4th of July

We found ourselves celebrating Independence Day at the Robert Moses beach on Long Island, NY with our great friends the Wheelers whom we met during our time in Illinois.  Arriving around 8:00, we beat the traffic and the crowds.  However, within an hour of claiming our place on the beach, it became packed with people and umbrellas as far as the eye could see in both directions.  Eli and Eliza quickly became friends.  The parents of these two cute munchkins were secretly happy that they hit it off so well.  If marriages could be arranged....

After a breakfast of original New York bagels, we claimed our spot on the beach.  After I finished laying out the blanket, I looked around for Eliza.  I found her sitting on this red chair belonging to our neighboring beach bums.  Not knowing these people at all, she waltzed right over, stepped over their blankets, and made herself at home in "my red chair."  When my initial shock died down, our new acquaintances (who happened to be from another small suburb of Philadelphia), said she could sit there as long as she liked.  Hilarious!!

 

It didn't take Zaby long to fall in love with the beach. He quickly became a bonified sand baby - covered in head to toe with grains of sand.  I'm not sure how much sand he ingested, but based on the handfuls and handfuls we thwarted, I'm sure he managed to eat A LOT. 

 

We played in the sand, ran through the water, played in the sand, tried boogie boarding, and built sand castles.  Brooklyn became very adept at boogie boarding.  I managed to catch a few good waves.

 

 

I am so in love with this picture - it just melts my heart.

 

 

In all that sand playing, Zaby managed to make friends with baby Annika (1 month younger than him)

 

Eliza's favorite part of the day was running through the water as the waves came in.  If only a camera could truly capture the joy.

Some of us took a snack break, others took a nap, then we were right back at it again.

 

 What a silly girl!!  Whenever I ask if I can take her picture, she either closes her eyes and smiles or turns away!.  I totally love this girl!

 

Around noon, after four packed hours of beach fun, we decided to head back to the place we were staying.  Traffic was much heavier coming back.  So many people decided to venture out to the beach that some of them closed because there were too many people.  We were super glad we got there early. 

 Hopefully the beginning of a blossoming friendship!  How cute!

Bruce took this picture of me (proof that I was there) on the way back while we were at a standstill on the road.  At this point, Bruce, the driver, was the only one awake.  Maybe it was a good thing we were stuck in traffic - the kids and I got a good nap in!

 

After a fantastic lunch prepared by Kara's mom, we spent the afternoon in her aunts pool.  I was a little surprised at how eager Eliza was to get in the pool - she is usually hesitant because the water is often cold.  She did manage to fall off of the floating pool recliner.  Luckily I was right there to quickly pull her back up.  It didn't seem to phase her a bit as she eagerly jumped right back on it.  

 Later we rowed out on the private lake in Kara's aunt's backyard.  Eliza sure does look cute in a life jacket. 

 What a relaxing time on the water - for me anyway, Bruce did all the rowing.  Baby Zaby was taking a nap and missed out on the rowing fun. 

 We ran ourselves ragged that day - packed full of so much fun, it was almost surreal.   A wonderful BBQ with friends, and fireworks over the lake, what a great way to celebrate our country's Independence Day. 

 Thanks Wheelers for the fun weekend.  We sure miss hanging out with you, and are glad that we got the opportunity to spend this holiday together.