Last days of Summer

As the days are turning cold and windy we made one of our final trips to the beach. This was just before we went to NY. We went one more time after our return but the tide was high that sand was icky and I had to admit warm summer days were over.On this particular visit the sand was smooth and the beach was long. Holly had an amazing time playing in the sand. She really likes her sand toys, she takes the buckets and dumps them out then will go around and re nest them.The sand was really moist and with just a little water into the bucket we built a make shift tower but little miss was happy to squish it.Sarah met us at the park. Holly is always happy to see her. We were there early and had our little spot all set up and Sarah was eager to get into the water.Into her bathing suit and slathered with sun screen she was ready to go. The air was a warm breeze, the ocean was cool but not cold. It was a wonderful day.We had also invited little Lucian to join us. We were all originally supposed to go to the water park but found out it was closed and decided to head to the beach instead.It was Lucian's first time at the beach and he seemed to really enjoy it. In fact he was eager to follow the girls into the water and his mom had to quickly change him into his bathing suit.While Lucian was getting ready Holly was happy to take a break from playing in the sand to enjoy a little snack. I am a bit of an over packer and brought several options with me.Surprisingly Holly ate an entire piece of Sarah's banana its a snack that has been touch and go with her some days she gives it back and spits it out, others she seems to want to gobble it up.Sarah was a little agitated and her mom remembered that she hurt herself a few days earlier. She had somehow spilled some bleach on herself when she was with dad. She had a burn/rash/reaction to it. The bathing suit and swim diaper rubbing against it and the salt water was like an irritant so Isabel decided to take it all off of her.Lucian is such a fast little crawler now. He got his pant knees all dirty so first he was just crawling around in his onesie but he was fast and eager to head straight down to the water.On the beach was an inflatable raft. The guy who owned it had set up a tent on the hill and after rowing around in it was taking a nap, he said it was Ok for the girls to play and climb around in it.They had a lot of fun playing Motor Boat. I think Sarah is just simply adorable wearing only her little sun hat. The rest of her was slathered in sun screen, so her head was the only unprotected part.Next to us was a Dad and his little boy. When we first arrived Holly was lonely for friends to play with and she kept wanting to play with the big kids, they didn't want her to. So we bartered the use of our buckets filled with water. They were thrilled and let her join in on the fun.Later the little boy was calling over to us, he wanted to show Holly how he had buried himself in the sand. His other friends had left and he was so eager to share. It was adorable. She was a little weirded out by his invisible legs.Here Lucian is now in his little bathing suit and he was joyfully crawling around the water. Tracey was worried he would get too cold but he didn't want to get out of the water, he was having too much fun.Here Sarah is snacking on an apple. Isabel thinks that she must be teething and the pressure of biting down on the apple is soothing. She was basically chewing it up but not actually eating it.Holly was happy to share a snack and visit with her while she was chewing and biting. But eventually she was distracted and off to play with her buckets some more.Lucian really liked the sand too. We would fill the buckets up with water and then dump them into the sand. The wet sand was actually cleaner to play with and more fun. It was squishy.Here Holly is getting a refill on the water. It is so cute how she holds the bucket on her arm like a little purse. It was harder to do though once the water was inside.Here the little boy and his dad are packing up to head home and Holly wanted to go and visit and say goodbye. Really she wanted to play with the ice in their cooler and open and close the lid twenty times.It was actually really nice, they gave us some of their frozen bottled water to share, since they were leaving anyways. It was sealed, and all of our drinks were starting to get hot. The cold water was really nice, and everyone had some.I am still trying to teach Holly to dig and scoop with the shovel. She gets that they go inside the buckets and she likes to stir the dirt inside. With the wet sand it was easier to get it to stick on the shovel, so she was starting to get it.The tide was starting to come in which meant lots of wet sand to play in. It was fun to sit at the edge and let the water lap over our feet.Tracey forgot to bring her bathing suit so she rolled up her jeans and was able to follow Lucian around in the water, but she couldn't really sit in the water or wet sand with us.The kids decided to make little mud cakes and as Isabel called them "Christmas Trees" I think this is the sweetest picture of the three of them playing at the beach.The tide was coming in slow it was perfect. The wet sand is much nicer to play in then the dry sand. On this particular day the water was pretty clear of any seaweed as well.This is our little patch of sand. It is full of quilts and blankets and all of our bags. Its our little sanctuary, we sit and watch the kids play, they come running to us looking for snacks and juice and their mommy to play in the sand with.I think this is one of my favorite pictures. I have a while series of them. But Holly head butting Sarah here is my favorite. She is so curious about her snack, comes in close they meet eye to eye, it was a very sweet interchange.Holly simply loves the beach. We were there maybe 5 hours on this particular day. She could play in the sand and the water forever.These little girls belong to the Dad with the inflatable boat from earlier. They came to hang out with the babies. They love the babies and of course wanted to also play with their sand toys.There is the tent and their mom sitting and watching all the kids playing together. Holly was very curious about the tent. As the evening came in, it was getting a bit windy and grabbed her attention.Here we are packing up all of our stuff. Sarah dry and dressed, Holly causing trouble taking more things out of the bag then she is putting into them. This picture was taken just before we left. We had some left over bread that we shared with the Sea Gulls, and the sun was starting to settle over the water, it was beautiful.