My flying Tiger!

We are sticking with the animal theme for Jacob's Halloween costume again this year. He is a little flying tiger cub. Jon's squadron mascot is a flying tiger hence why Jacob is a flying tiger. Here are some pictures of him playing at Alligator Steps during costume week this week...

Baby products I fell in LOVE with...

Over at Kelly's Korner this week is all about Baby products. Here are a few, well pretty much all of my favorites and the reasoning why I fell in love with them. I really only can say there is one product I didn't find useful but you will have to read to find out what..Here goes! Also, here is a link to other posts I have written about baby products that I love..

We bought a Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Sip 30/30 for our soon to be baby. My husband likes to research. He did all the research for this item and even ordered it from Amazon while on a deployment to Thailand. Too bad he forgot that our Amazon account is linked to our email so I knew it was coming so it wasn't a surprise.

We liked the safety features of this and according to my husband it had a "cool" factor like no other one that he had seen. It has a comfort dry micro fiber fabric that in our opinion helped our son stay cooler here in HOT Okinawa. My only complaint was that we couldn't fit him and one of the extra infant headrest in there but he did just fine without one. We also had a Graco Safe seat for my husbands car so I could also drive his car during deployments and that seat didn't even compare to this seat. We sold that seat! I never liked it.

In my opinion a pack n play is a must. I probably would have wanted a cute little all wood tiny bassinet if we would have been stateside and that was practical. We did actually look into getting a custom one made here but that turned out to be rather pricey but we bought a pack n play instead. Jacob slept in this pack n play for two months by our bed. Unfortunately, some of the models have been recalled due to the sides collapsing down on children. The only model sold on base here was on of the ones in the recall so we have our full purchase price back and are busily looking for a new pack n play. My favorite feature was the mobile. Jacob would stare and kick every time the mobile was on. It lasted long enough for me to get a shower without turning off. I even kept it when we trashed the pack n play in hopes that it will fit on our next pack n play. I think the changing table and the diaper/baby item sorter could have been left off. We never used either. It was much easier to take him to his room to change him. I think a pack n play is a more practical solution long term than a plain bassinet is because this product can grow with your child.

A play gym is also a must! Jacob was under his at one day old. I think I just thought that if we showed him everything REALLY early he would love it. I actually have a video of him under it the very first time we used it. He LOVED this thing. Even at 9 months when I put it up finally he still played with it. From time to time he even finds it in the bag under our bed and will pull it out and play with the giraffe. This baby product literally entertained him for hours and was the first place he actually rolled over! Love love love it!!

The bouncer was another one of Jacob's favorites. It also had to be one of my favorites. He never really fell asleep while using it but he did have a lot of firsts in it. This particular bouncer has a monkey and frog that move by the waterfall on the top and he started to track those items early on with his eyes. He also would reach and hold on to the monkey or the bird and not let go. He loved to get this thing bouncing as he got older. He was so much fun to watch as he would smile and giggle while bouncing. Some nights it was useful in helping me get dinner done and on the table because all Mom's know there is a certain time that all babies want to be held and it happens to be at dinner time of course!!

We bought a big swing for our little apartment. I do not thing we got enough use out of this item at all. Jacob would sleep in but we rarely even used it. And we never used the silly tray attached to it. I thought it would be nice because it would swing like a cradle or a traditional swing but it wasn't worth the money in my opinion. Plus the motor on the swing was louder than I would have liked. It didn't eat thru the batteries but next time a swing with an AC adaptor is the way to go if we get a full size swing instead of a travel size swing. I'm leaning towards a smaller swing next time around. We had no place to keep this swing so for $60 it is happily on it's way to England for another military families child-to-be that bought it from us here in Okinawa. I can't say a swing is a MUST have. Maybe for some babies it is but not our baby.

Another one of my husband's research items was a BOB Sport Utility Stroller. BOB does make one with a swivel front wheel called a Revolution but we opted for the permanent fixed wheel. Why? Simply my husband thought it would be better for running. He wins. He did the research. I loved this stroller and well I still do love it but I don't use it nearly enough. I took Jacob out for a walk in it 24 hours after he was born. Yes, I am nuts to go walk as soon as we arrived home from the hospital but I needed something to do while my husband went and bought cool boy clothes since we waited to find out boy or girl. He loved his first stroller ride. We went on walks every single day for the first 6 months. We added the infant car seat adaptor to it and it was worth every penny. Now we have the snack tray attached to it but poor Jacob can't see over it so it is coming off soon. We have the additional console for drinks as well and love it. I am going to upgrade to a dualie when the time comes!

