Shark Week Part II: The Beach

After we checked out of the hotel, we headed for the beach. We planned on going to Grommet Island, an "accessible playground", that we heard about from our friends The Teasters.

But...it was HOT. And midday. A lot of Grommet Island was shaded, so that really helped.

Elena liked the sound board


Snow Cones


Viv "surfs"


Overall, I thought the playground was great. It was wide and flat, and lots for the kids to climb on, around, was very interactive. If it was a cooler day, I think the girls would have played on it more. As it was, they really wanted to go in the cool waves.

The beach terrain was...dissapointing. The only flat part was dry, deep sand--too hot for the girls to walk on. Once we got to the wet sand, it was packed, but sloped steeply downhill, and not much room between the packed sand and the water. I told E to try to walk--here is E's best sand walking to date!



I didn't get a chance to raise the Beach Walker. Right now, it stands as high as her loftstrand crutch handles, which I thought might be fine. NOPE. It needs to be raised 4-6 inches. I didn't have the time to do it before the trip. Even if I had, the slope of the beach would have still been a problem.

The other surprise was the strength of the waves--we had to keep a handhold on each kid at all times. Even the tiny waves knocked Vivian over, when the water was only calf-deep. Grandma and I got a workout hanging on to the kids--especially when they wanted to go "wave jumping", which translates as "sore backs for grownups". Elena did do some good standing in the water, just as the water splashed over her feet. She stood there smiling for over a minute, her knees sinking deeper toward her midline as the water washed sand away from where she stood.

I was very proud of my girls--Vivian for being good while missing her nap, and E for handling herself so well on the beach. But places like these are hard...to see other kids running, jumping, boogie boarding, swimming, their parents teaching them to stand on a surfboard...sometimes keeping my smile on is difficult b/c my heart is heavy.