A Day on the Beach or How We Almost DIED

Last weekend, I wanted to celebrate my birthday with a day trip to the local lake. Like much of the country, our area has been blessed/plagued by unusual summer rain storms, and we knew there was a high likelyhood of rain that Saturday. Nevertheless, I was determined we would at least have a fun drive even if we couldn't swim because of the weather!
Things started out pleasant enough. The sky was overcast but it wasn't super cool, maybe 65 degrees outside. When we arrived at the shoreline, there were a surprising number of people out on the beach enjoying the cooler day. True, most of them were fully dressed and lounging in chairs, but we felt encouraged by the high numbers. If everyone else thinks its a good beach day, it must be....right?
We found a spot that wasn't too close to other people and settled in.



Joshua decided right away that the water was a little too cold for his liking,




and after daddy stopped forcing him to try again, he was content to wrap up in a towel on the beach to watch the seagulls.





Elora was much braver, and made her way in and out of the water several times, usually accompanied by daddy.




She was having fun finding rocks and throwing them with a splash, after which she would run to the sand and wrap up for a few minutes with her brother.



I think she was most excited about wearing her new swimming suit as she'd been asking to go to the beach every day since we bought it!

"I'mmm nnot c-c-cold, mommy!"




Joseph made an exciting discovery at one point: A beached walrus...or is that a whale?



For some reason, the poor stranded creature reminded Joseph of me,



so he then took some hilarious shots of me with a beach ball inside my shirt. Oh wait, we don't own a beach ball. As for myself, I don't know why everyone else thought it was so cold out, I was enjoying the cool water and overcast sky!



We had at least a good half hour of more mugging for the camera (seriously, Joshua posed for this picture, it was pretty funny),



and adventuring into the shallow water before darting back to the safe towels.




But soon, a foreboding wind filled the air.
"Mom, I think the wind has suddenly become foreboding. Maybe we should go?"



Joshua was wrapped in his towel on the beach, while I was about ten feet away taking more pictures of Elora and Daddy. Suddenly, this huge burst of wind rushed at us from the south, surprising everyone with it's intensity. I could hear Joshua freaking out behind me, and no wonder: while my legs were getting thrashed by projectile sand, he was sitting facing the wind and the same sand was blowing right into his exposed face and body!
I rushed over to him as soon as I could, Joseph and Elora running behind me. All the other beach goers were hurriedly gathering their supplies and heading to cars, and we were certainly going to do the same!
I had just reached my frightened little boy when another gust of wind hit us, even stronger than the one before. I gathered Josh's towel around him and huddled next to him, turning him away from the frightening spray of sand. I was getting blasted as were Joseph and Elora, and I kept telling Joshua to close his eyes. He clung to me saying, "Okay, okay!"

(We now bring you this calm seagull picture, as the unfolding events are too intense for most blog viewers to handle.)
As soon as this second vicious attack let up, I wrapped Elora in her towel and had Joseph grab Joshua, sending them toward the car as I gathered the rest of our things together. The wind continued to grow in strength, lashing us with sand and debris...man, that stuff stings your legs!

I was carrying our last few bags and walking with my head down when I heard both Elora and Joshua start screaming frantically. I looked up to see that Joseph had lost his grip on the bag full of toys he had grabbed, and they were bouncing and tripping across the sand into the water. Joseph was trying his best to chase them down without dropping Joshua or the other things he carried, while Elora followed behind him, her towel quickly slipping from her hands as it whipped around her.

The wind was picking up in intensity as I yelled to Elora to stay there, but she was still trying to follow Joseph and seemed confused and scared. I was able to grab the toys and the bag, then I walked to the car with Elora clinging to my leg the whole way. We reached the safety of our vehicle not a moment too soon, for at that moment the clouds burst and rain deluged the abandoned beach.

It all turned out okay in the end-we got to eat out with the birthday money my mom gave me(including raspberry shakes!) , and the foggy drive home was beautiful. I just hope Joshua isn't permanently afraid of sand, the beach, or water! (That night at bedtime, he kept saying he wanted to be safe in the car, and it took a while for him to understand our house was just as safe.)

(Okay so maybe we didn't almost die, but it was exciting, right?)