A Day to Remember

After much deliberation we decided to leave on Friday instead of Saturday and drive our family into the definite threat of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hannah. The weather predictions were not life threatening and we felt that things would clear up by Saturday afternoon. As it turns out, things cleared up by 7:00 am on Saturday morning. Mike and I came to Myrtle Beach with my family. My parents, who are the greatest, reserved a large condo for the five of us, my brother, his wife and daughter Adella and my parents. This vacationing as a large family is something that we do every other year--then every other year we do vacations on our own.

With Hannah out of the way yesterday morning, the kids were up, we had some breakfast and we took them out on the beach to collect "sheshells." In our walk down the beach, we were not sure how the kids would do with the ocean. Keep in mind, last summer Mike and I took the kids to the beach in June and Ryan would not go within 10 feet of the ocean. Lydia and Emily did go in the ocean and seemed to enjoy it, but they went with us and really did not have an option.

This time things were different . . . the kids ran into the surf, jumped over the small breakers that washed up and laughed hysterically when the water would rush back out making them feel as if they were moving. "I am skating!" Ryan shouted while in a surfer stance in the surf. Emily fell down in the surf while running. This scared her a little bit, but we made sure she continued to walk in the water to keep her from being scared of the ocean completely. While jumping and "skating" Ryan fell into the water and Mike and I held our breath thinking this was going to be it. He would be out this year again, but NO . . . he got up laughing. He was a little afraid I would be upset that his clothes were wet, but when I said "It is just water." he asked if he could do it again. They spent the next hour running and playing in the surf in their clothes. Laughing at each other and talking to each other with each new discovery they encountered in this awesome thrill ride we call the ocean.

Several years ago, when our niece, Savannah, was 6 years old (she is now 12) I had the pleasure of being present when Savannah saw the ocean for the first time. She stood in the surf and continued to exclaim "I feel like I am moving!!" I felt that this was kind of like Ryan "seeing" the ocean for the first time--though he has been to the beach three other times, this experience was something so new. He was so different than last year and was so excited. Lydia and Emily really followed suit.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this wonderful moment we shared with our children, but I have a mental picture of their faces and hearing their laughter that I will never forget. As I have said in previous posts, I have such wonderful memories of my childhood. I continue to hope that one day my children can say the same thing about theirs. I feel like maybe this day will be one of their earliest memories when they are adults.