Hannah at the Beach

Hannah has been to the beach 2 times before our latest trip - but this was the trip where she really was able to enjoy it. The first trip was when she was 7 weeks old and the 2nd trip was in March when the water was cold. We arrived this time at Kill Devil Hills at about 10pm on Sunday night. Unfortunately Hannah didn't sleep at all in the car although she was a pleasant rider. So she was really tired when she woke up at 5:30 the next morning but we attempted to go to the beach anyway. She screamed when she touched the sand and when she saw the surf both in the morning and for a short trip around noon. But she was a changed girl after a good afternoon nap when we all went out again on Monday afternoon. She loved the sand as you can see from the pics below. I will post some short videos soon but didn't feel I had time to wait for them to download and type about the trip before she wakes up from her morning nap. Nonni brought her a little bucket of water to play with in the sand which she loved to just dump out then sign that she wanted more. Fortunately Aunt Alicia had brought a 5 gallon bucket that we were able to fill then fill the little bucket from that. That was quite entertaining. While making one trip to the surf to fill the big bucket up Hannah decided she wanted to come down to the surf. Then we had the bright idea to put her in the bucket at the surf which became great fun for her and for us!! She loved sloshing up and down in the bucket as the waves came up and around the bucket. It was great too b/c she didn't feel the sand disappear from under her feet (which she turned out not to mind). Later that same day Brent was able to carry her out into the waves that weren't too rough and she loved it - in fact she seemed to want to dive out of his arms and into the water. So we look forward to getting her some swim lessons now and as she gets older - she certainly isn't lacking in confidence. Monday evening we celebrated Aunt Alicia's birthday - Happy Birthday - her birthday was really on Tuesday but Opa had to leave to go home Tuesday afternoon so we celebrated early!! Tuesday morning we went back out to the beach again and had a blast!!





The owner of the place where we stayed told us about a great bay side beach on the other side of the island - so we went on Tuesday afternoon and it was soft, fine sand and shallow water for as long as the eye could see. Hannah absolutely loved it!! She loved playing in the sand and in the bucket and was fearless about walking right into the surf. She also just liked chillin' in our arms out in the water. I held her for a long time as she just leaned back and enjoyed the water all around her. She also enjoyed time with her cousins in an inflatable boat while in the water and also when the boat was beached. I hope to have more pictures soon from Nonni and Aunt Alicia's cameras as we didn't photo her a lot b/c we were busy trying to keep her from rubbing sand in her eyes or running into the water without us etc. Aunt Alicia was smart and actually buried the bucket at one point so it was level with the sand so Hannah could have the best of both worlds. We went out to the calm beach again Wednesday morning before leaving that afternoon - quite a fun trip!!