Vacation Day 5

After breakfast this morning we headed to the beach. I'm not sure who was more excited about going - my girls or Danielle. :) We drove into Michigan and went to Silver Beach in St. Joseph. We had to detour a little because of an overpass that was closed, but we finally made it there. We found a parking lot that was free parking all day and decided to park there. It probably wasn't the greatest decision considering we had to walk at least a mile to get to the beach carrying all of our gear (stroller, sand toys, beach towels, and clothes to change into). Along the way they had an awesome splash pad that Danielle and Jenna took the girls and Gabe through. It was huge! Once at the beach I realized that my stroller was not going to make it through the sand, so mom and dad took it back to the van and brought the cooler back with them. Talk about a huge hassle! We finally all made it to the spot we found and got all set up. The first thing we did was head to the water to cool our feet off - the sand was so hot! Then the girls and Gabe had a blast digging in the sand. Coye did not appreciate the fact that the sand was so hot and the water was so cold. Add that to the fact that he didn't nap on the way to the beach and he was pretty miserable for the first hour or so. When mom and dad got back with the cooler, we ate the lunch we packed. The kids were more interested in playing in the sand and I'm pretty sure they ate some sand along with their sandwiches. After that we spent most of our time at the water's edge where the kids dug in the sand. The girls loved the fact that the water was so shallow for such quite a ways into the water. They loved running into the water and filling buckets or splashing off and washing the sand away. I finally got Coye to sit in the sand and dad gave him a couple of buckets of water and he was finally happy and having fun. He didn't move around much - just sat with his water and buckets. Gabe had a blast splashing in the water, walking around in the sand, waving to everyone he saw, and digging. Every time the girls would make a hole to put water in, Gabe was right there either sitting in the hole or splashing in the water until it disappeared. After a few hours, we were all exhausted and ready to go home. First though we had to shower off the sand and change clothes. Poor Coye had sand all the way through his suit and diaper. Once changed, we made our trip back to the car carrying all of our stuff. Coye fell asleep almost immediately - he had been awake since he woke up that morning. The girls watched a movie on the way home. After supper and baths, we all crashed!

Chloe bringing back a handful of wet sand

Aunt Dani and Gabe

The girls in the water

Coye was not excited about the whole trip at first

Finally warming up to the idea of being in the sand

Aubrey buried her own legs

Running through the water

Splashing each other under Grandpa's supervision

Mom's sand castle

In the water with Grandpa

Coye did not like sitting with anyone but me at first

Gabe loved the whole experience!

Finally he's happy

Papa and Coye

The boys playing together in the sand

Jenna and Dani

Grandpa and Aunt Hannah buried the girls

He even got sand on his face

The splash pad with the lake in the distance - see how far we had to walk!?

Exhausted and ready to go home