Beachin' it

Sometimes you have the best ideas and they just don't come off so easily. For years now, we've been meaning to make use of the Long Island beaches nearby and it just feels like the summers evaporate before we get there. Case in point, our first visit to one was last September and it was a brief exploration of the area before we hit the outlet mall on the way home. So today we decided to try again and returned to Robert Moses State Park about an hour away. It's a relatively clean and well maintained beach area with a pretty nice crowd of families and well behaved teens for a weekday afternoon. Elisa fell asleep for all of 20 minutes just before we pulled into the parking lot, but she didn't take long to stir once she heard we were at the beach. She was so excited to get out and play in the "sand box." Oh, my city girl...

It was a gorgeous day for the trip and the water, although a bit on the cool side, didn't feel too terrible. Nacho and Taylor both joyfully jumped in and assured me it was fine. But this preggo lady was sitting out the waves today. Some risks you just don't need to take when you're 8 months pregnant, you know? And as much as it pained me to sit on the sidelines, it was fun to hang out with Elisa and dig around in the sand and keep her entertained in the knee-high waves. There weren't too many shells around and I would definitely still give North Carolina high marks for low population density, but it was all around an enjoyable beach day. Oh, except that they ran out of ice cream at the concession stands before we left. What?? Elisa didn't take too kindly to that news, but she was distracted enough with fatigue to get in the car and chug some Coca Cola instead. So off we drove to grab a late lunch and make it home just as the rush hour traffic was beginning to pile up. I'm still shaking out the sand from our towels and bags, but hey, that's what summer is for--hitting the day hard and coming home exhausted and amused by all that you've done.