As part of the master plan to surprise my parents with a retirement party we planned our trip to the beach for the last week of July. It's known to be a hot week but we had to pull the surprise off! On our way up, we stopped in VA to visit old friends. We are so lucky they are willing to put us up for the night! Anna and their little guy had a good time playing and we enjoyed being able to catch up with them. Our visits are always too short now that we aren't living in the same town.
On the party day, we picked up my sister who had flown in and stayed the night with a friend from high school near Philly. Once we had Abby in the car, we were ready to pull off the surprise. The party was thrown by friends of my parents'. They were wonderful party hosts and what a surprise it was! It was great to see everyone at the party! Anna had a wonderful time hanging out with my cousins. She also had no fear of all the new faces. She took the hand of numerous people she had never met and took them for walks around the yard. Watching her at ease with so many strangers, left me a little nervous. She should fear strangers, right? a little. at least. You know, Stranger Danger, and all. We will have to work on it.
After the party, we were able to head down to the beach for a few days. Allen had to work at the beginning of the week so it was just Pop, Nona, Anna, and me. Our first night in town, we took Anna to see the boats on the canal and she loved it. So far so good. We got everything together and headed to the beach the next morning. She was convinced the ocean was a pool and told us over and over again. It took us a couple of days to get her to say ocean and beach but usually she said pool first. Once we picked out a spot to sit, I took her shoes off and put her down in the sand. No sooner than her feet touched the sand, she started crying. I was shocked! I didn't expect her to hate the sand at all. But boy, did she ever. Our first day at the beach didn't last long and Anna only played with a bucket of water while sitting on my Mom's lap. If we tried to sit her down in the sand, she would practically pull her legs up over her head.
Our second night at the beach we took Anna to the boardwalk. It was love at first sight. She loved running on the boards. We could see the kites at the north end of the boardwalk and so could she. She took off towards the kites and didn't stop till we got there. At the boardwalk we bought Anna a pair of special shoes to walk in the sand. Basically just a pair of water shoes but we really talked them up for sand walking! It worked just a bit. The next day we could put her in the sand without screaming instantly. We all hoped that when Daddy arrived at the beach he would have better luck with the sand. We were right! He did! He had her walking in the sand, splashing in the water, and picking up shells. She still wasn't comfortable but she was willing to explore as long as she had Daddy's hand.
On our last night at the beach we took Anna to the boardwalk rides. We thought she would love them because she really likes slides, spinning around, etc. She seems to be a thrill seeker. She wasn't scared of the rides but she wasn't thrilled either. We took her on the merry go round and she was excited to sit on the horse. As the ride started, her excitement dwindled, and she ended up asking to be on the horse with me before the ride ended.
We had a wonderful time at the beach and the weather even cooperated. It wasn't killer hot. We said our goodbyes on Friday and headed home. We stopped at the NC Zoo on Saturday and were able to see a month old baby giraffe AND a three hour old baby gorilla. Anna was so happy to see the giraffes. "Raffes" as she calls them are by far her favorite animal.
I've included pictures from the beach trip and I'll round up some zoo pictures for another post.
Click here for pictures!
