The Beach

There's a small beach town in North Carolina where my family used to spend a week every summer when I was a kid. I can't remember when we started going, but my parents used to rent a cottage for a week in August every year. The last time they went was one summer a year or two after P. and I got married, and we went and spent the week with them. I have great memories of those summers. It is an easy hour-and-a-half drive from where we live to get to the beach. It's a small family beach that doesn't get overly crowded during the summer. Nothing like Myrtle Beach or other beaches in North Carolina that I've been to. It's nice because you can let your kids play in the water and they don't get lost in the crowd.

Last Saturday we went with my sister and her husband, and my mom and her boyfriend, and spent the day there. My kids haven't really had the opportunity to play at the beach since before we went to Germany. We all got a bit too much sun (the kids much less than the rest of us), but we all had a great time. It was great watching the kids playing on the same beach I played on as a child, and my mom laughed at me as I yelled at them about the same things she yelled at me when I was their age - mostly about paying attention to where they were in reference to where we were when they rode in on a wave. Here are some photos:


We bought each of the kids a boogie board when we got to the beach that day. Most of you who knew us in Germany may be surprised to know that P. was (and is) a surfer. The only reason he didn't have his surfboard that day was because it was at his parents' house and we didn't have a chance to go get it. Here P. is starting to teach the kids about their boogie boards.

Little Man J. needed a break from boogie boarding to play in the sand for a while. I hate the sand, and it drove me crazy that he didn't hate having it all over him...lol.

Princess A. needed a break too. She always seems to be looking away from me when I try to take her picture. My mom even asked me once if she was bashful...not even close!

My sister bought this neat toy for the kids to play with on the beach. I thought it was like those velcro things we played with as kids...you know the ones. The ball had stiff velcro strips on it and the paddles had the softer part of velcro on them so you could catch the ball. Well, when I got a closer look, the ball was plastic and the paddles had little suction cups all over it. J. got really good at catching the ball and A. started to figure it out. They had a really good time. I can't wait to take them back. Maybe next time we'll try Magic Mountain - the big water slide!