So here are the beach pictures! The boys are all wearing the same sweet little wetsuits and beach shoes, and the three youngest have matching UV hats. Arthur is too big for the little kiddy hats now so he wore a normal sunhat. They had a GREAT time! We arrived late morning and had a picnic on the grassy bit that leads down to the beach. It was quite busy but we walked quite a way down and found a much quieter area. It always amazes me that people just arrive at the beach and sit down on the first bit of sand they step on, no matter how crowded it is! We timed our visit for low tide (wouldn't have been much sand otherwise!) and started home at about 3.45pm, just after the tide was furthest out. Most of the photos were taken at sort of "mid" tide.
The boys were just SO excited to run on the beach and paddle in the sea! They mostly wanted to transport water in buckets and their little plastic sand cart, alllll the way back up the beach to the dry sand and mix it. Arthur chatted away to other children on the beach and ended up playing with them, either where their families were, or bringing other little ones back to where we were! He's so easy with social stuff - always has been. :)
Nathan was scared of the sea when he got to it! He cried and cried when it went on his toes, and wanted to be held when near the water after that, or allowed to go back up the beach away from it! By the end he was running down to the water to collect it in buckets though, so he was okay! Benjamin seemed happy enough with the water, but he was always in arms while he "paddled" so perhaps that was less scary?! He DID love holding sand tools and patting the sand with them, or just examining them, and he spent most of the time sitting watching his brothers and clapping! He seemed to really enjoy it for the most part!
It turned out to be lovely weather. The kiddies all wore high factor sun cream but Nathan's arms still went pink (which we felt bad about!). We had a UV tent which they went in if they needed to wrap up in a towel and warm up for a bit after getting wet in the sea. Benjamin sat in there for a little while (see pics!) but mostly preferred the sand! He did not eat it, which I was thankful for! You never know whether any baby will turn out to be a sand-eater or not! Mine isn't - phew! ;)
There were some photos where Nathan just looked SO much older to me all of a sudden, with his expressions! I liked trying to get photos of them all running down to the sea - the one with Benjamin in the foreground on the sand, and there's another of them running down with Arthur at the back waving a sievey thing or something, hehe! Nathan is nearest the sea, and it really hit me looking at them that day, how much Nathan is starting to grow out of little toddler-hood and into little BOY-hood :( I mean, this is a GOOD and HAPPY thing!! But bittersweet for me. I love that tiny little boy, just TINY and cute like he is! I feel sad that he'll soon leave that stage behind!! :( I can't wait to see him more "grown up" like Arthur and Matthew though. They are always playing together as a little threesome, and have been for a long time, so he would love to fully catch-up! His running is getting less "bobbly" and toddlerish, and smoother like the older boys. They still leave him waaaay behind when they all start out running somewhere together though - he must have had a good head-start that time on the beach! ;)
We came home tired, sandy and happy, gave the boys a quick baked beans on toast tea, and they all fell into bed and slept pretty well! I was so tired that evening that I actually felt unwell from pretty much the moment we arrived home. I was on my feet all the time and it was hot, and I'm not really used to the activity levels of that particular day! Not a good thing! But oh well. I recovered fine (with a bit of sunburn - I NEVER burn! But have since read that pregnant women burn more easily than when they're not pregnant, so perhaps that was it?!). We definitely want to go again! We all had a lovely time! :)
