Going To The Beach! The Beach! The Beach!

Most people don't remember the first time they go to the beach right?  You are young and you might see family pictures of it.   But I will never forget the first time I took my baby boys to the beach.  What FUN! 

Loading up was a task of course.  I mean, you don't really grab a beach towel and a beer and just head out like we use to.  We need diaper bags, sunscreen, coolers with bottles, snacks, sippy cups, floats, towels, toys, and more.  The house that we were staying in had a wagon, so we loaded it up each day.  The beach was about a 10 minute walk.. a little bit uphill so we got our exercise each day. 

I have not been to the beach in over a year.  The first morning that I walked through the crosswalk and got a view of the ocean, it took my breath away. 

Isn't there just something so serene and relaxing about gorgeous jewel tone water and white sand.  I had Beckett in my arms and I just closed my eyes right there, took a deep breath in, and praised God for his beauty and for providing for us so that we could bring our boys to experience it.  The boys eyes were wide with excitement.. we couldn't even get them to turn around for a picture!

The boys had mixed reactions at first.  We tried the wet sand on the shore first.  Beckett wasn't having it.  He screamed.  Eli sat in it and Justin covered his legs and while he wasn't crying he was making a noise whole time like "uhhhhh" "mmmm"  not sure that he was okay with it. 

The ocean was a totally new adventure for them.  Fortunately it was calm with just small waves so they could ease in.  Eli loved it.  He was happy as a clam either swimming with us or in his boat.  In fact, the second day he fell asleep in his boat float and took almost an hour nap just rocking in the waves.  We joked about putting a note on him and sending him out!  (um..never really :-)  Beckett took a little warming up.  He wasn't as comfortable with the water but once he got warmed up, he loved it!! He liked to drink it and made the silliest faces when he got splashed.  He floated around and rode waves and had a blast.

We put the boys on a blanket for a rest and found that Eli HATES sand.  Hates it.  He would crawl to the edge and take one finger and touch it in the sand and then screw up his little face in protest.  He ended up getting some sand on him trying to wrestle toys a way from Beckett and was not happy at all.  We have been joking that we are going to put a ring of sand around our living room to keep him out of things because he won't crawl on it!  Beckett did what Beckett always does.. tried to eat it.  Hand fulls. Straight in the mouth.  Rubbed on top of his head.  Silly silly boys.

We enjoyed one evening on the beach the night before we left.  It was the kind of evening that pictures can't even capture the beauty and peace.  As we walked back up the steps that night, I took one last long look.  Said goodbye to our friend the ocean and promised to be back next year for more great family memories.