A Day at the Beach

Since Katie has been asking to go to the "sand beach" since last summer, my mom, sister, and I decided to take her last weekend. It was a beautiful day to go. Katie fell asleep on the way to there, so when I got her out of the car, she was tired and unsure of things as she tried to wake up. Katie didn't seem all that excited until she found her first shell. After her first find, it was all about picking up every shell she could and running it to my mom, so my mom could carry it in her pocket.

After collecting lots of shells, Katie got brave enough to reach down and put a few of her fingers in the sand. For anyone who knows Katie, we know that this is a big step for her. She doesn't like to get her hands dirty. It was a small reach into the sand, but it was a reach.

Not long after braving the sand, Jennifer found what looked like a small, but fast-flowing stream running through the middle of the beach. It was a "river" in Katie's world. Jennifer reminded her of how she could throw rocks in the water, so Katie threw rock after rock. When she ran out of rocks, she started grabbing handfuls of sand to throw in the water. Surprisingly, she wasn't too put out with her dirty hands. Even after we lured her away from her "river," she'd stop every once in awhile to dig through the sand with her hands. Every time we'd ask her to come, she'd respond with, "No, I dig!"

After a long trip to get off the beach, it was time for lunch, but all we heard was, "My beach! I want my beach!" Katie wasn't happy about leaving the beach, but she handled things fine.

We stopped at a little restaurant to get lunch to-go. Since we had Chloe too, we decided to eat in the car. While we were eating, Katie was thrilled to have a seagull land on the hood of the car for her lunchtime entertainment. It got even better when Jennifer fed the bird some of her potato chips.

When we got home, Katie worked with me to clean all of her seashells.  She was so proud of her shells (which she turns into a 2-syllable word…shay'lls) and showed them to everyone. She also got her final beach treat…a tiny cupcake that Jennifer had bought for her. To make the cupcake even better, the restaurant had sent a dessert fork. Katie loved the "baby fork" and now keeps it in her gold glitter purse. Now that's a place of honor!

I don't know if I'm awake enough for this beach.

The sand is fun to walk on though.

Gaga! I found a shell!

Look in the sand for shells, Chloe!

This beach is growing on me now.

What are you doing, Aunt Jennifer?

I can't believe you found a shell, too!

Gaga helped me find this big sand dollar.

I'm glad we came, Gaga.

This is way more fun than being at home.

We always have to stop for a picture even when I want to look for shells.

I ran and ran to catch this seagull, but the tide kept coming in, so I couldn't catch it.

I was very fascinated with seeing Winnie the Pooh's shadow.

I also liked how the sand looked here.

This is the first time that I decided to touch the sand.

I got tired of carrying Winnie the Pooh, so I put him in Grandma's purse. I wanted to help carry the purse though.

This is the "river" we found on the beach. I love to throw rocks in the water.

Baby wipe, please!

I decided playing in the sand was fun.

We had a long walk back to the car.

I found a special piece of seaweed just for Garyldine.

This was a great day!

I loved the beach.

Lunchtime Entertainment

Aunt Jennifer got me a little cupcake with a baby fork that I got to eat in my cardboard train.

I carefully washed my shells.

They looked sparkly clean.

Look at my collection!