Here’s the blog I promised about William’s first trip to the beach.  For William it was somewhere new to play and explore.  For Joseph it was an adventure.

When we arrived, we met up with Grandma Nury, Grandpa Larry, Noah, Ethan, and Alijah.  The older boys played near the water with Grandma Nury, building sand castles.  Joseph wanted nothing to do with the water.  He hardly crossed the barrier of seaweed, afraid that the water would come lapping up to his feet.

This is so new...he's not quite sure what to do!

Joseph played a little frisbee with Grandpa Larry and Dax.

Still adjusting...

Totally adjusted...ready for playtime!

Finally, Nury and I convinced Joseph to let us carry him down near the water.  We gently introduced the great big gulf to him…first letting the water tickle his toes, then showing him how we could jump the waves, finally, slowly setting his feet down into the wet sand…  

Now unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of what happened next so you’ll have to rely on your imagination and we’ll have to rely on the memories…

Finally, Joseph was loving the water…running, jumping, scooping, playing.  I showed him a Portuguese Man O War that had floated up onto the beach.  I told him he could look at it but to not touch it.  He was not very interested.  He was much more intereseted in his cousins.  Alijah was nearby and started chasing Joseph.  Joseph ran from Alijah, laughing, laughing, not paying any attention.  And can you believe it?  He jumped, literally, right onto that Portuguese Man O War and the entire thing exploded with a huge pop.  Nury and I screamed and the kids all looked at us like we’d lost it. 

Joseph was so lucky!  He ended up with only two little, tiny red dots on his foot.  He whined a little about it so we took him up to the park ranger station for some baking soda solution to rub on it.  (That may very well have been the highlight of the trip!) 

Yep, that’s it.  William’s big first time trip to the beach turned out to be more of an adventure for Joseph.  Either way, regardless of who had the bigger adventure, we had a great time…here are a few more pictures to mark this memory in our minds.