st. george, sand & surf

Our house was a little walk from the beach through some jungle & desert, so every day, by the time I got to the ocean, I was ready to dive in! Of course, this was usually because I was strapped down with umbrella, chair, cooler, bag of towels & assorted other goodies, and I might or might not be holding the child as well. Every day at the beach was different. We had super-duper windy day, calm & a smidge hot day, perfect day, huge shallow shelf perfect for wading children day, cool wonderful water quite refreshing day, and one of my favorites, dolphin day! Kate was definitely intimidated by the waves, but she liked to sit at the edge and let the water wash up over her (and mom!). She enjoyed playing with the sand toys, but above all, her favorite beach activity was eating snackies! No sooner would I get everything settled than she would come over and ask for a nakie! I took her out to the deeper ocean twice & she seemed to enjoy it. One day, I even wished that I had brought her floats. It was so calm past the wave breaking point that she could have done some actual swimming. The beach was practically deserted every morning. People didn't seem to come out of their shells until afternoon.

Dolphin-Day -- the very tiny black speck in the middle of the photo . . is a dolphin fin. This is the best picture I got. They were so unpredictable as far as where you would see them next, that this is as good as it got! We must have seen 10 or so on one day, and more like 5 on the second day. On the second day, one was cruising quite close to shore! (like 15 ft) I couldn't figure out if I had been out there, would I have screamed or had some magical swimming with dolphin experience? I did a little research, and I think we were seeing bottlenose dolphins.

Laurie's walking has really taken off. She LOVED walking at the beach!

Grandma made it to the beach three times! I consider this a major feat. It was quite a trek for her, and it was pure determination that got her there and back that many times!

See what I mean by deserted? Next time we do a big beach trip like this -- I want to buy one of those awnings & just leave it up the whole week. (Awning is in left center of pic)

Smooch doing a little bit of mystery reading!

Kate loved scooping & toting sand & water in her toys. I love her little sprig in this picture!

Laurie just wanted to jump into the water, per usual. Lydia came a long way. The first day (pictured below), she wanted her floaties on just in case she fell in the water. The last day (in picture), she was happy to cavort by herself & wanted to feel the waves.

The First Day. Hmm, what do you think? Could I fall in?

Kate hijacked Lydia's little chair & sat up in the shade eating her snacks. What a beach bum!