Samantha's first blog

Posted By pamelamyers on August 11, 2013

Wednesday was, by far, my very favorite day. It was a rainy day, and we didn’t have a beach day, not really. How could this be my favorite day then, you might ask, when we were on our beach vacation? Well, because we did wind up at the beach, eventually, in the evening, after dinner. And we didn’t have on our bathing suits, and there were no buckets or shovels, or even beach towels. Just us, a kite, and an amazing little girl who can find joy anytime, anywhere, as long as she is with the people she loves.

That morning and early afternoon we went to Stone Harbor to shop, since there isn’t a lot else to do in the rain. We had a really nice lunch, shopped, got soaked, but had a perfectly nice day. Later, Mark decided to take Sam to the beach to fly her kite. We all trekked along thinking we’d get some nice quiet time together and maybe a few photos of Mark and Sam flying kites together. I had no idea at the time it would turn out to be such a perfect night. This is going to turn out to be a huge post, one of my longer ones, but the memories captured in our photos are not ones I will soon, if ever forget, and I wanted to share.

The evening started out just as planned, going to fly kites.

Sam got tired of flying eventually and decided to move on to other things, like hugging Mommy…

…and making sand angels…

We started picking up shells and that’s when the real fun began. Sam just strolled right into the ocean, as calm as could be, waves crashing around her feet. Last year she was so scared of the ocean, and the undertow, and well, mostly everything, that it was shocking to me at how brave and how daring she had become. The utter joy on her face as she ran into the waves was the most beautiful sight. These are some of my favorite pictures of me and my girl because we look so happy, so free. We were soaking wet in our clothes, having had no intention of going in the ocean, and Sam was thrilled to do it. I have my wonderful husband to thank for capturing these precious memories for me. The pictures speak for themselves. I don’t really need to describe the fun we had, I don’t think.

Mark eventually joined the fun, and Sam was happy as a clam to get him soaking wet too.

We finally got Sam out of the ocean to explore the beach some more. Sam has been fascinated with the concept of shadows lately and there were plenty on the beach that night.

She just loves looking at her shadow…

…and how it moves…

…every way she moves!

Our family 🙂

My two loves…

After a while, we started collecting more shells. We had no bucket, but my pockets (all four of them) were bursting over with her collection. When I emptied them at the house later that night, the amount of shells, rocks and sand I took out must have weighed 10 pounds!

You can see my poor pockets bulging!

Sam had everyone on the hunt for her treasures, Grandmom was no exception.

Last stop was the lifeguard station. I don’t think Sam was too sure about being up high, and it was a bit windy up there!

I will never forget that amazing time on the beach. I hope it is a memory that Sam can hold onto as well, especially now that she is at that age when memories can be fleeting. Hopefully, this one will stick. I want her to remember the fun, and the love, and the joy we had that night. She truly makes my life complete, and days like this one, make all the hard days, and, yes, there are some hard ones, so worthwhile.

Categories: Vacation
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