I took the kids to the beach today by myself. Unfortunately, not the ocean, it's a lake. But it's clean and sandy and about half mile up the street from our house. The kids love it. I prefer the ocean, but I'm a snob. Anywho this is the first beach trip for the kids this season and I've got to say they kicked my butt. They were behaving just fine, L was actually a perfect angel. But it's really tough keeping an eye on a three year old and a 20 month old at a crowded beach. I thought I was going to get whip lash from turning my head around so much trying to constantly keep watch on both of them by the water. Last year was sooooo much easier. Z was only crawling then so she clearly couldn't get very far. She was content to just roll around in the wet sand but now she wants to be bounced around in the waves and spun around by her arms. All the while I'm trying not to lose sight of L. Not an easy task but they had a lot of fun so I suppose I'll end up doing it again, and again and again....