barefoot on the beach.

As our summer weather continued on last week the kids were dying to go to the beach. I had promised them on Wednesday that if it was nice on Thursday we would go. I woke up on Thursday morning, 7:30 to be exact, by the 7 year old, "Hey mom it's morning, the sun is out, I'm in my swim trunks, can we go to the beach now?"

I guess that was his way of saying "Mom, get out of bed NOW!"

I stumbled out of bed and made my way downstairs as my eyes were still adjusting to the sunlight. Once I opened the door I could tell, even with all the sunlight, the temp was roughly sixty. I explained that right now it was a little too cool to make our way to the beach and that maybe we should wait a bit. You can just about imagine the guilt that came my way after that remark. They laid it on, HARD! Thankfully they were patient enough to allow me my morning cup of coffee and a quick shower, and by 9:45 we were out the door.

We made a quick stop on the way for some sunscreen and by 10:30 we were at the beach, hiking our way up the sand hill with bags of beach toys in tow.

Park Point is Gorgeous. A huge perk of living in Duluth.

The kids are all about the beach toys and digging in the sand. I explained that the water was probably too cold for swimming, but that never stops Max from running in full force to test it for himself. Once we picked our perfect spot, I sprayed us down with sunscreen, we kicked off our sandals, and enjoyed the next four hours in the sand.

 Ladybugs on the beach. We liked em better than the spiders.

Another surprise visit from Grandpa Don. He even brought lunch to the beach.

Building stick villages.

The day was just too nice and perfect to be indoors, so dad decided to join us halfway through. Just in time to build some sand castles.

Some HOT guy on the beach, fun attempts at self portraits, sand castle fun, and a sure sign that summer sun is here as my nose is covered in freckles.

We finished our day at a local ice cream shop. And I must say the Sea Salt Carmel Nut is pretty amazing in a freshly made waffle cone. The heat of the sun had it melting down the side of the cone faster then we could eat it up, but it was still delicious.

Family photo attempt. 

The day was PERFECT and the weather was AMAZING. The horrendous sunburn that followed, not so much. The easy, spray on sunscreen was a BIG FAIL. But four days later wearing clothes is once again comfortable.