imagine living somewhere else.














I laughed when I uploaded this next set of pictures.  Allie starts off all "Hey, look at me.  I'm in the deep water with my Dad-dee."  And then a wave comes along.

















As I was walking back from the water with Emily to our chairs and towels, I spotted some air bubbles in the wet sand.  When I was little, my brothers and I used to run around at low tide trying to dig up clams where we saw air bubbles.  Emily ran ahead of me and I called out, "Hey, Em.  Look," but she was too far ahead.  An older man walking by stopped and chatted with me.  He had seen what I was looking at and said, "You know, 20 years ago, this beach was full of clams.  Not so much these days."

20 years ago?  Scary that I remember 30 years ago.




Hello, Kitty Anna.



I don't have very many pictures of Anna because she spent most of her time like this




grasping onto my hands or legs anywhere near the water.  Apparently, she had face planted in the water during their beach outing on Wednesday and was a bit afraid. 

Taking your camera to the beach

I frequently see this question asked so I thought I would comment on how I handle taking my camera to the beach.  I always bring a non-beach type bag that is specifically for my camera only.  In that bag, I usually have a hand towel or a receiving blanket to cushion and/or cover the camera.  For this outing, I brought the camera down to the water with me for a little bit and then I put it away.  Grammy had come with us and my bag with the camera in it was placed in another bag under clean towels.  Don't be afraid to remind spouses and other family members where that camera is because if they don't know, a wet, sandy towel may end up on top of it.

Having a third adult made this trip easy because one adult could stay with the belongings.  Rich basically spent almost of his time in the water with the girls.  I alternated spots and was able to take one-on-one shell hunting trips with Anna and Emily.

I'm so happy that summer is here!