You might ask, "What took you SO LONG to spend an afternoon at the beach with your grandchildren?!" And I wouldn't blame you one single bit for asking! I love going to the beach, and I dreamed of an afternoon like this, and actually thought there would be many of them like this all summer long. There were many circumstances that prevented us from doing it, and I won't even begin to try to explain them.
I'm just very thankful that on my birthday weekend I was finally able to pile the kiddos into my little car (all packed with beach gear) and drive on out to Muskegon to … play!
So … WHY didn't we go to Grand Haven since I claim it is my favorite spot on earth!? Well … first of all … because yesterday was Sunday (a weekend day) and I do not like crowds! Grand Haven on the weekends is just PACKED with people. Plus, I don't really like to swim at Grand Haven! The water there is less than clean, and the recreational boats come very close to the swimming area with all of their fumes, etc.
Pere Marquette Beach in Muskegon is not so busy with people; PLUS the beach area is at least three times larger; PLUS there are TWO lighthouses. The water is clear here, and it stays shallow much further than at Grand Haven.
The grandchildren were so excited to hear we were going to the beach! We arrived at just about 3:00 in the afternoon. The children started swimming right away … no hesitation whatsoever.
I brought a bunch of snacks for us to eat while on the beach. The seagulls thought we'd brought the snacks for them! They were quite aggressive, and not one bit shy in their intentions. They surrounded our blanket, and got very territorial about the whole thing. We had no intentions, whatsoever, of sharing any of our snacks with them.
We did all the usual stuff that people do at the beach. I love to dig in the sand, don't you? The children had such a good time digging and building and … smashing.
We didn't have huge wave action, but the small waves were still fun to body surf in. Christopher really got into this!
It was a hot and humid day and our weather pattern had been like this for an amazing 4-5 days in a row; so the water temperature was … manageable. I hate cold water!
I love to see Christopher with this huge smile!
Matthew dug and dug in the sand … he is a very good builder.
After we had been swimming, digging, and playing for almost three hours, we decided to walk the breakwater to see the lighthouse at the end ...
I was so surprised when the children decided to turn back because the railings had ended and it seemed "too dangerous" to walk on the breakwater with no railings! Yikes. I told them it would be just fine, but they decided we should turn back. We did. I made them promise me that some day they would walk to the end with me. I told them many stories of how I have walked the breakwater in rough weather, and I managed to live through it!
The view was much clearer than two days prior! The fog had completely obscured my vision of all my familiar and favorite spots!
I'm so glad we got to do this … finally! It might be the only time we make it to the beach together all season. I hope next year, we can come here more regularly and do some fun exploring.
No comments:
Post a Comment