Day 1: There was a storm and lightning on the horizon north of us, but thankfully it never turned south.
Shane LOVED the beach.
He loved the waves.
He loved the shells.
He loved the sand.
He loved all of the family around to play with.
He even loved the lifeguards and their colored flags.
That's not to say there wasn't an adjustment period. Shane got his first swig of salt water early on.
He ran to cry to Nana.
Cole had an adverse reaction to his first wave.
Doesn't it look like it could be an album cover? Or is that me? Rage Against the Wave?
I normally played 'safety' and positioned myself between Shane and the depths. I stayed low in the water to keep cool and minimize sun exposure/reflection (and I still burned faster with SPF 50 than Shane did without protection -- I wore a t-shirt after the first day).
Most of the time the waves were more than large enough to challenge Shane, but nothing serious.
Other times I got caught off guard.
Most of my pictures are from Day 1. Nana and Pop came with us and were kind enough to snap a few shots.
Shane charged to the shore every other day, so I was limited to what I could catch.
Plus, I was typically soaked.
I thought the cousins would play a lot together. I offered to let them bury me in sand.
The boys ended up out of sync. Who Shane really enjoyed playing with was my cousin Kerry. I was old hat after she came into the picture! I wish I had some pictures of it.
I do have some pictures of Shane's first sandcastle.
Really, it was my cousin Matt's friend Nate who did all the work. Shane sat on top of a turret! The cousins and I cracked up from the water.
I have to share a small dad strategy I used (a Dadegy?). Whenever I wanted Shane to take a break, I showed him a shell. He wiped out and dropped the first shell I gave him. Shane cried and cried! We worked through the loss, and Shane learned to run back and stash any finds he wanted to keep.
Base camp had snacks, too. Not the healthy kind.
Shane fed the gulls one day.
It didn't last. Shane's third favorite beach pastime was to chase gulls.
Shane and I went to the beach once every day all week. We stayed an hour to an hour and a half, walked back and forth, and came back sandy and tired!
By the end of the week, Shane started to ask if anyone's "skin could take more sun than [mine]." He would have gladly stayed much, much longer.
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