Weekend Wrap-Up: Water, Water, Water

Spring in South Florida should really more accurately be called Pre-Summer since we don't get typical spring weather.  Instead, we just get the early signs of summer: Increasing heat and humidity.  It's not unbearable outside; it's just that the time spent outdoors is best enjoyed when water is involved in some capacity.

So, we basically spent the weekend in or near water.  Yesterday, we went to a park that Norah and I got introduced to on Friday when we went with some friends and their kids.  Norah had such a blast there, I thought she'd like returning on Saturday.  It's an awesome park: It has some great playground equipment, wonderful, big shady trees, and most glorious of all: A water area -- and, best of all, it's all free!  Can't be beat!  So, here she is, below, enjoying the water park feature.

Then, this morning I managed to convince Jerry that we should go to the beach.  We haven't been in about 6 months, and I've been itching for some sand and surf before it gets too hot out.  Jerry, however, isn't a big fan of the beach, and he has good reasons: It's a lot of stuff to pack, load in the car, haul back and forth, and parking down at the beach is never fun.  I understand all of those reasons; I just also think that, hey, we live 30 minutes from the ocean.  We should go a few times a year.

So, we went, and it turns out that in the time that Norah last made a beach voyage, she developed an intense aversion to the sand.  She wanted NOTHING to do with it: She didn't want her precious little feet to touch it, she didn't want to play in it, and she didn't want it on our blanket.  It turns out she also wasn't a big fan of the waves.  Being in the ocean was fine, but being on the edge where waves meet beach was unacceptable; those waves were too scary.

Turns out, she mainly wanted to play on the blanket and eat snacks.

Which was fine, I suppose, but I had wanted to build sand castles with her and splash in the waves.  Oh well, maybe the next time we journey to the beach -- probably in another 6 months or so -- she'll find those things fun.  On our way home, she made it approximately 30 seconds before falling asleep in her carseat, and she even made the almost-impossible-car-to-bed-transfer, and here we are an hour post-beach and she's still napping!  Thus, proving, I suppose, that you can sit and snack on a beach blanket and that ocean air will still make you tired!