Mid-April, & a gift from the gods–beach weather all weekend long! Last summer, I had planned to “live at the beach.” I was pregnant, tired, & honestly in need of some lazing around, so I thought how fun it would be to schlep the girls down to the beach everyday, dig a wedge in the sand to accommodate my growing behind, & lie there like the beached whale I was proud to be while they played happily for hours upon hours in the sun. Well, last summer was a bust–overcast, cloudy, & cool (“June Gloom”) all the way through the fall! And then of course, some surprising amounts of rain (& hail?). So…when the weather predictions on my iPhone showed temperatures in the 80’s for this weekend, I started packing the beach cart (yes, the most amazing contraption/parent gadget I’ve ever bought). I joked with my husband that if we had the kids greased up with sunblock on Friday, we could easily be out of the house by 3 PM Sunday.

And a glorious weekend it was. I put aside ANY plans of “accomplishing” anything–no home improvement projects, no cleaning out the garage, no getting things together to sell on Craigslist. We were out of the house in two hours flat both days, & we met up with friends who augmented our great joy at being outdoors & seeing our kids so organically entertained by nature.

And it was our little Zen’s first beach outing. I think he liked it. 🙂