Beach Days

I just absolutely love this picture of Mattie and her daddy at the beach! If I'd only seen this vision in the early years after finding out the news of our sweet daughter's diagnosis of Down syndrome. I was scared and didn't know how this little baby would change our lives. I had this perception that we would have to let go of all the things we loved. One of them being the beach. I don't know why I thought that people with Down syndrome couldn't go to the beach or enjoy life as we did. Is life at the beach easy now? No. It is a lot of work.....not because my daughter has Down syndrome, but because my daughter is three. All the hard work of pulling the wagon with umbrellas, chairs, sunscreen, shovels, pails, towels, you name it......was well worth it to see that great big smile!

Running for the ocean!

Mattie and Abby

Mattie and Caroline

More Vacation Fun

Things you can do at the ocean in no particular order.....

Try to feed the puppy sand.

Catch a tan while listening to tunes.

Let the sound of the ocean waves put you to sleep.

Just dance......

Look for shells.......

and find several sand dollars!

Go fishing with your dad.

Catch a few waves......you're never too old.

More vacation pictures to come soon.......

Beach Time

The family went to the beach for the weekend. It was a much needed mini-vacation. We loaded up our stuff Friday and headed for the ocean blue. A friend of ours let us borrow her beach house. It was a beautiful Saturday. The hubby and Caroline went bodyboarding while Abby and I sat in our chairs just relaxing. Mattie isn't a huge fan of the sand so she was content to just sit in her sand free wagon. She took a nice long nap which gave me lots of time to myself. Of course, I forgot the camera so the only pictures are the ones on my phone. I'll be sure to take the camera on our next trip. I'm hoping to take some day trips this summer since it took us less than two hours to get there. And since we went to the beach this weekend, I won't have to worry about trying to fight the crowds next weekend.

Counting Down Our Beach Days!

Matt & I went to the beach for the day on Friday....Alone! I felt so guilty leaving the kids behind. As soon as we got there I said, "We should have brought the girls." About an hour later a family arrived and sat near us. They had several girls. It wasn't long before they started telling on eachother and whining about sand in unmentionable parts. Matt asked if I still wished the girls were there. I then decided it was kind of nice enjoying the beach without worrying about the children. Besides, they have been to the beach several times with family and friends and left me behind, right? We are planning one more trip to Emerald Isle this week before I head back to work. This time with the girls. We have to leave Daddy behind since he has to work. We'll be thinking of him though. Here are some pictures from our June trip. I never did get around to posting them. So here are a few.

Abby and Ashley "girl talk"

Mattie's first trip to the beach.
Caroline was digging for Sand Fiddlers. The water was beautiful that day!
Another picture of Caroline. This day they were gathering Jellyfish.(The non-stinging Ones!)