Phoenix had her first day at the beach today in Delray Beach, FL. After checking in at the front desk this morning (we arrived last night after the office closed), we took a quick stroll for her to see the beach. Since we didn't have our swimsuits on, we didn't go in the water, but she was still very interested in the water. She did not like the sand at all, and kept hesitating before walking and saying "Shew!" (meaning the sand is dirty). Here's a couple of pics of that first encounter.



After going up to the room and having lunch, suiting up, and putting on sunscreen we returned to the beach. We were well prepared with lots of beach toys for Phoenix. She warmed up to the sand a little bit when she discovered she could dig in it with her little shovel. We then proceeded to take her into the water. She really enjoyed the water right away, and didn't even mind when a wave came and splashed her entire face with salt water. She just thought it was funny. However, once again, she had a problem with the sand, this time because it had broken seashells in it and felt gritty. We picked her up and held her and waded deeper into the water. Surprisingly (to me, Chris said he wasn't surprised), she wanted to try to swim, so I let her be in the water on her belly while I was holding her, once again, she didn't seem to mind when she got a face ful of saltwater. She then decided to relax a while in her boat. Then, she got fussy and wanted to try to swim again. This same fussiness over lack of independence occurred before she knew how to crawl. She wanted to move around, but didn't want us to do it for her (but had no other way to have it done). This is occurring in the water again. I doubt we'll be able to teach her how to swim this year, and I'm definitely not going to try teaching her in the ocean. We all had fun, though, and I can't wait to get out there again tomorrow!