Sandy Fail

This past weekend we went to the beach ( I didn't actually blog about the beach part yet because all the pics are on Paul's phone and well, what is a post without pics?). Can I just ask, what could be more fun than going to the actual beach? It turns out, alot actually, especially when an infant is involved. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach. Like LOVE it! I could totally live on the beach and we did have loads of fun, but I totally did not want to go to the beach the next day.

We took Ash to Myrtle Beach,SC when she was 4 months old. She slept under an umbrella the whole time practically and by the time she went to the beach the following year, she was 14 months old, able to walk, and not shoving anything and everything into her mouth.  By the time Coop was 6 months old (and it was warm enough to go to the beach), I was pregnant again. I was so not in the mood to go to a beach while pregnant with a 3 year old and 6 month old, so we skipped it. Actually we skipped the beach for like the next 3 years and when we finally went, everyone was old enough to control themselves on a beach. And since we moved 2 hours away from it, we went all the time.

Fast forward to last weekend, where we now have our 10 month old crawling expert, Jenna. We could quickly tell that she is also going to be a beach lover. There were no tears, she likes to crawl on sand more than grass, and she loves the water. She was ecstatic about the waves rushing towards her and actually went under a few times (one of those times being when Paul was attempting to wash the sand off of her and a huge wave rolled over her....yeah I saw it). She was all over the place, investigating the sand and the toys the kids were playing with, trying a few handfuls of sand to see how it tasted, rubbing it in hers eyes, getting it in her ears...ugh, do you see what I mean?

When it was time to feed her, she was a sandy mess. I washed her off in the ocean and then took her back up to our tent. Our towels and sheets were covered in sand and by the time I changed her, she was a sandy mess again (Wrightsville is super windy...like over Easter weekend I could have worn earmuffs windy). So she drank her bottle and I thought she might go to sleep, but really, can anyone sleep if they are covered in sand and there's fun stuff to explore? No.

Paul watched Jenna while I got totally sunburnt entertained the other kids in the ocean. This was the first time I have been out in the water in a long time. Usually I just sit up on the towels to keep sand free so I can hand out drinks and feed my kids snacks like they are baby birds. Sounds super fun, huh? Anyhoo, we had a blast and I finally figured Paul might be hot and tired of watching Jenna eat sand, so we went up to grab them. By then it was almost time to leave, so we rinsed off again and then started packing up.

Packing up was a hoot! I mean, if Christina and Jeff weren't there to assist, it would have been all up to Paul. I had a baby on my hip, so what could I do? They had to pack up the tent, the cooler plus the extra case of water just incase, the towels, the toys, the kids. For some reason, it seemed like we had more stuff leaving the beach than when we got there. We had to wait in line for the hose to spray off. I guess I should just be thankful we had a hose to spray off with! My kids so thoughtfully left their buckets full of sand ( I wondered why it was so heavy), so I had to dig it out and rinse everything off individually.

Even after a thourough rinsing, Jenna's carseat is full of sand ( yes, we got back on Wednesday and I still haven't washed it, don't judge), both car's are full of sand, and best of all, when I turn on my dryer, you can hear the sand blow around in the dryer hose. Jenna still has sand in her ears...short of shaking her, I can't get it out.

I may have to agree with Christina that the beach would totaly rock if there was grass or astro turf instead of sand. But then I could't dig my feet into the sand, and what's the point of going if you can't do that? The sand may have won this time, but we'll be back!