Just Beachy

Although Harlan was born in Florida, I am embarrassed to say that up until last weekend she had never been to the beach. Between MacKay being gone and Harlan being so young, it just wasn’t in the books for her. Last weekend MacKay had a few days off so we decided to take the train over to Spring Lake, NJ a beautiful Victorian style town on the Jersey shore for a much needed family beach day.

I have been longing for the beach since we’ve moved here and it’s so nice to be able to hop on a train and be at the ocean in such a short time. Harlan fell in love with the sand as soon as we got there. She helped me make {and destroy} sandcastles for hours.

She didn’t warm up to the water right away, which surprised me. She loves the water and has a blast at the pool. I think the waves crashing scared her a little bit which made her very reluctant to even go near it.

Her reluctancy to go towards the water meant that MacKay and I were her “water boys” and kept filling up her bucket for her {only to have her dump it on us while we were sitting down.}

The weather that day was absolutely perfect. So much different than summers on the beach in Florida. I can usually only stand about 20 minutes of being outside before I am dripping in sweat and feeling dehydrated. Although it was hot outside, the breeze from the ocean made for perfect beach weather.

The water was a little chilly, but that didn’t stop MacKay from taking a dip. Once Harlan saw him having fun jumping over the waves, she made the decision to conquer her fears and go for a swim.

After the initial shock of the waves knocking her down, she couldn’t get enough. She completely forgot how much fun we had making sand castles and only wanted to play in the water. We couldn’t keep her out {which made for a very angry little girl when I told her we had to leave.}

The day at the beach and out of the city was exactly what I needed. I now completely understand why city dwellers leave for the summer and get beach houses. I could have stayed there forever. I think Har could too.

There’s always next summer. ::wink, wink::