Beach Day

Chris and I took Katy to the beach last month.  It was her third visit to the beach.  The first time Katy went to the beach, she had zero awareness of where she was and she cried when Chris sat in the water with her.  Katy's second beach trip went better: Katy went nowhere near the water, and Chris and I had zero expectations for Katy to appreciate or react to her surroundings.  The most recent beach trip, however, was awesome.  Katy loved the water, the sand, the birds, the broken shells, and even the beach trash.  Finally, Katy is old enough to enjoy the beach!

Chris dug Katy a hole and filled it with some ocean water.  Katy climbed in and sat down before I could change her into her swim pants.  She spent a considerable amount of time climbing into and out of her hole.

When Chris walked to the shoreline to fill Katy's water bucket, Katy ran behind him and walked into the water without any hesitation.  She liked the way the sand felt under her feet as the water receded.  As the shallow water disappeared, she moved further out without any fear of the small crashing waves.  More than once, Chris or I chased Katy down as she ran to the shoreline without us by her side.  While Chris and I were glad Katy was eager to explore this new environment, we did find ourselves wishing she was a bit more timid around the water.  Her lack of respect for the ocean was a bit scary for this mom.

Shortly after we arrived, a group of very fit, very tan, and nearly hairless gym rats settled next to us.  The men were covered in tattoos and the women wore tiny (very tiny!) bikinis.  At one point, I made Chris sit with his back to the group because a woman in a thong kept bending over.  Later in the afternoon, one of the muscle men in the group asked us to take a group photo for them.  I obliged, even though Chris and I had been making jokes about them throughout the day.  I couldn't help but exclaim, "Very appropriate," when they all flexed their muscles for the picture.  There's nothing like a large group of super fit people to make you aware of your own mom-bod and dad-bod.

Mr. and Mrs. buff hugging behind us.

That's better!

Of course, despite the bod squad to our left, Katy was easily the cutest girl on the beach.  Summer is almost here, which hopefully means several more beach trips in the near future!