First Beach Day of the Year

So I am unexpectedly having a child free night. The kids had friends over all afternoon, no one napped, and everyone passed out early. Natalia was actually the FIRST to bed tonight, and she was asleep at 7:35. Everyone else was in bed for good (I hope!) by 8:10. In the last hour I've walked the dogs, chatted with the neighbors, swept my new-found second patio (funny story about that...), planted basil and cilantro seeds, and caught up on some things on the computer. So basically a week's (or at least weekend's) worth of activity can be done in an hour without kids. Huh.

One thing I've done in this hour of madness is go through pictures. It's warm again, but a couple of weeks ago when we finally made it to the beach for the first time this year, it was not. Here are a few pics.

So that morning it was about 65 degrees, but there was a strong wind, and the water temperature was 61. Everyone bravely headed for the beach.

Natalia strutted behind the rest of the group.

Of course, they immediately headed for the water. (Because what do parents know about cold?)

Of course, maybe a parent was out there with them, encouraging them a bit.

Ree and Leon even enjoyed running through the water. (Personally, I had to rescue Natalia from a wave and ended up in water halfway up my calves. I don't think I appeared this carefree as I numbly ran through the water.)

However, one by one they added jackets and then enjoyed playing in the sand.

Jeff's parents were visiting. His mom enjoyed the sand with the kids...

...and his dad played Frisbee with the boys.

Later, Michael decided to "swim" in the sand. It took days to get all of the sand out of his eyebrows. At least he had fun!