Beach Baby

We have quite the packed schedule for this trip. Thursday, the 4th of July, was to be spent at the beach. I really didn't care which beach, but my dad picked his favorite to spend the day at. We woke up bright and early and drove 3 hours, as far West as you can, to a gorgeous beach called Ocean Shores. On the drive in, I noticed a bunch of shacks offering kites and moped rentals. We stopped off at the store the night before and bought our own kite. Little did I know, flying a kite on the beach was the thing to do. Literally every single family was flying a kite...HUNDREDS of kites. Flying kites, riding mopeds, setting off random fireworks, and horseback riding were the popular activities. A few crazy people even braved the cold water.

I was mostly curious about what Lilly would think about the beach. First off, she LOVED the sand. I couldn't get enough of the tiny baby footprints in the sand. I half expected her to try to eat handfuls of it right off the bat. She had it caked around her mouth, not because she was trying to eat it, but because she would try to eat her apple slices, even after having dropped them in the sand. Oh well, kids will be kids.

We walked her out to the water's edge and let her explore. When the surf came in, it freaked her out a bit, mostly because it was freezing cold water, but by the end of the day, she was playing in it and couldn't get enough. We spent the day playing in the sand with her, building sand castles, flying our kite, and enjoying the cool breeze. I was so glad it wasn't the 104 degrees that we had left in Utah. I don't know how he managed it, but Ryan actually got burned. Most of the day was slightly overcast, but the sun decided to come out full-force about an hour before we left. Ry had some pretty intense burns on his arms, newly-shaved head, and feet. Lilly must have gotten my tough hide, because she didn't get any color at all. 

We got home around 5, and stopped for pizza. I ate the toppings off one slice, while everyone else rubbed it in. A bath was most definitely in order for Lilly. The sand on the beach was very soft and fine, so it was everywhere! In fact, I'm still finding it in her ears. I know my beach baby won't remember any of her first beach trip, but I'll never forget it. She was so cute, and had so much fun. 

I was going to make collages of all the pictures, to cut down on space, but I didn't feel like taking another day to do that on my slow laptop. So, this is your warning. There is an EXTREME overload of pictures below. But they're cute, so deal with it!!