Beach Day

Ever since I was a little girl my family has been taking trips to the Jenner area to enjoy the sand and sun, though the latter is sometimes in short supply on the northern california coast. I've been wanting to share this with Claire and have been waiting for a nice warm day to introduce her to the Pacific. I'm not sure that she got much out of the experience at this age, and the weather didn't cooperate 100% (really windy day). Still, it was great to take that first step in passing on adventures to my little girl. 

 I was a little nervous about taking Claire because the beach can present a lot of problems for a baby. I had to consider things like too much sun, too much wind, too cold, and bordom. To combat the first possible problem, I bought this for Baby off of amazon:

Its basically a little pup tent that ensured Baby didn't get a sun burn while Kim and I enjoyed the beach. While it was pretty easy to put up and take down, it can't secure to the ground in any way. We ended up setting a few of our bags in it to keep it anchored against the wind. It's a three foot square so there was still plenty of room for Miss Claire. I think this little tent will get a lot of use in the future for things like BBQ's and park trips.

This trip was the first time I sucessfully got Baby to wear a hat and be happy about it. I'm going to be so sad when she outgrows this little fishy outfit.

Baby taking in the ocean.

After we got settled at the beach (and after I made a dash back to the car because we realized we'd left the pacifier there), the first thing Claire wanted to do was eat, and then she pretty quickly decided that her hour long nap in the car wasn't enough.

Its only been pretty recent that I've started to be able to distinguish between Baby's different cries. The I'm tired cry is definitly the easiest for me to pick out now. I was a little sad at first that Claire needed a nap right away, but then I realized that I had a golden opportunity to just lay in the warm sand and relax. So that's exactly what this momma did.

We did take Claire down to the water which happened to be wonderfully calm while we were there, but after sticking our own toes in it, we quickly decided it was too cold to dangle little Baby toes in.  I think next time we'll go with the Russian River. A little warmer, but still just as wet.

I definitely want to fit in a couple more water related activities with Claire this summer. In a few weeks she'll be old enough to go to baby swim lessons at the local aquatic center, and maybe splash in the river later this season!