Quick Beach Trip

My kids were very disappointed we didn't make it to the beach this Summer. I don't know exactly why we didn't make it to the beach. Perhaps it was because in June we went to Hawaii and spent a bunch time at the beach there. Maybe it was because it was a rather cool summer and it just never got hot enough for us to feel like we needed to go to the beach to escape. For what ever reason we never got to the beach. Summer seemed to whoosh right by us.

Today we had some business to take car of in Santa Cruz and since we were that close I told the kids we could also go to the beach. It was cold in Santa Cruz that morning. We were silly and only wore shorts and didn't bring a sweatshirt. But this fact didn't stop my kids from wanting to play on the beach. They put on their swim stuff and headed down to the sand and waves.

They didn't even seem to mind that the water was freezing.

Even Molly had fun jumping around in the waves.

How ever, after a few minutes in the water she quickly changed her tune and decided the water was not that fun.

She kept telling me she wanted to "go home now". But the other kids were having so much fun I couldn't pull them away yet.

Ian distracted her for awhile by digging for sand crabs. Molly loved this. Anytime you can get muddy is fun!

Until that really cold water washes in and fills your sand pit and freezes your legs again.

Henry and Ian had a great time just grabbing handfuls of sand and throwing them into the waves.

Mostly the kids just frolicked in the water that washed up on the beach. They weren't interested in getting too wet.  So when a few big waves rolled in they quickly ran for higher ground.

Sophie was so excited to find a whole sand dollar laying on the beach. It is rare for us to even find a shell that is complete it is amazing to find a whole sand dollar.

It was a lovely beach. I want to go back there when it is a bit warmer.

After about a hour at this beach Molly was totally done. Even wrapping her in a towel didn't stop the incessant repetition of "Go home, NOW!".

So I gathered up our stuff and told the other kids it was time to leave. They weren't excited to go. They really could have stayed a lot longer.

But we know who the boss is in our house. She who complains the loudest and most frequent wins most arguments. So we took Molly home for the bath she kept asking for.

 

So we squeezed in one short beach trip. 

My kids are happy! 

I need to go vacuum out the car.