Ben go in boat?

That was as far as Ben and Daddy went though :) Steve put him in the boat, and Ben climbed out again! I do love this picture though, Ben does love his daddy. He's had a good day.

More pics here, including the sea kayak's maiden voyages, happy feet, playing in the pebbles, and sand angels!

Lovely day today. Singing and playing bass at church this morning, followed by a barbecue at the beach to say goodbye to friends as they go off to China for a year. I think we should go to the beach more often with church, not just wait for "occasions"! Just brilliant spending time with everybody, although we did spend most of our time on the pebbles rather than on the green.

The sea kayak got its maiden voyage today :) Steve let Shaun and Alex take it out to make sure it wasn't going to sink on him, and once it proved it's worth he and Stuart went out a couple of times - further on the second trip, which did mean they had to walk a fair distance with the boat as the tide had gone out quite far by the time they got back to shore!

We ended the day with another barbecue at our house, Stuart and Hayley and their brood came round to finish off the burgers from the afternoon's barbecue and to play on the climbing frame. Just a perfect way to end the day :o)


Ben's new trick today has been to figure out how to take his sandals off, shake the little stones out, and put his sandals back on all by himself! He has also had his first real paddle in the sea. Despite not really liking the sea because of the way even the little waves make the floor look like it's moving, he was persuaded to come for a splash in the "big puddle" as the tide was going out. There were some big calm stretches of water between sandbanks which he was MORE than happy to splash his feet in. We discovered, on this adventure into the water, that it's not the water he has an issue with; it's not the stones; it's the seaweed.

He really doesn't like the seaweed. At all. I had to pick him up (as covered in sand as he was) and carry him over the seaweedy bits. To be fair I'm not so keen on seaweed either but I don't mind picking my way through it - Ben point blank would not go near the stuff! Hey ho.

I'm looking forward to next summer. Quite possibly by then he'll be swimming unaided, he'll be that little bit older, that little bit bigger, and maybe, just maybe, the sea will be conquered. :o)