The little boys were NOT as enamored as I had envisioned. Z, on the other hand, was having a great time.
The first night the little boys pretty much wanted to stay on the deck and not even get in the sand. Heaven FORBID I try to take them down to the water.
As the week went on they got a little bit better. One morning I took about an hour inching them down to the surf. We spent 15 minutes in the dry sand. Then 15 more minutes in the puddle part (it was high tide). Then 15 minutes on the wet sand. Finally we made it down to actually sit a bit in the waves. It was very slow going, but they were ok with it. Not in love, but ok. These pics kind of show the basic progression (even though they were taken on different days!).
Another morning we went to Fort DeSoto State Park, which has been a family favorite for as long as I have been going down there. The waves were much smaller, and after hauling them screaming out to where the water was about waist to chest deep and standing with them clinging and wailing, they got used to it and happily played for awhile. C and N can kick around with their puddle jumpers on, and they sort of tried to do that out there, but L wouldn't let go. But we got them out there. Z was happy to swim all around us, and he would get off on his own quite a few times, but he was wearing his life jacket so I wasn't concerned.
And they really did ok just kind of hanging out and playing in the sand...they had dump trucks and buckets and shovels and beach chairs...and dump trucks just make everything better. :)
Z, though, LOVED the water. We were in the water no more than 3 minutes when we first got there, me holding 2 kids and close to Z, when a wave knocked him over and he lost his goggles, and since I was holding 2 unhappy children I couldn't grab them in the nanosecond I had before they were lost. Z was not happy, but we got some new ones the next day.
He was very into "surfing" and there were lots of boogie boards around he could use. Our particular condo had one with fire on it, and one in the "group toybox" had a skull...wow...to make it even better! He never really got "how" to use the boogie board, but he had fun, until he kind of got torn up on his belly from the sand. By the last day he was pretty tired and crabby, so he decided he needed his "own space" and set up his own umbrella and covered up with a beach towel for a blanket. :)
I wasn't concerned about him because he insisted on having a life jacket on (um, ok!) so he just kind of paddled around with us. Jenny and I love the ocean, and loved being out swimming or floating on noodles, so he would just come hang out with us. We had a great time having him around, too. Most days instead of a quiet time I just let him come out to the beach with me while the littles slept...that way I could enjoy the beach without the littles, and he and I could play. Nate was fine napping with the boys ;)
And sweet cousin A, well, I don't know exactly how she did on the beach...she wasn't screaming I don't think...I had 4 other things to deal with :) But here are still some cute pictures.
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