Playing in the Sandbox and Shoveling the Ocean

I mentioned in my last post that I spent much of the past month with weekly out of town trips. What I didn't mention is the focus of those trips were the kiddos in my life.

Two beach trips, a kids gym, a little kid amusement park and a children's museum were the destinations of choice with Wiggles, Bug & Little Man.

While there's more to say about the rest, I'm starting this retrospective with the beach!

First up with Wiggles first trip to the beach and despite A LOT of rain, she still had a great time at "the sandbox."

I think one of the best and worst things about a two year old is that they have no real sense of time. It's a bad thing when any one activity only holds their attention for a few minutes before they are zooming full speed ahead into something new.

It's a great thing when 30 minutes after you arrive at the beach the skies open up into a complete and total downpour and you can pack up quickly and talk about how much fun you had at the beach without them whining "but we jusuuut got here"

Nope, instead we had a happy toddler running through the, in her words, "almost rain."

Luckily we got some beach time in the day before, and things eventually cleared up enough for an evening on the boardwalk that didn't require wet suits.

The beach involves running. And falling. And snacking. 

Rides & candy. Nothing better in the life of a two year old!

 Less than two weeks after leaving the beach with Wiggles, I returned with Bug & Little Man (and their parents, but we know they aren't the focus of this post).

Luckily our weather was perfect. Which is a good thing, because this is our fourth year of beach trips and there is a routine and expectations in place, all of which require good weather!

Rides + sand is the recipe for success with this crew!

On any given day Little Man strikes a perfect balance between being
the most serious 2 year old you've ever met and being totally silly.  

So, on this second trip rain wasn't an issue. But that pesky ocean was. We got to the beach Sunday morning with several hours to go before high tide and thought we'd be ok sitting about 20 feet back from the life guard stand. We set Bug to work digging a 'just in case' trench in front of our stuff, but I really thought that we'd be long gone before the tide came in.

I was wrong. 

We never did end up getting washed out. Our, by then, multiple layers of trenches did their job and kept our stuff nice and dry. But it was a very, very close call. The area in front of us filled in like a kiddie pool, great for Little Man who was not a fan of the ocean and would continually tell the waves to "Stop It!" when he was standing in the surf with his mom. 

But while he just told the ocean to stop, his sister had a different idea of how to keep the water away... 

Summer fun at its best!