coney island

for me, the expression "a day at the beach" evokes a picture of me scrambling after the kids, rescuing them one after another from the tide. i have been putting off a trip to the beach since we got here, and clay finally talked me into going for a few hours on sunday. i don't know what i was so worried about...we had a great time and it was one of the most relaxing outings we've had. we are so doing this more often!

maddy was a little timid to go in the water, so her biggest sister took her by the hand and walked her in. despite jessica's best efforts, maddy quickly ran right back out and stayed on the shore for a long time making sand castles.

daddy gave it another try, but it didn't last long. maddy and i both know people belong on land, not in the ocean.

jessica and hailey have very adventurous spirits and they're both strong swimmers, so they spent the entire day in the water, although hailey took frequent breaks to search for seashells. she brought 30 of them home. where do you put these things?

there is no better way to dry off than to enjoy some amusement park rides, so that's exactly what we did!