in the sand

Our walk to the beach this year was just right out our back gate and up this walkway:

The houses on both sides of us were empty so we usually had a pretty uncrowded area of the beach to take over.

Zach tried out some fishing and Jimmy helped.

There were many sandcastles built and many moats dug and filled.

Gus liked to carefully rub off the little notches on the tops of the castles because apparently he liked them better smooth on top.
This was infuriating to his brother.

Jimmy insisted on a sea turtle.

Quinn and Gus were good little digger buddies.

Fortunately, they were both past the age of sand eating.

The kids collected tons of shells. Jimmy refused to leave any behind so we currently have a huge bag of them on our porch.  A few shells even had muscles still living inside of them so the kids started collecting an aquarium of sand crabs and other odd things. Stella found some kind of spongie sea creature.  Then we were all baffled by a mystery blob that looked like a rock, but wiggled when you touch it.  My first few attempts at googling it were unsuccessful, so I am open to thoughts.  I have no pictures of this creature so it may just remain a mystery.

And of course, there was plenty of time for lounging and just being cozy.

Gus loved snacking on goldfish, but seemed to prefer dropping them in the sand to actually eating them.
The seagulls were keeping a close watch.
He also found a special friend in Uncle Tony.

And a beach trip wouldn't be complete without a nap on a towel.

 Zach and I went boogie boarding and I wiped out which was... funny?

 My boys:

Nano and Nana with their grandkids:

The Weisse Family Picture:

(Can you believe this is only a small fraction of them?)

Don't look too closely at the one above, okay?  Jess had the better version on her camera.

Instead just look at this cute family:

 And these cute cousins:

And these cute brothers.