So many things to celebrate this weekend. Friday, October 3, was my birthday. This time last year, we were early on in our wait to find our baby girl. And I was turning 40 - gasp. One year later, we are at the beach celebrating Miss Maryn, celebrating the fact that she is home, and, celebrating my young age of 41. Not to mention, October 3 also marks three months home for our little one!
For several months now, I have mentioned a few times that I would love to rent bikes at Seabrook and bike all over the island as a family. We arrived at the beach Thursday night and all five of my kiddos were giddy to find bikes waiting on us at our house! In true Maddox fashion, she jumped out of the car and quickly proclaimed she was going to ride on the back of a bike driven by her daddy and she was going to pretend she was on a motorcycle!
With all of us on the appropriate bikes and helmets in tact, we took off on our first bike outing to North Beach. I decided mid-trip that maybe this biking adventure should have occurred after a few trips to the gym to get into shape - my 41 years are showing, not to mention I was toting an additional 30lbs:0.
We arrived at the beach, and we promptly took Maryn's shoes off to put her toes in the sand. Her reaction was much like I thought it would be - NO WAY was she putting her feet down into the soft, scratchy sand. She had the same reaction to grass when we first arrived home.
We went to plan B and strapped her shoes back on and off.she.went.
The bigs were so excited to show her everything from the sand to the sand dollars to the jelly fish to the horseshoe crabs....
and, of course, the water. We all knew she would love the water!
In no time, she took off her shoes and cautiously stood at the tip of the shore, feet waving in the air.
And as soon as she decided maybe the wet sand wasn't so bad on her feet, she promptly knelt down to get her fingers wet - she was mesmerized.
And then she was introduced to sea creatures....she even held a conch shell with a baby crab inside.
Meanwhile, the bigs were taking it all in.
P is our happy-go-lucky kiddo - he just loves everything in the moment whether it is playing his favorite sport or spending time walking on the beach with his family.
C - well, he was not in the mood for pictures and protested against a face shot. However, I snapped it just to document that I did try to get a picture of his perfect 14 year old face.
MK and her baby conch shell. She was searching and searching for one without a crab so she could take it home and share with her friends.
And back to this little one....watching her all morning was delightful. Her expressions as she tromped through the water went from happy....
to insulted when she fell....
and then back to happy!
What a joy it was to spend the day watching this sweet girl take in her first day at the beach!
