Fam of 4 Beach Trip: take 1

We decided to take on a few reinforcements for our first family-of-four-beach-trip. Mom and Dad Taylor and Aunt Bess joined us for our first family day at Rehoboth Beach. We decided to take the plunge early with Mercy at a wee 4 1/2 weeks to see how things fared. We rated the day a 7 out of 10 before we blew five huge holes in our back tire on the way home. That was a bummer and knocked down the rating of the day. For the most part our beach day went as well as can be expected with the anticipated glitches here and there.

I'd say that the highlight of the trip was definitely Noella. She LOVED the beach. Last year it took us till August for her to put her feet in the sand. This year she hit the ground running, refusing to even glance in our direction as she explored every component of the sand. We had to pry her attention away from sticks and shells to play with the beach toys Mana and Papa Taylor bought her. The little pool was a hit too to add some water fun during this early season of ocean water being too freezing for all but surfing Daddy's in wetsuits.

A frequent pose on the beach...

Mercy wasn't quite as engrossed in the sand and all it had to offer. She preferred her car seat and a tent to the waves, sand, and sun.

This was pretty much how she chilled except for when it got a bit more chilly in the breeze...

We had a couple bouts of fussiness from little Mercy but overall she did pretty well. When she was asleep and Noella was playing I actually got a little sunning in and Ry got a bit of surfing in...or at least an attempt in the small waves. The low point was the changing process in the parking lot off the beach. I attempted to change Noey's diaper while she was standing up and only succeeded in having pee running down her leg about 5 minutes later. Oh well....it's only take 1 at the beach. I'll get better with practice.

We finished the night with the usual Grottos and ice cream on the beach. Wait...is this pic before or after all the goodies? That belly looks pretty full of pizza and ice cream. :)

All in all, the beach day was a good one. I got some sun, Ry got in the water, Noella discovered her love of sand, and Mercy did her usual go-with-the-flow. Now if I can just figure out how to change a sandy diaper in a piping hot parking lot while my toddler is running around the car...