a day at the beach

As the days have been growing longer and a bit warmer with every passing day I have been craving a day at the beach. Going to the beach for our family is already almost a daily event however it has simply been too cold lately to let Owen crawl around on the sand and explore. So this morning when I woke up to a beautifully sunny and warm day I knew that today was going to be the perfect day for us to head to the beach. The ocean is the main reason why I moved to the west coast and when I'm by the water I always feel at peace and that much closer to mother nature and I couldn't wait to share that feeling with my precious baby boy. Of course he's been to the beach many times already but always in the ergo and only put down for a few seconds on his feet, never just left alone to explore his environment and to connect with the sand and water. Today was that day and it was absolutely amazing to watch his excitement and wonder come alive. We ended up being at the beach for almost 3 hours and he powered right through his regular nap time as the beach simply had too much to offer to loose that to sleep. Who needs sleep anyway when you've got an entire beach to explore!

Exploring the sand for the first time on his own.

I've always known that our lil Kai pie was a water baby, but not to this extent. He seriously couldn't get enough or any closer to the incoming waves. I of course being the protective mother didn't want him getting too close or really that wet either but he had other plans. He was ready to dive right in and splash around like a big kid. Of course I didn't let him do this, he is only 9 months after all and this is the pacific ocean of northern California, not Hawaii! However returning to our blanket set up further on shore was not an option in less I wanted to experience a serious melt down so I opted to run through the water and away from the crashing waves which made him giggle hysterically.

then it was time for a snack. A bit sandy but that didn't seem to bother him much.

and after some more time crawling around naked in the sand and playing with mama it was time to head back home for a big long nap.