Day at the Beach

Three of our kids have never been to the beach, and the other 3 were too young to remember. So last Tuesday was a very special, exciting day as we took them to Scarborough, to the beach. It was made even more special because we met my brother, his wife and son there.

Scarborough is less than 2 hours away, but it was a long drive for 6 excited children. I wish you could have seen their faces when we came over the top of a hill and the North Sea was immediately in front of us. After parking they wouldn't let us do anything else except go to the beach.

It was a cool day, probably low 60's and there was a light rain when we arrived, but that did not stop them wanting to get in the water. Most of them had shorts on so we told them they could paddle. The North Sea is a cold body of water and we had no idea that the kids would have any desire to let the water get above their knees. We were wrong. Before we knew it their clothes were wet (thankfully we had brought spares) but they had a blast. The look on their faces and sounds of "WOW" and "COOL" were like music to my ears as I watched them run carefree in and out of the water.

Obviously it didn't take them long to get cold. But after a change of clothes and a short walk they were warm again - at least for a while!! After a picnic we were able to take them on a boat ride out on the North Sea. The sea was a pretty rough that day and I was concerned about Nicholas' motion sickness. We didn't mention anything hoping that he wouldn't think about it. Thankfully he spent most of his time looking out over the side of the boat watching the Sea and didn't feel sick at all.

After the boat ride we stopped for ice cream and due to constant pressure from the kids, returned to the beach. This time the sun was out and it was slightly warmer. The kids had so much fun running from the waves, sometimes making it back before the waves hit them, sometimes not.

The drive home was long as we had some tired children, but we kept hearing "when can we go to the beach again?" That was a day I will remember and treasure for a long time.

Michelle