A Day at the Beach*

Grandma and Grandpa took me and Eliza to the beach today.  We only have a few months of beach weather 'round these parts, so we thought we should take full advantage.  I hope this is just the first of many trips to the beach this summer.  

Eliza had a blast.  It is true that she is a very happy girl all around, but oh my, playing at the beach today brought out a giddiness we don't see very often in our girl.  She was all smiles when she played in the water...and, of course, when Grandpa swung her up in the air!

She felt right at home.  In fact, she made a run for it and headed straight for the water at her first opportunity - no adult supervision or hand-holding needed, apparently.  She loved the sand.  So much so, that after digging her hands and feet into it, she thought she'd see how it tasted, too.  Why not?  Eh, she didn't think it was all that good.  But, she sure liked the feeling of it on her toes.

The weather was perfect - not too hot or sunny (though that didn't stop me from covering that baby from head to toe in sunscreen), but warm enough that the water felt nice.  We sat under the shade of a massive (but closed) umbrella, and I spent a lot of time just watching Eliza and taking photos of her.  It was great, and very relaxing.  I sat there and dreamt of someday being able to bring my Kindle to read in the shade while Eliza and Dada swim :)

Reaching for a rock to "sploosh"

Laughing at Grandpa as Grandma looks on

This is a beach my parents used to take me and my brother to when we were young.  My dad said how he never thought he'd be taking his daughter's daughter to the very same beach someday.  I never thought I'd be taking my daughter here, either.  How surreal... and how very lucky I am.  

Can you even stand the cuteness that is those baby shoulders??

I still have to blog about the fantastic weekend we had, but just wanted to get this up since I loved the photos I got today - the light was perfect, and my subject was just so darn cute, I couldn't stand it!

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*Okay, so this beach isn't really a real beach.  It's a "man-made lake", as everyone around here calls it; the water is skimmed and treated similar to a pool, and the sand was brought in.  It's actually pretty cool, though, at least to our land-locked population. You get all the benefits of a lake without some of the downsides (seaweed, slippery rocks, algae).