Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A low-budget escape (Part i.2)

By the afternoon (3:30-4 p.m.), the beach was covered with people.  Seriously! There wasn't an empty space on the beach!  If one person sneezed, the guy on the blanket next to him could hand him a tissue without leaning over

Poor Ya was still wary of the tides, which continued to surge water higher and higher up the shore toward him as the evening hours drew closer.

I coaxed him toward the water several times, intially hoping to a get a great shot of him wading, but then wanting him to fully experience the beach.  Each time the waves crashed a few feet away and water surged toward us, he took off toward the hot, dry sand. 
8.05 (248.)
On more than one occassion, I swear he sucked his teeth in disgust of the water's intrusion on his play, which at this point had covered him in sand.
8.05 (222)
And then this nutty photographer realized she should be Mommy.

I put the camera back into its bag. Seeing that our neighbors were so close that they'd have no trouble identifying a theif on my behalf, I hardly worried about the safety of my friend Canon; I also knew I'd be doing a thorough inspection of my belongings before I left should they turn out to be unscrupulous characters.

Free of Canon, I could take Ya onto my hip (or rather allow him to climb as high up my body as he could while clinging tightly in fear of the water) and move out into the ocean.  The waves Chi had been enjoying all day were stronger now, knocking people over with their intensity and allowing body surfers and boogie boarders to slide toward the shore (and sometimes into people) at awesome speeds.  The few times I attempted to put Ya down, he clung to my swimsuit in terror and tried to wrap his legs around mine. 
8.05 (295.)
(I took this photo on an earlier attempt at getting him into the water, but it was obvious he wasn't letting me out of his clutches)

And so, we invented a game - with me holding his hands tightly in mine and raising him as the water rose into waves in front of us.
He loved it.
We added a yell of "jump" each time a wave came near, and  Ya squealed with delight as I lifted him.  And we played until Mommy's arms were tired and the waves were crashing into us with such intensity that they hurt and water was hitting our faces in sheets. We retreated, then, with Ya no longer in fear of the ocean.

No comments: