A day at the beach.

It was a wonderful day, the sun was shining and the sky was almost clear except for a few wee white clouds slowly drifting by on their merry way.  By the time Alphie got down stairs everyone was already there!  Joe had a lot to answer for; apparently he had been up crying all night and had woken everyone else in the house up except Alphie.   

They were all very tired and grumpy, even mum.  Who had to make everyone something yummy to eat.  Mum made some toast for Alphie, Bella and herself, and some porridge for Joe as his teeth were still hurting him.

Once everyone had eaten and presentably dressed.  Mum asked if they would like to go for a walk?  The question turned into a rather heated discussion between Alphie and Bella as she wanted to meet her friends and go shopping, but Alphie was more than happy to walk with his mum or simply play in the garden while Joe happily just sat there and chewed on the corner of his high chair.  Mum soon got a sore head and advised that they would not be going anywhere unless they behaved themselves!

With that there was silence. 

She advised she would take them out to the beach, and if they were really good she might even get them some ice-cream!  Everyone smiled and agreed to such a brilliant idea, and with that they left the house and set off on their journey.

It was a beautiful day and even more so once you were out in it. The heat from the sun, the sparkle from the rocks and the glimmer from the water where the sun caught it just so as the waves broke.  It was a lovely walk to the beach hand in hand with Joe in the pushchair Bella and Alphie on either side with mum pushing directing them on their journey to the beach.  Once they arrived there was even more fun waiting.  Mum had wisely taken a picnic blanket with her so they could have somewhere less sandy to sit as well as an umbrella to help shade Joe and the snack basket she had wisely remembered to take.   Today was going to be a very good day even if no-one else had had a good sleep thought Alphie. 

Once everything was set up and Joe was in the shade mum then removed her shoes so she could feel the sand between her toes and smiled.  Alphie and Bella watched and wondered with intrigue, then flowed suit to discover why mum was smiling.  They both laughed as the wee grains of sand danced between their toes they then proceeded to decide and even agree to build a great sand castle.  Oh this was going to be brilliant.  Just before they got started mum stopped them and advised that they would have to put some sun cream on.  They both crinkled their noses at the idea but with a stern look and speedy application they were soon back to building the biggest and mightiest sand castle either of them had ever seen.  It took them ages but they were both fully occupied with the job in hand while mum and Joe sat in the shade with a book to keep Joe happy and mum from falling asleep. 

Alphie had been given the task of filling the buckets so Bella could stack them to create the castle.  Soon the castle was so big Alphie could barely reach the top!  Bella had been adding more and more buckets of sand to such an extent Alphie couldn't pack them fast enough! After a while Bella sat down beside mum to state she was tired and to come and look at the castle they had built.  Alphie was just finishing the last bucket when his mum came over.  He realised Bella had given up, but their castle was still pretty fantastic, so he asked mum to help finish off the last bucket then the castle would be complete.  Mum did so with a smile and placed the last bucket full of sand right at the top where Alphie couldn't reach.  He doubted Bella could reach that high either.  This was a giant castle.  

Alphie was most delighted.   

Mum suggested “why don’t we build a moat to protect the castle and make it even better?”

Alphie wasn't sure but mum offered to help while Bella and Joe watched.

Once complete Alphie was very happy, it looked just like a proper castle he had seen in picture books mum had read to him.  

Even Bella got back up and came over to look at the brilliant work they had done.  

Joe just gurgled but Alphie thought he was happy with it too.  

With the completion of the castle and a tired Bella and Alphie, mum asked if they would like some snacks to a delighted unanimous nod and a “yes please”.

All sat on the blanket under the umbrella eating jam sandwiches and drinking some cool orange juice.  

Once they had finished, mum offered to take them to the ice-cream shop just along the beach, to which they all agreed.   

Thankfully it wasn't too far and mum decided that as they had worked so hard on the sand castle both Bella and Alphie could have a chocolate flake in their ice-cream too.  

Both Alphie and Bella couldn't be happier with this idea, and Alphie was still happy to share some with Joe.  

He didn't take much, and it had been a hot day for him too so Alphie didn't mind.

The sun was starting to hide behind the clouds and it wasn't quite so warm. 

Mum thought it was a good time to head home.  

Bella and Alphie agreed with a nod.   

They were tired too.  

Joe just nodded and took a few more licks from Alphie’s ice-cream.   

The walk back seemed longer but they were soon home, tired but very happy with their day.

Once home mum made some dinner, bathed and dressed them all for bed.  

Alphie and Bella said good night to Joe as mum put him to bed first.  

Alphie went up to his bed waiting for mum to read him a story. 

While Bella did the same, she was tired too, having not slept the previous night and helping build the biggest and best sand-castle she didn't think she could stay awake long enough for a story.  

Mum came through to Alphie’s room with the chosen story book to find he was already happily asleep with a smile on his face.  

She then proceeded to check on Bella who had squeezed up with her teddies and was fast asleep too. 

 Mum made sure the covers were over her and put out the light.  

Thankfully she had taken a photo of the great sand castle so Alphie, Bella and Joe could remember the great day at the beach.

©Joanne Hepburn 2015