Gabe Meets the Ocean

We got back about a week ago from Charleston, SC. SD's side gets together yearly in the summer, fortunate for us, it is always a really cool place. SD's side of the family is really small, grandparents and an uncle and aunt. That's it. It makes for a really relaxing vacation. This year we went to the Isle of Palms and stayed on the ocean in a house in the Wild Dunes resort. This was our third year going and I must say, my favorite. Gabe was a baby, I guess pre-toddler, the last time we came, so I was curious how he would truly take to the sand and waves.

I waited and wondered if Gabe would take to the water like Conor, Bud, Roo and many others I have "seen" splash about like a fish in the ocean. He loves water, pool water that is. Not so much the ocean. It was salty, aggressive and unpredictable. Sure the waves always come and go, recede and come tumbling forward. It's the varying degrees that the waves pushed themselves onto you , and for Gabe over, that made him very distrusting of them. So, we started off slow.














Gabe was actually really drawn (literally) to the sand. I showed him how to make a river with your shovel and then pour water into it and watch it meander down to the ocean. Here he is drawing a river with his finger.






















Then, he discovered that a bucket + ocean water makes for much more fun. That's when we began to build our sand castle and dig a huge hole. Gabe's self appointed job became to fill the hole.


















After a few days at the resort, Gabe found peace with the ocean. He found it's rhythm. With each wave, he jumped as the tide rolled in.