Mon 4 May 2009
After talking about it for exactly two months, Leva finally got back to the beach. Here’s a typical conversation:
Us: “Hey Leva, guess where we’re going?”
Leva: “?”
Us: “The BEACH! In April!”
Leva: “Da BEACH?”
Then later…
Leva (to anyone she happened to encounter, on any occassion): “Guess WHAT??”
Anyone: “What?”
Leva: “We goin to da BEACH! In April! In two monss!” (eyes huge in her description, eyebrows raised, smiling and nodding emphatically)
Then to one month, then to four weeks, two weeks, one week, five days, two days… We’d go to pick her up in the nursery at church and the ladies would say “So, I heard about a hundred times that you’re going to the beach in April.” Leva learned how to find the last friday in April on a calendar and would point at it, so we knew when we were going. She learned what a sand castle was and waves and buckets. She bought two new suits and sunglasses. This kid was prepared for the beach. We arrived late for dinner on Friday night, set her up for Chick Fil-A at the bar, and put her to bed. In the morning, we took her over to the glass doors that look out through the lanai to the beach, slowly opened the curtains and her expression of disbelief and suprise was so great, it brought tears to my eyes. “THE BEACH! THE BEACH! WE GO MAKE SAND CASTLES!!!” She raced to put on her suit. We spent a whole week there, with twice daily visits (before and after naptimes), and she and Geert ran themselves ragged. In the waves, on the sand, finding shells, chasing birds, dumping buckets, wrecking any sandcastles we could build fast enough (before she could wreck them). And Geert, there’s a boy born for the beach. He’d crawl off and into the waves if you weren’t watching him closely enough. Both kids had a fabulous time and made our progressive sleep deprivation completely worthwhile. We can’t wait to go again.
Pictures here: DA BEACH!