from the mouth of the baby

Besides being unbelievably fun and impossibly relaxing, our time at The Beach was also a week full of vocabulary expansion for our boy. Some (read: way too many) examples of his new words:

"Sun": also known as "moon." Whenever the sunlight was so bright and in his eyes (see picture below-- I had to shadow him with my body to get him to look at me), Baby G would dramatically complain, "Moon!" because he associated light from the sky with the moon he points to at night. So we had to teach him "sun." He still sometimes calls it "moon."

"Dada": okay, so he already knew that word, but "Dada" is also what Baby G called his Daddy's boogie board. Whenever Baby G would see J grab the board he would start crying because he did NOT like watching his Daddy go out into the waves. Baby G did not like playing in the ocean and he didn't want his Dad to play in it either.

Baby G's cousin, Logan, did love playing in the ocean, however. The water was seriously freezing cold so we were all amazed at Logan's enjoyment.

"Sand": his dislike for the water (which he normally loves), was matched by his love of the sand. He played for hours and hours and didn't even want to stop for food.

Lisa and I also found great joy in playing in the sand :).

"Football": pronounced "butball" was probably his favorite new word.

He would emphatically exclaim ,"Butball! Butball!" whenever there was a group playing football and he totally thought he was big enough to join in the fun. He thought it was extremely mean each time I would move him back over to the sidelines.

"Whale": he couldn't quite get "porpoise", so we settled for another aquatic mammal with fewer syllables. We saw lots of dolphins, seals, and porpoises, and when Uncle Bill saw these he rushed a sea kayak out so Uncle Steve and Parker could get a closer look.

"Owie": whenever Baby G is on his Daddy's shoulders he has taken to pulling the really short hairs on the side of J's head. I love this picture because you can see J's reaction. We have tried to teach Baby G "owie" so that he will understand that it hurts-- Baby G learned the word really well, but it definitely hasn't stopped the behavior :).

"Friend": look at this baby heaven! These are all of the great-grandkids, and talk about fun for Baby G. He would see a little kid his age and say, "Friend?"

"Basketball": also pronounced "butball," but please, do not confuse the two. Baby G will let you know what one he wants by throwing the wrong ball with disgust and saying, "Butball!" meaning, "Get that football out of my face-- I said, "basketball!"

There may or may not have been multiple occasions where I lost track of Baby G in the campground and found him up at the basketball court. 

"Crab": a favorite beach activity is always catching crabs. Baby G was not afraid of them at all and I actually had to watch him closely when he had one in his sand pail because he kept trying to pick them up.

"BahBah": that is the name he called his Great-Grandpa (that is also what he says for grandma, so between the two grandpas and two grandmas that were with us at The Beach it wasn't ever easy to tell who he meant). Check out J's grandpa showing the little girls how to jumprope. 

"Shovel": oh my, how Baby G adored his shovel. Not only did he want his "shuhbel" on the beach, he also insisted on holding it whenever we were in the campground or car. I guess you never know when you will need to dig.

"Bucket": buying Baby G his sand toys for Christmas was brilliant. His bucket and shovel went with him everywhere.

"Cave": Baby G is not even remotely scared of the dark and loved walking through the dark caves along the beach. This is a picture of him running out of one to me.

"Wave": the picture below illustrates the position he would immediately get in whenever a wave would come up and reach us. He would be fine, happily digging with his shovel, and then a wave would come and he would run into my (or anyone who was near) arms.

I think that about covers the new words Baby G learned. Here are a few more of our favorite pictures from Baby's first trip to The Beach.

Getting some love from his Daddy.

Crawling around in the sand (notice the sand on his chin).

Going for a walk with his cousin and daddy.

Playing in the sand.

Checking out the friendly pelican. Baby G was very curious and wanted to get close, while Logan was a little more cautious and wanted to hide in my legs.

The sunsets weren't as spectacular as they have been some years (but the beautiful, warm weather totally mad up for it), but this one was pretty.

Group shot in the campground trees. We love all these people so much and are so grateful for all the work that everyone goes to to make this tradition happen. Can't wait to do it again!