Surfside Beach

Our friends Ben and Beth (who I keep meaning to post about, but they are the couple who Sterling stayed with when he flew down to interview and then housed us for a night when we got here at 2am and they are in our ward--he's one year ahead of Sterling at U of M) have been awesome at telling us about their experiences so we don't have to take the same amount of time to figure things out.

They also invited us to this beach. Their friends had told them about it (finding family-friendly beaches seems to be the trickiest when searching out beaches here) and recommended it. We had just gotten our fridge and stove professionally cleaned (the parts are still coming, but at least they're useable) so I was in EXCELLENT spirits and this beach could not have been more amazing!

The weather was perfect. We're slowly getting used to what 'rainy season' means. If it didn't rain in the morning, it will probably rain in the afternoon, and if you make it an entire day without rain it will definitely rain through the night and morning. This day was clear. We ended up leaving around four thirty because it was getting windy and it started to rain on our way home---so our timing could not have been better!

That's a teeny tiny Beth and Ben and Caroline in the water.

Ruth and Will LOVED it! We started out with PB&J sandwiches since they hadn't eaten lunch yet. Ruth was very concerned about the sand on her hands getting on her sandwich, but we managed. Sterling was an angel and set up our brand-new sunshade while I fed and sunscreened the kids. Then we were ready to play!

He's a man who loves his PB&J.

Ben was super nice and volunteered to take Will out while I finished eating.

You can see in this picture how the very edge of the water kind of had some mucky/plant/vegetation thing lurking in it, but once you got past that it was shallow for a LONG time and SOOOOO clear!

It's so weird to see the city buildings. They are everywhere and they go on and on forever in every direction. It's such a huge city!

Will sat in that exact spot in the sand with his shovel and bucket for almost two hours. He likes the water, but man, he LOVES the sand!

It seriously was SO clear and SO beautiful!!!!! 

Our newest purchase--the sunshade. I love it already. It was perfect. I actually felt like we packed really well for a day at the beach. Lots of food and snacks, lots of sunscreen, and we've decided that tote will just be our swimming tote, so it didn't matter at all how sandy everything got.

(My mom sewed up this maternity swimsuit for me in the front once upon a time, but now I've resorted to pinning it. Sorry.)

I love every minute of it. I've never really been to the ocean, minus when I was three in California and then the few times we've dipped our toes in since moving here two weeks ago. This was the first swim. It was amazing. I loved the waves, I loved the sun, I loved the sand, I loved finding sea shells. Definitely could get used to this. 

The sun here is different too. You don't feel like you're baking, like you do in Utah. It just feels warm and comfy. I like it.

Superhero dad carrying all our stuff AND the kids. My pregnant belly was getting tired because we had parked a little ways away. Love you babe! Oh and see Ruthie in the corner covering her ears? She thinks the city is way TOO loud. Poor girl. She walked like that the entire way to and from the beach.

Surfside was in the same area as Miami Beach so the streets were really beautifully kept and touristy. It was fun to walk through them.

Until next time, beach!