On the beach

Last Monday, Memorial Day, we went to the beach. Sandy Point, a beach right before Bay Bridge. We didn't know what to expect and our expectations weren't high, but we were quited pleased with the whole trip.

It was Ivan's first time on the beach, on the sand, in the water. He had fun. I had slathered a bunch of sunscreen on him to make sure my translucently pale child doesn't get burned. He didn't get burned. He protested about wearing his hat, of course, but he had to do so anyway.

Of course I forgot to put sunscreen on me, so my back got burned. (Sunscreen, I've since learned, bothers him when it gets into his eyes...he starts rubbing his eyes and crying and the whole areas turns red)

Andy and Ivan played in the sand on the edge of the water. We brought a bucket and a shovel. They had fun. Then they walked around some on the beach. Then Ivan got hungry and ate yogurt. That was all I had brought. I was under the impression that Sandy Point would be a bit like Ocean City, ie a boardwalk with food stalls. I didn't realize it was a national park with no food facilities, but lots of barbeque points. But good to know for the future. Overall, it was a very nice park, with lots of grassy areas (good to note, for the future, when Ivan will be ready to play ball). And it was just far enough of a drive for a day trip. Unless we would stay overnight, there is no point in driving all the way to the ocean (Ocean City, Assategue, what ever) because it's too far of a drive for one day for Ivan to sit in the car, and also, I wouldn't want to stay out in the sun all day long. I myself don't find it that pleasant, and Ivan is definitely not build to stay in the sun all day long (at least not this year. he's too new and his skin is too pale).

After about 2 hours on the beach, we left. The idea was to find a restaurant nearby to have lunch. But there were none around. The park guards suggested we go to Annapolis, which we nixed because we thought Annapolis would be too crowded. Instead we drove back home and went to Mi Ranchos. This worked out just fine, because Ivan fell asleep in the car even before we left the park grounds and woke up an hour later as we were pulling into Silver Spring.

Mi Ranchos was fun. I ordered a platter of different foods (ie enchillada, tacos, etc) instead of my usual quesadillas. The idea was to share it with Mr. Meh. It was a smart idea. He ate half of my food. Just as for Papi's birthday when he devoured inordinate amount of rice, sweet potato, bread, cheese, tomato bits, etc... he ate half of my plate. He had half a pork tamale, guacamole, chicken enchilada, cheese enchilada, rice, and beans....I thought he was going to burst at the seams but he didn't (it all got pooped out over the next few days).

Then he got restless in his highchair and wanted to walk around. We let him as the patio we were sitting in was half empty. He kept walking over to other tables looking at people. He was particularly intrigued by a table of some 6-8 young guys, in their early 20s. From his chair, he kept looking at them, observing them. Then we released him from the chair, he made a beeline for their table, trying to get in on the conversation. Of course, they mostly ignored him or looked at him in confusion as in why is this baby here. Andy and I thought it was hilarious -- Ivan's trying to mingle with the boys.

Then we went home.

All in all the day, our trip, turned out great!

(I liked the relative spur of the moment and spontenaity with which we took the trip. Lately it seems that we spend too much time talking about what we want to do, instead of actually doing things. So I was very happy when we decided on this trip, which I would rate as a big success. Now we just need to do more trips of the sort)