Beach! Beach! Beach!

Columbus Day Weekend, we loaded up the car and headed to Ocean City Maryland, for four days of the last of summer. It was a gorgeous beach weekend, with warm weather, and a luckily, some warm water too. The twins were the only kids this weekend, and were therefore spoiled rotten with attention by all of our friends. We played in the water at the ocean and the bay, rented bikes, and rode down the boardwalk, went for walks in the stroller down the main drag(it was anitque/hot rod weekend, so the kids loved this), had lots of good food, and tons of fun with our friends. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Jack only woke up once screaming for his trucks, so that was good! ;)

We were the first ones to the house, and couldn't get in without the keys, so we ventured to the beach. It was a quick walk, and the twins rode in style, on our shoulders of course! When we got to the beach, the twins were instantly excited. After all, it was the biggest sandbox that they had ever seen! They mosied slowly down the beach, stopping to play in the sand, and pick up shells and other treasures.

This was Sophie's first reaction to the water. The picture is not lit well, but if you look at her legs, she won't let them touch the water. She gripped my waist, and when I pryed her off, she held her legs high in the air. Silly girl! This beach-loving girl was not expecting her daughter to do anything other than love the beach!

This was Jack's reaction. Yep, he's thinking, "no mom, it's not gonna happen. I'm not going anywhere near that water." And he didn't. I tried to put him in the water also, but he is much stronger than Sophie, and I couldn't pry him off of my hip!

Thank goodness Sophie decided to give it a second try. Her face says it all. She loved the water and the waves. Matt held her hand, and she would rush into the ocean, until the water was up to her chest. She even tasted a little...and made a huge yuck face. She wanted to stay in all afternooon. My little fish!

And this was Jack giving it a second chance. No, nothing changed. I don't know why he doesn't trust his mom and dad, but I think he thought we were trying to throw him to the wolves by taking him to the water. So we gave up and let him play in the sand, and took tons of pictures of Sophie. He was happy in his sandy world.

Daddy and Sophie jumping the waves. I really should have put a suit on her!

Ah, finally Jack became excited. He loved the seagulls. He chased them all around the beach screaming at them. He actually does a pretty mean impression of them, but it scared them away. And then he would cry. Lucky for him, the seagulls are all over the beach.

We were very lucky that the house we stayed in shared a private beach on the bay with the other houses in the complex. The bay was much calmer. My mom tells the story that when I was little, and first saw a lake, I walked until the water was to my chin, and they had to pull me out for fear I wouldn't stop. That's exactly what Sophie did, until Matt turned her around and guided her back towards the beach. She loved it!

Here's Jack, finally being brave and going into the water. He wasn't as overwhelmed at the bay, because there were no crashing waves. He also became adventuresome, and walked out into the water.

We gave the kids some sand toys, and let them play. The loved it! When we asked them if they wanted to go to the beach, they would say, "Beach! Beach! Beach!" I'm happy, because I am a beach lover, and I have such good memories of family trips to the East Coast. I can't wait to raise a couple of beach lovers of my own!