A day at the beach

My husband grew up in Sarasota and most of our best friends live down there. Apparently, when you live in Sarasota it's mandatory to go to the beach at least once a month and invite your friends. For the last 2 plus years we've made excuses as to why it wasn't a great idea to take Justice out there. It's hot, it's a long drive, we're going to have to chase him around, he'll throw sand ... you get it. 

For some reason when the invitation was issued this time, Brandon and I looked at each other and shrugged. I guess you can only put off the inevitable for so long. We live in Florida - the kid's got to go the beach at some point. 

So at 8:30 this morning I gathered the towels, sunblock, folding chairs and enough goldfish crackers to feed an army of toddlers and set off for beautiful Lido Beach. You know what? It was REALLY hot. It took an hour and a half to get there. He threw a lot of sand. And ate a lot of sand. And rolled in a lot of sand. You know what else? It was AWESOME! 

No really. It was one of the best family days we've ever had. One of those days where your cheeks hurt from smiling so much. 

Justice absolutely loved it. He collected seashells and got to touch a crab that one of the bigger boys found. He pointed out boats and planes as they went by. He's still in that oh-so-fun toddler stage where he loves to dump things. At home, not so great. At the beach, amazing! He and Daddy sat at the tide line and filled bucket after bucket with water and then dumped it out. Why this is fun for him, I don't know but he was a laughing fool for more than 30 minutes. 30 minutes to this guy is an eternity.

At 2:30 we packed up our stuff and headed home with our cheeks a little pinker, our hair a lot sandier and our hearts absolutely bursting. On the long drive home, with a passed out baby boy, I began wondering what other things I've been putting off. What amazing experiences are out there that I am making excuses for? Hmm... let the next adventure begin.