A Day at the Beach

Yesterday we decided to head to the beach instead of languishing in the heat for another day. Luke's parents were staying with friends in RI who have a "bungalow" (that's what they call their camper at a campground) near the ocean so we called them up and asked if we could join them for the day. We headed out nice and early to make sure we could get a parking space since the lots tend to fill up quite quickly. We hit the sand with our wagon filled with all the necessary accoutrements: towels, beach blanket, chairs, the cooler full of drinks and fruit, and of course, sand toys. Luke's parents and their friends, the Greenwoods, arrived and brought an umbrella and beach shelter for us to use and a boogie board for Noah.

The water was great--pretty warm and the waves weren't too big. The kids got braver and braver as the day went on though Lily wouldn't leave our arms she would let us go further and further out with her to enjoy the waves. Noah had a blast jumping the waves and even tried the boogie board. He's not quite big enough to actually stay on it though and got flipped upside down several times before calling it quits. When they weren't in the water they were digging in the sand and looking for neat rocks. We tried to build a castle but the bucket broke on one of the first attempts.

I of course managed to get a nice sunburn even though I put on sunscreen and spent a lot of time in the water. Somehow the sun is so much stronger on the beach--probably because it's not only beating down on you but also being reflected back at you from the sand and the water. I did enjoy swimming in the waves and even attempted to 'ride' some of the bigger ones in. It was a lot of fun.

I took a lot of pictures but a lot of them didn't turn out for some reason. Here are the ones that did.

The Greenwoods invited us back to their campsite for dinner so we headed out around 4pm. We got to shower and get all the sand and seaweed off and enjoy a great meal cooked on the fire. By the time we left the kids were more than ready to go to sleep, which they did shortly after we got in the car. They went straight to bed in their new bunk beds when we got home. The perfect end to a great day.