We started out mid-day on a Saturday for the short 3-hour trip to the beach. The kids were so excited. They have been asking for months "How many days until we go to the beach?" It was so nice to say "One!" instead of "about 68!"
This was the first beach trip where I didn't even pull out my SLR camera. I took all the photos with my iPhone because it was just easier to manage. Also, there are very few pictures of Miles, because he is at a point where he pretty much hates having his picture taken. Vivienne, on the other hand, requests to have her photo taken continuously. We might just have to hire her a personal paparazzo to make her happy.
As soon as we arrived at the house, the kids ran straight for the beach.
It became immediately apparent that Evelyn wanted NOTHING to do with the ocean. She loves the sand, but she would say, "No! No! No!" every time a wave came anywhere near here. If a wave got close enough to touch her foot, she would start to try to run away from it. The only problem is that she still can't truly run, so she would inevitably fall down and then the dreaded wave would get her hands and her knees and feet wet, and she would erupt in a puddle of tears. She was more than happy to play in the sand all day, though, and that was fine with me.
Grandma and Grandad accompanied us on this trip. It was great to have them there to experience the tranquility and sunshine with us. The kids love playing with them, and it's just a special time together as a family.
If Evelyn did not have the most beautiful dark skin already, this trip surely put her over the top. My little island baby became more and more tan with each passing day. The darker her skin gets, the brighter her beautiful yellow bathing suit gets.
It is so much fun to see Evelyn in things that Vivienne was wearing not long ago. My favorites have to be the bathing suits. So… stinkin… cute.
Miles and Vivienne spent much time playing in the sand. Jason and I would dig them big islands and moats. They would climb up them and slide down. We also dug enormous holes that they would jump into. We played chase with them in between the holes (the holes were the "safe spots" and they would run back and forth between them trying to outrun us).
Miles could be content in the ocean forever. I am sure of it. He loves to sit and observe something and learn how it works. He sat in the surf for nearly half an hour, watching his little green plastic hoe as it gently rolled up and down the sand with the waves. He was mesmerized.
Of course, all this sun and water means that we had great naps and way, way, way too many episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba. (Surely the people who make that show are on drugs.)
Jason and I went out in the surf one afternoon and did some boogie boarding. It was a lot of fun and I eventually learned to catch some waves. Miles also enjoyed it, though we had to give him a push to get him going. Evelyn just loved dragging her boogie board around on the sand.
This was one of my favorite sand jumping shots.
And there can never be too many kisses for Grandma.
Vivienne is in a pretty serious "princess" stage. She is constantly looking for ways to make a cape or a train or a dress. She had a limited selection of clothing on the trip, so this sweatshirt became her cape. She would hook it onto her bun and wear it around. She's my ham sandwich, for sure.
Daddy got lots of upper body workouts with this shovel and wet sand.
All of our napping resulted in some pretty epic bed head. This started as some perfect pigtails. By mid-day they were looking pretty sad (but also pretty cute).
Evelyn is in a strong sharing phase. She always likes to be sure that everyone has what they need. In this case, she decided that Daddy needed a couple handfuls of wet sand.
It is fun to see Miles and Vivienne making up games of their own and running in the waves together. They spent quite a bit of time doing this, and I love to just sit back and watch them.
On one of our last days there, Miles and Vivienne sat out in the low tide making sand castles. They preferred the "drip method" on this particular day. This building went on for at least an hour. The tide was rising, so we gradually moved further and further up the beach as the waves engulfed our creations.
The girls are always happy to ham it up for the camera, but Miles is avoiding it.
When we took our afternoon at Calabash for some good Southern fried seafood, Evelyn just couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. She fell asleep in the car and then slept on Daddy's shoulder until the greasy deliciousness made its way to our table.
My boy in his natural state.
And one day I finally caught a good photo of Miles before he protested and ran away crying. :)
Miles and Vivienne spent many, many hours in the surf with us jumping over the waves and looking out at the water. Miles will do this until his lips turn blue and he is shivering like a leaf.
Unfortunately, Grandad spent most of this trip under the weather. He caught some sort of virus that kept him inside for most of the trip. Luckily, none of the rest of us seemed to catch it. On the way home, though, the exhaustion from all the fun hit Evelyn hard.
As I'm typing this, Vivienne is asking me, "Mommy? How many days before we go to the beach again?"
Hmm… at this point, I think it's only about 90 or so… so close and yet so far.
