The Beach

I am ashamed of how rarely my children have been to the beach, for all that we live only an hour away. I don't believe Barak had ever been at all. On Saturday we decided to risk the weather and go for it. Lizzy's little friend came with us (we gave her mom the day off), and we were set to spend a couple of hours poking at things in tide pools, digging in the sand, picking up seashells, etc. It rained just a bit when we first arrived, but not enough to make anyone miserable. We were having a great time. The girls were in their rubber boots, running daringly close to the waves, shrieking in mock-terror, and scurrying away. Isaac kept hollering at them to stay away from the water, but in my opinion rubber boots are made to get wet. I had just reached to get the video camera out, when I looked over my shoulder and saw the girls standing in water up to their ankles, and the wave was on its way IN. Pretty soon, the water had swamped their boots, and Lizzy instinctively turned toward land. Such an abrupt pivot with feet weighed down by salt water and sand caused her to tip over pretty spectacularly. Flat on her back in six inches of water. Her friend, in a move of pure solidarity, immediately joined her, laughing all the way. Now I am an experienced beach walker, so I had a complete change of clothes for each of them, but I didn't have extra shoes, or dry coats, so we went home. In total, I think we were there 45 minutes. At least Barak has seen the ocean now. My biggest regret is that I didn't get the camera out in time.