Water baby

I love the water. Ever since I was a child, a trip to the beach was always one of favourite things to do. I swam in oceans, rivers, lakes and pools and was lucky enough to have swimming lessons as a young child, so swimming was never an issue and I was comfortable swimming out of my depth from a young age.

This translated into my adult life as well, and I still swim in Oceans, seas, rivers and lakes. I've even been known to join the kids in our 6 foot x 6 foot inflatable paddling pool in our back garden!

Another thing which I just love doing is swimming around 20 metres out beyond the crowds and laying back and letting the salty water keep me afloat and just look up at the blue sky or passing clouds. This one is especially nice while on holidays in Spain, Portugal, Croatia or the like during the balmy summer months.

The Apple doesn't fall far from the tree

It shouldn't come as any surprise to me then that one of my kids favourite places to go is the beach or the pool. Basically anywhere where the can chase the waves or canonball into making a big splash. They'd happily play and splash around at the beach for hours on end.

This poem often pops into my head when I think about the sea and the beach and the waves lapping gently or oft times roughly against the shore.

The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And 'Bones, bones, bones, bones! '
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.

And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.

But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws

He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.

Beach straight after school

My wife is gone away for a few days, so it's Daddy daycare in Chez Ablaze for 4 days and straight after school on day one, I decided to collect the lads and take a spin to one of the local beaches which is only around 10 minutes drive away. We are so lucky to be that close to the sea, when you consider that so many people live 100s or even 1000s of miles away.

I had their buckets and spades and other beach toys in the car ready to go, along with their towels and swim shorts. The first thing we did when we landed was go for a look around in the many rock pools - this is an absolute favorite for the lads and even better when they find aqua creepy crawlies.

Sand Castles

No trip to the beach is complete without building some sand castles or a Fort of some sort with my sons. They do the direction and I simply tip the sand for them. Here is their creation from the last day. We were interrupted by rain, but they were happy with their little creation.

The photos used throughout were captured with my Samsung smartphone

Thanks as always for stopping by.

Peace Out