A family of Bigfeet at the Beach

Welp. Here ya go. The pics of our beach excursion.

Does Hunter's walk look a little familiar to you?

To get to the beach, we had to walk about a mile. We loaded up each of the big kids and ourselves with backpacks. Hunter's consisted of food for a picnic, Corrine's contained extra clothes in the event that one of us desired a wardrobe change, Michael's had all the fishing gear in it, and mine was loaded up with The Bug. We were so proud of the kiddos. Not once did they complain about the weight they were carrying or how far they had to go. I guess that's what happens when you promise them unicorns and candy and a pot of gold awaiting them at the end of their journey.

Michael and Hunter have L-O-N-G strides which make them super fast walkers. Needless to say, they were quite a bit ahead of us, but they left us encouraging signs along the way to let us know we were headed in the right direction.

Check out these ants. I know it's a little hard to make them out, but all that black stuff? Ants. An army of black-bodied, red bummed ants. Probably they're poisonous. In fact I can pretty much guarantee that they are. These are the very ants that got fed to - all with good intentions, mind you - and ended up killing the horny toad that Hunter was keeping as a pet. When I first saw their home, it looked like a dark empty hole that a fox would make a den in. But no. All the darkness was a sea of ants. *shiver*

Ahhhh. The beach. So refreshing.

I let Laynee out of the backpack and she had a grand time finding dead-ish animals.

She uncovered this one by pulling on a single visible feather. Poor little dead sandpiper. On the upside, he's in a better place now.

Miguel was so excited to catch surf perch. He wasted no time in setting up the riggings.

The children wasted no time running straight into the ocean.

Do  you see the beauty in these photos? I love the macro on my camera. Pronounced cahm-uh-ruh.

Behold the Starship Enterprise in miniature.

The sand was warm. And invasive. But oh, so much fun to lay and play in.

So, remember how I just said that Miguel was super excited to go fishing? Well, we forgot to bring one essential item. Bait. He was hoping to be able to catch some sand fleas to use as bait. He tried and tried, and dug and dug for them, but to no avail. Poor, sad, disappointed hubby. He didn't let it ruin his trip though. Nor did he give up. Good man.

Message in a bottle.

K, so I love this pic. Hunter and Laynee are cracking me up right about now. Especially since, at the time, I had no idea what was happening in the background. Actually, I still have no idea what's happening in the background.

Hunter is such a good big brutha. He made Layna into a mermaid.

Hi Corrine. I promise that your daddy is really your daddy, even though you look a lot like this guy...

When the winds got to be too strong, we headed back to the truck. On the way there, we decided to climb up some sand dunes and roll/run/slide down them. The kids were like little mountain goats running to the top. For me, climbing to the top was more like running on a treadmill at maximum incline at a speed way beyond level 1 through 4. It was tough. But oh so worth it once I made it to the top.

After I climbed my way up, and then made my run down (weeeeeeeeeee!) Mikey baby went up to have a go at the sandy slide. The kids went up at least 3 times. Laynee was no exception. I was so impressed with her climbing ability! The big kids were awesome, too!

Thus ends the beach trip. I hope that next time, we will be able to bring you, dear reader, along with us!