Firsts

Because I believe you can never go wrong with photos, here's some photos showing what we've been up to lately.


Our first trip to the beach! I thought I was pretty clever figuring out how to capture the three-ring circus together with the water in the background. (and some tourists of course) We are SO blessed to LIVE here and come anytime we want. In fact, it may become a weekly thing this summer with this group of friends.




It took Miss Rose a little while to warm up to the water as this was our first trip of the summer, and she hasn't spent all that much time at the beach. But by the end of our few hours there, she was already a beach bum. (In fact, I have a photo of her bathing suit wedgie, proving she was a beach bum. Miss Rose spent a lot of time practicing on this boogie board, mostly in about 2 inches of water. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.




And Gracie, well, she liked the sand. The taste of it as well as playing with it. I found her licking her arm and also putting handfuls of it in her mouth. Gracie had fun in the water, although she didn't get quite as brave in the water as her big sister.




She was content to practice swimming in the sand.

Lily slept in the stroller for a while, which gave me time to play with the girls in the water. She's a few weeks away from the "sunscreen age" so I had to avoid the sun with her. Next summer she'll be eating sand with the best of them.


What I learned...
It takes two hours to prepare to go the beach on your own with three small children.

Having friends there to help keep an eye on everyone is a MUST!

Getting there isn't so bad. Leaving is another story! Sand got lodged in the stroller wheels and they refused to turn. Lily was not a happy camper in the sling while I tried to push a sleepy Gracie in the non-turning stroller. The idea of trying to rinse the girls off was ridiculous. So they rode home sandy and wet. And rode in their sandy carseats again today, because I haven't cleaned them out.

Then it takes two more hours to clean up and do sandy laundry when you get home.

And when you go to a concert later that night...you are one exhausted mama the next day!

But it all was much fun and worth being tired. And in my tiredness I still accomplished some cleaning and laundry today.

Parenting is fun as we've years of "firsts" ahead of us.