::beach picnic with grandma::

We took Kathy to the beach so that we could have a picnic. We had to make up for her missing out on the summer beach fun.

The weather was so gorgeous the week while she was here, we were in short sleeves and sandals, and the beach was just perfect.
We took Sultan with us, because after Labor day dogs are finally allowed on the beach. We hadn't brought him there yet, so we thought this was a good opportunity to try.

We laid out a blanket and told Max to stay out of the water. Well, we took his shoes off and told him he could dip his toes in.

Hah.

Luckily along with lunch we were also smart enough to bring some extra clothes and a towel for Max. But really I figured it was going to be too cold and uncomfortable for him to want to get all soaked. Boy was I wrong!

The boys went and played football for a bit.





That was pretty fun.

Then we went on a little walk down the beach. Sultan and Max found a gross little estuary left over from a higher tide, and of course they both basically wallowed in it.

It didn't smell that great.
Max made some sort of art installation. I like it.






Kris climbed out on some rocks in the surf, and it really worried Sultan. Can you see him trying to get out there? He was really relieved when Kris came back.

Sultan was afraid of the surf. It was a first for him, and he couldn't figure out why the water kept coming and going. He would jump away whenever it got close.


Sultan was fun to have along except that he kept getting sandy and muddy and then running all over our blanket. That did not make me happy.
And any time he thought there was another dog around (which was more often than you'd think) he'd run away up over the hill out of sight, which I hate.
Even that was ok, but one time he brought a dog back with him. The dog seemed friendly enough. But of course they ran straight onto the blanket, where I was sitting, and started running around. THEN the other dog decided it was all upset and started to growl and attack Sultan. Basically right on top of me. I had to scramble out of the way. It was pretty uncool, and after that we sent Sultan back to the car. I don't like dogfights happening on top of me for some reason.

There was old dead crusty seaweed all over the beach. I guess nobody cleans it up after Labor day. It was fine except that it really hurt our feet to walk on it. It was really spikey. But guess who it didn't bother? Max!
Check it out.

He walked all over that stuff and didn't even blink. This must be why he can walk all over his toys when they're all over the floor and not even notice. I should be so lucky.

We ate, we lay in the sun for a while, then we got Max all cleaned up and changed and we went home.
It was great. We were so glad we went. It couldn't have been nicer.
I love the beach out here. I think it's my favorite part of Rhode Island for sure. And I'm guessing Max probably feels the same way.
We're still working to convince Sultan.

.::Seaweed Beach::.

So last week when I was complaining to everybody that I couldn't go to the beach because Max woke up sick, I neglected to mention that we had gone to the beach with some other friends just a couple of days before.
But seriously, would you have felt bad for me if I'd told you that? No! And I needed sympathy.
But now I have to come clean and admit it, because I have these fun pictures that I wanted to post.

And, as always I don't keep up with the events in my life on this blog too well, so I'm behind. This was a little while ago, like maybe a week and a half.

We headed out to the beach with a couple of the other wives from Kris's residency--Melissa and Angie. Melissa has a two month old baby (Grant--so cute!) and Angie is pregnant, due any day now really.
We're told there was a hurricane out on the water somewhere that was making some pretty big waves. When we got to the beach, not only were there bigish waves, but there was seaweed all over the place!

The sea was packed full of it. It was all over the beach where the tide had been, and you could hardly walk without stepping in it. One of the ladies that worked there told me she thinks the hurricane must've roughed up the waters out in the ocean somewhere and torn up all the seaweed and brought it to us, like a lovely, stinky, slimy present.

Max didn't like the seaweed too much.

But of course, it didn't keep him down for too long.

Can you see the black waves rolling up in the background of the above picture? The waves were so full of the seaweed it looked weird. And gross of course.



He loves to jump over the little edges of the waves as they come at him.

It really felt nasty to get in the water, because the waves would come up around your feet and legs, and bring all this seaweed in, then when the water rushed back out it would leave you with all sorts of seaweed wrapped around your feet and/or legs depending on how brave you were.
Such as this:

There are some weird kinds in there I hadn't ever seen before. I'm used to just kelp I guess. That stuff just felt so slimy on the feet!

Then Max went out and found a huge hairy clump of weed that looked like a big octopus and brought it to me "It's for you mom!!" just like he does with dandylions and any other flowers he can get his hands on. Then he said "I want to bring it home!"
I told him thanks, but that big old seaweeds like that have to stay in the ocean. Somehow that worked.

But here's the really gross story.
Angie and I were standing by the waves keeping an eye on Max and chatting when we saw a big disgusting maxi pad wash up towards us. I called to Max and told him we should move down the beach closer to our towels and such, hoping he wouldn't see the thing.
We did. A couple minutes later though I look up and see him hurrying back over to where we were. He goes straight for the pad and picks it up. I can see he's excited and yelling "look what I found!" I yell to him to put it down, NOW, but of course he either can't hear me or chose not to. So I had to sprint down the beach, which is not my favorite thing to do in a bathing suit, in order to wrench the disgusting thing from his hand.
Why is he like a magnet for the things that I don't want him to do? Why?


He decided next time we go to the beach he didn't want it to be the "seaweed beach" and I don't blame him. I'm hoping next time it's not the "sanitary napkin" beach either. EWWWWWW.

But we all had a really good time, despite the seaweed. We played in the sand for a long time with the little cheap buckets and castle molds I bought, and I got to chat with my friends which was nice.
I made a great investment the other day and bought a beach umbrella. Who knew that people even had those? It was great because we could play in the sand without feeling like our heads were burning off.

Isn't it great? I think it was about six dollars. I'm glad I have it. You can see Melissa and Angie in this picture--Angie is on the right. She dug a hole in the sand for her belly and was able to lie on her stomach for the first time in nine months. She said it was heavenly.

So we're going back soon. Seaweed or no seaweed. Max and I love the beach, that's all I can say!