Emerald Isle, part 2

Last year when we went to the beach, Eleanor had just learned to walk and was somewhat frustrated because she couldn't figure out how to do it on the shifting sand. We brought her walker and she walked up and down the beach on the hard sand, which seemed to ease her frustrations. This year, it was the water that seemed to be the likely adversary.

The first couple days at the beach she was very concerned that the water or waves were going to get her bucket (blanket, toy, chair, hat, etc). "No agua! No get my bucket agua! (In tears) Mommy hold it! Hold you!" She would still go in the water, but after a wave or two, she would change her mind and want herself and everyone else out of it. She would run out to the edge of the dry sand and gesture very emphatically and emotionally "Daddy come out! This way!! Get out agua!" After a day or two of that, though, she started changing her mind and would go in with everyone else. By the end of the week, she was swimming out in the deep ocean, jumping over waves with us and laughing, asking to go back in.

We picked up some sand toys for Eleanor at the beginning of the week so she would have something to play with and they were definitely a hit.

We also realized very early on that "go home" meant she was hungry or tired, so we came up with a snack system that seemed to work very well for her. As long as we had goldfish and an "ice cream" packet (blended up fruits and vegetables), she was pretty content down at the beach for 3-4 hours at a time.

She also wanted to try boogie boarding when she saw Chris doing it, but kept crying whenever we would sit her up on the board and we couldn't figure out why. We finally just asked her what was wrong and she said, "Eh-know big girl. Swim!" and laid down on the board on her stomach and was fine. She apparently just didn't want to sit on the board like a baby and wanted to lay down like daddy.

Boogie Board from Katie Stratton on Vimeo.

Another afternoon, also after announcing she was a "big girl," she climbed out of her chair and went to sunbathe on the blankets with her aunties, the other big girls. It was very cute.

Eleanor dug holes with Chris in the sand to climb in.

We also took a few family pictures together while we were there.

We had a fantastic week with family and are already looking forward to doing it again whenever that may be! It was hard to say goodbye, so until next time, Emerald Isle!