Flamingo Girl Hits the Beach

Today, the summer cherubs and I hit the beach. Again. Because it's summer. Or at least it's supposed to be.

Anyway, we took my favorite Lil' Missy and her momma along. And this was Lil' Missy's FIRST beach excursion. Ever.

In a word: Hilarious. Pee-in-your-pants funny. OK, so that's like six words, but you get the picture.

This is what became known as "The Flamingo". She absolutely refused to put her foot in the sand. Amazingly, Flamingo Girl held this pose for an unimaginable amount of time. Or 2.35 minutes. Which is an unimaginable amount of time for a 20 month old.

Eventually, the muscle burn set it and Flamingo Girl was forced to put her foot down. Literally. She didn't like it.

"Look honey, we'll take your other sandal off, and you'll see it's not so bad. And your feet will be exfoliated." Can't put a price on that, sweetheart.

Still not liking it. Check out the tension in those arms.

And suddenly all is well again. Flamingo Girl's got her momma and her new BFF on the side to support her in her new found appreciation for sand.

But not mud. Muddy sand. Or sandy mud. Potato Patato.

The dam has broken. It cannot be repaired.

Momma to the rescue. And then Curly Q there decided that he wasn't too fond of the sandy mud either. Nanny was busy taking pictures so she was no help.

"This is the worst day ever!"

"I hate this! Somebody save me!"

Momma ain't fallin' for it, sweetheart. We did not drive 27 minutes to just turn around and go back because you don't like the smooth sensation of mud on your feet.

And I was suddenly reminded of our tubing extravaganza last summer when Flamingo Girl was introduced to the jacket of life.

Momma didn't fall for that one either.

And then, amazingly, as if the stars themselves had suddenly aligned in another universe, all was well once again.



Because you can NOT go to the beach and not take a picture of sandy feet. You just can't.


And for the next 2.5 hours, Flamingo Girl was very content to explore the Bay of Birch with her new best friend. And during that 2.5 hours, Momma and Nanny soaked up the rays of the yellow ball in the sky. The yellow ball that finally got the memo that it is summer.











And because Nanny likes to take pictures of her feet, I'm going to throw sand on them. And get most of it in my hair.


"Um, excuse me, BFF, would you mind stepping aside so I can have a private conversation with my new beau, Curly Q?"


"Now listen, stud, if this is going to work, you need to agree to take me on long walks through the park every day before my morning nap. If you can't agree to that, then we may have a problem."


"I'm sorry, my beloved, what were you saying? I was busy watching a seagull pick up a clam. But here, please take this handful of sand as a token of my love and affection."


"I don't want your handful of sand! I want you to just listen to me when I'm talking to you! I mean, is that so hard! I'm trying to tell you how I feel, Curly Q! Why do you keep shutting me out?"


"You're right. What was I thinking. I'm sorry, my beloved. Now I'm going to go bury my head in the sand."


"OK, Curly Q. I'll wait here for you to return to me. In the meantime, I'm going to call my BFF and get her take on things."


And BFF to the rescue.


There's nothin' like a good BFF.