Our first beach day

I believe that last year around this time was when we took Dude to the beach and he LOVED it.  Lucy was becoming a more stable walker so she wasn't as about it as he was... but man oh man this year she was!  It's interesting to see how Lucy is doing the exact same things that Dude was doing just a year ago.

I'm not gonna lie I was a little apprehensive about how this trip was going to go because of Norah.  Last summer we really didn't do a lot of outdoorsy things because I wasn't sure how to make it happen with a small one... and well, Norah is a NEWBORN.  I was hoping that she would sleep in her carseat because that would provide her with shade and then she wouldn't be in the sand... but she didn't stay asleep that long.  It was interesting to try and nurse her and stuff but she did it quite well, and eventually went to sleep.  That meant I could put her in the backpack and then after that it was easy breezy.

The water was FREEZING.  Did the kids care?  Not a bit.  I hadn't planned on them going in the water (other than just their legs) but they fully went in.  Lucy went in with her skirt, shirt and all... and Dude went in too.  I did pack more clothes because last year they were cold so I figured they would need it to warm up... but they needed it to get dry!  The weather was actually a lot warmer this year and it was a beautiful day out.

Getting the castle ready

Lucy clearly not worried about getting her skirt wet...

He wrote his name

Norah happily sleeping in the backpack

Momma and all her kiddos

I thought this little pose is ever so telling of Lucy's personality

Papa and the Crazies

Dude got a little chilly so he laid down in the sand and wanted me to take a picture of him.  silly boy.

Our lesson on erosion

The kids had a lot of fun building a castle and playing in the water.  We had a mini lesson about erosion  which the kids loved.  They were getting water from the lake to put into their castle and Lucy kept putting it on the wall and it was going away and Dude wanted to know why.  So, thus our little lesson. :)

I noticed what time it was and realized that we should head home and try and get some dinner.  Of course when asking Dude what he wanted to eat he'll either say 'sushi' or 'Olive Garden' so we found an OG and grabbed some dinner.  Now, this was the most interesting visit ever.  My kids took turns pooping... it was impressive.  Norah had defeated a cloth diaper (which is impressive) so I went to change her and her outfit.  When I got back Dude said that he had to go and Lucy said that she had to pee, so Gaetan took them while I fed Norah.  While they were gone Norah and filled another diaper, like she had not just gone!  So upon their return I went and changed her again... I was impressed by her quantity.  When I got back Lucy decided that she had to go and that Dude had to pee... so Gaetan took them.  We got our food and we had a few bites when Norah decided that she wasn't done and for her grand final she almost defeated another cloth diaper.  What. The. Heck.  Apparently Olive Garden makes my family have to go.  Our server was great and understanding because usually when she came to our table more than half of the people weren't there!  haha.  We did a mini birthday celebration for Lucy's birthday which she loved.  :)  It was a great end to our very fun day.

She LOVES her salad

We got the server to put a candle in the mints... Lu thought it was great.  Dude came over to help her blow it out.

JVG