beach

i don't know if it is second kid syndrome, or if it is just how busy my april was, or what, but i've been having a hard time coming up with a good way to celebrate maggie's first birthday.

mostly, i guess, i was just too lazy to throw a big party like i've done in years past.

eventually, i came up with a plan.

we'd spend a day at the beach.

so the night before maggie's big day, we packed up the car, pulled out our bathing suits and sunscreen, and early the next morning we headed to south haven, michigan.

it's a quaint little town with a lot of gorgeous beach,

a little lighthouse,

and to top it off, it was a perfect 70 degree day.

the beach was heaven.

when we first arrived, we were one of three groups of people on the entire beach. by the time we left, there were only about ten groups of people.

there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

the water was a bit cold, but there was endless shoreline for us to play on, and we had it almost entirely to ourselves.

heaven.

maggie had the same reaction to the sand as she had to grass the first time around.

the longer she sat on it, the higher up her arms and legs came trying to escape until we finally pulled her onto a blanket.

she spent a lot of the day on that blanket. eating animal crackers and watching everyone play.

that's her idea of a perfect day.

and tennyson. tennyson makes me laugh.

he's our kid who has a meltdown every single time a tiny drop of water gets near him, or a tiny crumb lands on his lap, but get him to the beach, and he's transforms.

transforms into a beast covered in sand from head to toe.

seriously, the whole day was perfect.

we had a picnic lunch,

played on the playground,

built sandcastles,

put our toes in the water,

threw sand everywhere,

did water experiments,

and celebrated one year with our little girl.

once we had filled our pants and hair and shoes and just about everything else with sand, we decided it was time to pack up and wash off.

we stopped at a local mcdonald's where tennyson got "frufries" and some "shicka" and we got some shakes.

and after that, we were nice and cooled down and we went and walked around the little shops they had downtown. and spent money that we didn't intend to spend. is anyone able to go into boutique shops in a cute little downtown area and not walk out with at least one thing?

at one point, we walked into a bakery that had cookies for sixty cents a piece, and it was a really hard offer to turn down. they had a huge case with all different types of cookies out, and we let tennyson choose the cookie he wanted.

he choose the "pretty cookie". 

it was small and topped with sprinkles and we walked out with one for him, and one for maggie (and a couple peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for us).

have i mentioned that if maggie even hears the word "cookie" she starts crying because she wants one so bad?

we had dinner at a little restaurant there,

and maggie got birthday ice cream.

she had three different people giving her ice cream at once.

it was her little heaven.

she was giggling and bouncing in her high chair the entire time.

one of the best parts? 

since the beach was halfway to my parent's house, they were able to come up and celebrate with us.

i still can't believe my little girl is one.

why do kids have to grow up so fast?