Manhattan Beach

I have been telling Ben all summer that I wanted to go and walk along the beach…any beach…in NYC. The last time we took in a sandy shoreline was in Virginia Beach over a year ago. Elaine now loves the water and playing outside, so I thought she would enjoy the waves on her toes and building sand castles. On a perfect-almost-fallish-evening we packed up our gear and headed for Manhattan Beach (which is really in Brooklyn).

I dressed Elaine in her swim suit underneath her clothes, even though I intended to walk and not swim at the beach. I guess that was silly thinking! We were busy setting down our bags and picking a spot in the sand while Elaine made a bee line straight for the waves. She went crashing in without regard to depth, sand, or salt. And she loved it! She floated, she sank, she held Daddy’s hand, and she shivered, but she did not want to get out.

Swimming with Daddy – I love her pony tail!

When we finally convinced Elaine to warm up a little in the sand, she wanted only to knock down the sand castle rather than help build it up. Next we convinced her to help fill the moat with water, and she basked in that task! She even chased the seagulls and was none too pleased when Daddy made her turn around and come back to our “spot”.

This is the “why do I have to say cheese when I’m freezing?” smile

Building a moat

Sitting on the sandcastle, and very proud that she succeeded again in destroying one of Daddy’s creations.

Collecting water for the moat

Filling the moat

Burying Elaine and Daddy in sand. (This is where the evening took a turn for the worst. Elaine decided to rub her eyes and got sand in them. She did not like the cold water we squirted in her eyes to clean them out!)