The BAPs played cricket with their friends and bulit sand castles and sand cities, and got drenched in the sea. QBAP enjoyed a swim near the shore and even IBAP and MBAP waded in till there necks. Whereas most children observed shells and sea slugs, the BAPs chose to observe a dead dog- its appearance, its exposed skull and obvious cause of death (its feet were tied)-not a pretty sight but as ABAP insisted a "home schooling moment".
This was ZBAP's (a year old now) first beach trip (well actually, his second, the first time he sat out the entire time in his baby chair and people's 'godi' without actually geting the benifit of being at the beach), and so we put him down onto the sand. After a few tentiative prods at the sand he soon went "sand crazy"; grabbing hand fulls of it and tossing it up and into Ummi's lap and into his mouth quickly, smirking at everyone's attempts to stop him. He went home this time bringing the beach with him (as his siblings normally do) in his hair, pockets and even in his daiper (smile).
Interestingly, this was SBAP's (now 3 years old) third trip to the beach and Masha'Allah, he seem to enjoy it and was as independent as always. He would make mounds of sand with a spade and when he found a small watering can he made several trips taking it to a pool of water to fill (unattended!), then walk back to pour it onto his mound of sand. He did this a few times, holding up his shorts with his free hand and pausing on his way back from the pool to observe a sitting camel. Later he genereously filled an aunt's hands with pebbles, insisting they were seeds.
When the camel first arrived at the scene, SBAP ran behind it calling out, "Somebuddy! Camel come!" and much to his pleasure and fear, he was rewarded with a camel ride, sitting between ABAP and Ummi (he kept muttering "I will fall" every few seconds throughout the ride).
Alhumdulillah, we all had a lovely time and managed to get home and wash up before Asr Masha'Allah.
22nd Safar 1432