Beach Day!

I was recently talking with friends about living so close to the beach, yet never making time to go. Well, Jordan and I decided to enjoy the beach this summer since we managed to get there TWO TIMES last year. Yes, only twice. Honestly, I don't think our record this summer will be much better, but it doesn't hurt to hope. PLUS, planning to go to the beach is not near as simple as it used to be. We imagine all the things that could go wrong with Elyse, from sunburn to screaming, from missing a nap to screaming, from heatstroke to screaming... BUT, we want to be flexible parents, so we hit the road. The day was beautiful, if not a bit windy (that will come into play later), so we packed up the kiddo and our much larger beach bags and headed out to Sandbridge. We really began to notice the wind as we set up Elyse's new sun dome- a little tent with lots of SPF to keep her from frying. This thing looked so cool: it snapped out of that case in a jiffy- a perfectly formed dome! Charming. Then the sun dome began to blow over (which is not a good thing since our baby is in it). We finally managed to weigh it down with everything we brought, and things were okay. We set up our beach towels, and I think we both realized how OCD we are when we started brushing the sand off the towel within the first minute. With the day's wind, we could have easily continued in the sand-brushing for hours. BUT, we stopped and determined to enjoy our outing. After all the courtesy pictures highlighting the big first day at the beach, we staked the beach umbrella and got comfortable, only to watch our umbrella blow over. Several times. A few hours later, we decided to leave the gorgeous place that we actually DID let ourselves enjoy, and head home. Remember that cute little sun dome that my sweet daughter napped contentedly in for a couple of hours? Well, it now had to collapse. Jordan wrestled with the now-labeled "piece of junk" for about 20 minutes before stuffing it into the carrying bag. I'm scared to take it out! And I read the directions, folks, and they do NOT make any sense at all! As we finally got in the car to head home, I think we both realized that WE are the inconvenience of the beach! :) Elyse seemed to love being in the great outdoors, feeling the water, and even hanging out with her cooky parents. Believe it or not, we had a blast enjoying our day together at the beach, but, maybe we still have a ways to go in learning to relax...