Summer Kick Off

This afternoon I took the kids off to Mother's Beach in Long Beach, California. Maggie and Ryan had a great time and despite my dragging feet (putting my post twenties, post baby bod on the beach is not high on my list of things to do) it turned out to be a very good way to spend the afternoon and was a great kick start to the summer holiday fun.

Ryan was asleep when we first arrived and I managed to put him in the stroller without waking him up which gave Maggie and I some decent quality one on one time. She was so much fun and really helped me relax and take in the surroundings. We dug in the sand splashed in the water (she went in up to her knees), found a few muscle shells and dug out a moat together. Shortly before Ryan woke up we found a shady spot in the grassy area under a tree and Maggie ate her way through two pluots, some fish crackers and a lollipop I had stashed away as a wee little surprise for her. When Ryan woke up, he took in his new surroundings and looked briefly bemused before crunching his way through a juicy apple and running off in the grass and then down towards the sand. He was quite eager to get his feet wet, wading into the water past his belly button before lunging forward into a belly flop -- his belly flop took me quite by surprise. I think he was after the buoy that he was mistaking for a ball and maybe trying his first hand as swimming (he's watched Maggie at her swimming classes many, many times).

The Mother's Beach in LB is really a great place to take tots and nervous swimmers. There is no tide and the only waves are ones created by boats moving by. The beach is not that long either so there is less area to loose sight of your child. The added bonuses is that parking is close so there's no lugging all your gear and there is grass and shaded area near by with restrooms and your traditional park with slides and swings. I spent a good two and half hours there with my little ones, maybe longer and I'm quite sure if it wasn't my curtailing them to get in the car we'd could have spent another hour or two.

On getting the kids back to the car the standard half hour exercise turned into a game of chasing the pigeons. Maggie found this particularly exciting, requesting to get out of the car one more time to try and catch one while Ryan was happily flicking through his Matisse book and I was putting all the beach gear back in the boot (aka:trunk). During rising frustration (on both our parts) Maggie and I had a conversation about pigeons; how sometimes they're called homing pigeons, how they are sometimes used to send messages and really belong outside to fly free in the sky and perch in the trees. However, she was quite insistent that we could take one home for a pet and that she just needed some help in catching one.

She requested a phone call to Daddy and I indulged her in the privilege. She talked to hubby on the phone while I started the drive home. The conversation went something like this -:

Maggie: Daddy!
Daddy: Hi Maggie.
Maggie: I went to the beach today.
Daddy: You did? Did you go in the water?
Maggie: Yes. I went all the way up to my knees and Ryan went in up to his belly button!
Daddy: Chuckles. Wow. Did Ryan love being in the water? Was the water cold for him?
Maggie: Yes, but I have longer legs now.
Daddy: Oh. Wow. You went in the water. That sounds like so much fun.
Maggie: Yes. Daddy can you help me catch a pigeon? I can't catch them.
Daddy: Yes, you have to be very quick don't you?
Maggie: I want one for a pet. Can you help and come back to the same beach?
Daddy: I would love to go back there with you. We have to be very fast to catch a pigeon
Maggie: Yes, but I don't have enough gas in my body to be fast enough. I need your help.