A VERY Short Trip to the Beach

On Saturday, it was a beautiful day in Vancouver. Chris and I wanted to take the boys out rather than staying at home. The local lake was going to be PACKED, so we decided on going to the beach instead.

I was pretty excited to take the boys, as it would be Graham's first real trip to the beach, and James could have some fun playing in the sand. I ran to the store to grab stuff to make lunch, and to grab some snacks and drinks. After standing at the deli for 15 minutes due to a lady buying literally every type of meat, I finished up and we were off.

Now, Chris and I have never been to this beach - or if I have, I haven't been there in at least 15 years. We got lost, then found it, but there was no parking on the particular side. So off we went to find the parking and entrance. FINALLY! We found it, scored a great parking spot and unpacked.

We really should of thought about what time we were leaving at because when we got there it was almost 2:00 in the afternoon. the boys had not had their nap and it was so obvious. As we were walking to find a spot on the sand, James had a total melt down. He doesn't like the feeling of sand in his shoes, so Chris took them off so he could walk barefoot. Well, the sand was too hot for his little feel - he started to cry. Loudly.

Here we were - not even five minutes at the beach and my 3.5 year old is screaming at Daddy. I calmly get down to his level and ask why he is crying "I don't want to walk in the sand. I don't want to be at the beach. I want the playground" I explained that he could play on the playground once we get settled - but that wasn't good enough. He continued to scream, and cry and yell. I tried to calm him down, but it wasn't working.

We set down our stuff on a grassy spot (well there wasn't a lot of grass) and Chris took James to the bathroom to cool him off. James again, had another meltdown.

After that, he was calm and we proceeded to the beach. I ended up carrying more of what Chris was carrying so he could carry James to a spot - James was NOT going to be walking in the sand today. I found a spot, put out the blanket and chairs and James hopped into one. Safe from the sand below his feet.

Graham was having a good time just looking around. He was all smiles for a child who hadn't napped. I made some sandwiches, and gave James his apple juice. After we ate, Chris wanted to take James to the Ocean - the tide was really far out, which was sucky - but there was a big puddle of Ocean water that everyone was playing in.

 

Of course - once Chris got James to the giant puddle James broke down again.

*At this point I wanted to go home. James was obviously tired and was not going to be having much fun at all. We had only been at the beach for maybe 20 minutes*

They came back, James ate some cheezies and sat and watched the kites flying around. He had fun watching that - I was glad to see a smile on my little guys face.

At 3:00 it was time to go. We were having company come over for a BBQ and to watch the UFC fights. It was a struggle to get everything packed up - but we did it. I put Graham back in the Ergo and headed with my load to the car.

On the way to the car James had ANOTHER meltdown. Poor guys was exhausted and just couldn't be happy. I felt bad - like really bad. We got the car loaded up, boys into their seat and Graham was out like *snap* that.

What a day that was. I think our total time at the beach was one hour and ten minutes. ONE HOUR AND TEN MINUTES!

We will try again, but I think we will go in the morning, when it first opens. The boys will be rested and we will NOT skip nap time... AND we will get James water shoes - so the sand can't get in.

So our first family beach trip is one to remember - kind of like out first Christmas photo with Santa... we were 'that family'

Here's hoping for a better trip next time.

Much love
xoxo