Beach days

Yesterday dawned beautiful and HOT, so we decided to head out to the beach after a quick nap for Emma and some lunch. The kids had been wanting to go...and since I recently picked up their body boards they've really been wanting to try them out. Karl had gone out in the morning to get a beach umbrella to help shade Emma, so we were set to go once we got the sunscreen, towels, umbrella, water bottles, and body boards into the back of the SUV. Everyone had a blast! The water felt good...it was actually a little warmer than I would have preferred but it was so clear and pretty. Emma and I spent most of our time sitting on the shore letting the water break over our legs and walking around in the sand finding shells, rocks, sticks, etc. Karl had put the umbrella up but she really didn't sit under it. We coated her with sunscreen, twice, so she was fine. She's got a little better tan but no burn. ;) I wish I had her skin tone....

A funny story about the umbrella...and obviously it would be so much more humorous if you'd all been there. Once he put it up, Emma sat down....about a foot next to it NOT in it's shade....so he proceeded to pick her up and place her under the umbrella. On his way he stumbled over our plastic bucket of sand toys, his foot landed in the bucket, and he tripped....the pole of the umbrella was in the way so he began to fall, with Emma in his grip. He had to make the choice to set her down in the sand so he wouldn't fall on her and hurt her....it looked as though he tossed her...he sprawled on the sand, she landed on the sand belly first with her face just in the water. I ran over to get her face out of the ocean, but all she did was look at us in confusion, pick herself up and waddle on over to her toys to play in the sand. Not a single whimper or cry....I, of course, continued to laugh all afternoon and even into today in short bursts....loud guffaws issuing from my mouth each time I think of it. Belly laughs of the best sort....man laughter is good for the soul. I wish you all could have seen it but I didn't have a video camera trained on him. And just in case you're wondering, no Karl wasn't hurt either.....maybe his pride as I laughed at him for about ten minutes straight. Lucky for him he fell so that his body was blocked from everyone's view by the umbrella...I was the only one privy to his calamity. ;) Is it wrong to snicker joyfully because my cool, calm, and collected husband busted it on the beach? I think not....;)

It was a great day. We all enjoyed the water and the sand, and the kids loved using their body boards...though Hailey did say she did a couple of under water somersaults due to the waves and had to take a break on the sand to get her nerve back up to go out again. She did it though, so no problem. The only issue we had was when we were leaving. We got to the showers to rinse off but there were two couples there first, so we had to wait. While sitting at the picnic table, waiting, I noticed one of the ladies had taken off her suit (under the towel). Her male counterpart was helping her rinse off...she did have her back to us thankfully...no frontal nudity please....with her towel still on in the back. Well, she lifted it high enough to give a great (or not so great!) view of her back side. I told all the kids to look away, not knowing what they had seen. It turns out they were European, so maybe used to others seeing their bodies? I don't know. When we asked the kids in the car if they saw anything the boys laughed and said no...Hailey said she saw and "I looked away!" because she knew "I shouldn't be seeing that."I can't wait until our next trip...such fun, and our car still smells like the ocean. Maybe the 'streaker' won't be there next time!

Karl and I also had our date night last night. We had a late dinner at The Melting Pot and it was so delicious. We enjoyed the food, each others company, and we laughed so much. It was so great and I would say one of the best times we've had together in quite a while. It was the perfect ending to a terrific day.