Despite feeling a little guilty that Brooke was going to experience the ocean for the first time without her Daddy, I was SUPER excited to head to the beach. I was confident that Brooke would love it, but I was anxious to see her reaction. (I was also excited to take her two year old pictures at the beach, but that's for another post!)
Here we are headed down the path to Sunset Beach. Dad took the day off work so that he could come with us. (He is way at the top of the hill with the cooler and all the blankets and towels) I have the most adorable video of Brooke saying that she could see the ocean. I asked her what else she could see, and she responded with "fountains", haha. I told her that those were the waves in the ocean. Once we hit the sandy beach and the sand started getting in her shoes, she was a bit unsure. I assured her that it was okay if her shoes were sandy, but we could also take them off if she wanted. Then Grandma offered to carry her, which she thought was a great idea.
The beach was nearly empty, which was so perfect! Brooke was a great sport, and after maybe 3 minutes of pictures, we took off her shoes and headed into the water. She kept telling me "Come on, come one" as we got closer to the water. She was so happy to be in the water, but it was FREEZING as usual. She backed up a little, then eased back into the water while squeezing my hand tightly. She absolutely loved when the water went back out and kind of pulled the sand from under her feet. I loved her little giggles and her excitement with the whole experience.
We changed her into her swimsuit, then headed down near the water for some sand castle building. My little independent girl wanted to build the castle "by self", and Nay Nay was patient enough to let her try to dump over the buckets, then lift them up by herself. Once the castle/fortress was complete, Brooke stood in the middle of it all, then smashed all the towers with her foot. Haha, silly girl.
After lunch, we fed some bread to all the seagulls who were hovering nearby. This was probably a highlight for Brooke. When the birds were afraid to come closer, Brooke kept telling them "come here" and motioning with her hand for them to come closer.
When we ran out of bread, we rested a bit on our beach blanket, then played some more in the waves and in the sand. Overall, it was a successful first trip to the beach :)
Brooke passed out on the drive home, woke us as soon as we pulled into the driveway, but then went back to sleep when I laid her down in the house. This NEVER happens, but I was glad that she knew a 20 minute car nap wasn't going to cut it!
After a long nap and a bath, we were ready for dinner. The balloons from our photo shoot had to accompany her to the dinner table :)
Monday evening was a bit sad since we knew it was our last one together. Brooke absolutely loved being at Nay Nay and Papa's house, as did I. Tuesday, we basically spent the morning trying to pack up all the stuff we brought, and all the new treasures we were heading home with :) When we were finally ready to go, we were loading the car and Brooke decided that she was ready to sit NEXT to her car seat. Love that cute smile though :)
On the way to the airport, we stopped by the See's candy store to pick up some chocolates for Rachel (to say thanks for the airport drop-off) and Daddy. Once at the airport, we bought a chocolate "froobie" and headed to our gate.
Our flight wasn't full, so we had the whole row to ourselves. We were flying during Brooke's nap, so I was hoping she might take a little rest, but no such luck. She wasn't grumpy at all, but she was acting a little wild at times. Like, throwing herself back into her seat a million times and laughing, or trying to stand up and touch all the buttons above us.
Towards the end of the flight, she finally relaxed and watched some Care Bears with my Drowsy Beans doll from when I was a little girl.
We were both excited to see Kevin at the airport. I had to wait in line to complain about my car seat bag being torn, so Kevin had the privilege of chasing Brooke all over the place :) Once we finally started the drive home, Miss Traveler was OUT!
Kevin loved his chocolates (a whole box of Butterscotch Squares), and I had fun unpacking all our new books, toys, and dress-up clothes. You know you've been to visit Nay Nay when you come home with 18 new books :) I am so grateful that Brooke loves books so much, and that my Mom supplies us with lots of them!
It really was such a great trip, and I am thankful for the opportunity we had to spend that week together. Until next time...
love this! she is such a cutie! and i'm glad you had a great trip!
ReplyDelete