The Not Back to School Beach Party

...was so much fun! It was a good hour away, but most of it was down Lakeshore drive between Grand Haven and Holland so it was neat to see all the big, fancy houses on the lake. We saw more gated driveways and stone walls and huge flower beds than we ever do around here. Interesting how going just a little ways away change things.

The park was really nice. The tunnel through the dune was really neat. The worst part was that it came out at almost the top of the dune. It was a long trek down to the beach and it felt even longer when we had to climb back up. whew! I know I'm out of shape, but other moms were talking about getting winded climbing back up too.

Alison had a great time. There were other girls between about 5 and 9 (if I had to guess) and they had lots of fun digging and playing with barbie dolls. She even went out into the water! I was surprised that she went in up to her waist! She complained about the sand getting into her shoes, but she dealt with it.

Ian also had a blast. He initially didn't like that I made him wear his lifejacket suit, but he adjusted and liked walking in the water and digging in the mud. There weren't any other little kids, but he did play with some of the younger girls. The older boys were playing a game up in the dune grass for much of the day and they all seemed like they were at least 7 or 8 and I know the oldest was 12.

I had fun too. The other moms seem like they do school the way we do (year around taking time off when we feel like it and not super structured). It's nice to not have to justify why you homeschool. We are definately going to try to make it to more of this group's activities because the moms and kids we met today were really fun.

Now we are munching on pizza and watching Veggie Tales. Pretty soon we'll do baths and bedtime. I bet we'll all sleep good tonight! We've had a great 1st day of school! (and we even saw boats passing by so we did direct observation for our first theme of the year, lol)