We bought this Chicco liteway stroller here at the BabiesRus in Okianwa. We had looked at it while I was pregnant and I looked for it online but it wasn't due to come out in the U.S. till October 2008 and then the release date kept getting pushed back. So, finally in November we went and bought it. We probably paid about $50 more than the asking price in the states but it has been well worth it. I love the fact that it leans so far back and Jacob can comfortably sleep in it. It folds up nicely and is light weight so I have to disagree with the reviews written about it being heavy but maybe that is because I carry around an almost 25 lbs kid every day and carry groceries up three flights of stairs once a week. The handles on it are very comfortable and it's easy to push. My husband says it has 'the tightest turn radius' in it's class. It really can turn in a full circle with ease. The shade adjusts with ease and provides decent sun coverage but of course does not compare to the coverage Jacob gets from the BOB stroller. The storage underneath is small but the diaper bag hangs neatly on the back so no complaint here. I wish ours had the padded neck straps!! I took this home to visit family and it worked out perfectly. It did actually become more of a luggage cart instead of a stroller but even with that it did wonderful.

Last but not least is my Baby Bjorn. I had one break and you can read about that here. But, I still love it. Luckily, we had two so I just started to use my husbands. Words cannot describe how many uses there are for this product and I can't tell you how many times we used it. I used it up until Jacob was 10 months old. We upgraded to a Kelty carrier while we were back home and we love it!!!

One year ago today!

One year and 6 hours ago I had just given birth to a little baby boy! I don't even know where the last year has gone or how all of a sudden in the last few weeks Jacob has turned from looking like a baby to looking like a little boy. He is the apple of my eye and my sunshine on a cloudy day! I can't imagine my life without him and I know I am a better wife, daughter, sister and friend because of him. I love you baby boy!! You will always be my baby.

Happy First Birthday!!

A little TIGER he will be..

Last year Jacob was a little dinosaur for Halloween and I think he was super cute!!

This year Jacob is going to be a tiger. I am keeping the animal theme alive at least until Jacob can tell me what he wants to be for Halloween.

Jacob will be 1 in 2 more days!!

We took Jacob to Araha Park this past weekend to attempt to take pictures of our little man to send to family. He hates grass and sand unless he is eating it so he wasn't in the mood. Plus, we were all dripping with sweat in less than 5 minutes. Here are some of the pictures!

See how much he loves the GRASS!?!

We are trying to teach him to hold up 1 finger when we ask him how old he is..sometimes he does it and sometimes he doesn't.

Another reaction rash!?!?

Jacob started his low dose of Zithromax this morning and woke up from his afternoon nap with a crazy red pin point looking rash all over his trunk, feet and normally diaper covered areas. Of course, it was about twenty minutes till 4 and for some reason the peds office closes at NOON on Thursday's here!! So, no last minute appointment for us today. We will have to go in the morning most likely if it is still there plus he still had a 100 degree temperature all day today and I was told to bring him back if he still had a fever in two days. I'm hoping the reaction is to the Motrin he had on Wednesday and not the Zithromax since that will make it drug #2 he cannot have and he isn't even a year old yet!!!

We are on our way to the magical #5

We are on our way to the magical #5 ear infection that we need here in a year to be referred to an ENT at the naval hospital here. Jacob now has his third ear infection since April! The drug of choice he cannot have due to a reaction to it so we are on our favorite pal Zithromax! I love the Zithromax because it's once a day and doesn't have to be refrigerator. I'm sure it tastes yummy too!!

I was wondering why last night he was shoving food into his right ear. I thought he was just being a crazy almost one year old but his right ear must have been bothering him. He woke up last night screaming and I thought it was just because of the loud crazy mopeds that were driving by (yes, there are Japanese moped gangs here that reeve their engines all night up and down the roads) or just gas. I didn't realize he didn't feel good until this morning when I took his temperature! 100.8 in his ear and 101.3 in his cute little tushie! Yes, i'm a nurse so I take it both ways if his ear one is elevated before giving Tylenol! It all makes sense now.

After a trip to the hospital I found out he has double ear infections. He isn't moving fluid in his right ear and his left isn't as bad as his right thank goodness! Poor thing. I feel so helpless since I don't know how to help him. But, I am loving all this extra cuddling time though!! Hopefully, he will be feeling better by friday if not it's back to the doctor for plan B which is IM antibiotics which I don't even want to think about that!!

On a happier note I actually had a pleasant experience at the hospital today which is a welcome surprise since that is usually not the case. I'm referring to his doctor's appointment not the pharmacy and how it took me 45 minutes to get his prescription and how 8 people came and had new prescriptions filled after me and left within five minutes of their numbers being called!!!

The Trials of Sippy Cups

"And you have about thirty" said Daddy as he pointed to a picture of a sippy cup in 100 First Words by Bright Baby...

We have been trying since we went home to AMERICA at the end of Feburary to get Jacob to take a sippy cup. Trying to get a baby who has never taken a bottle to take a sippy cup can really make you want to EBF till there is no more milk. It has really been a fight with him or more of just frustration for me. We tired the cheapest ones we could find to the most expensive ones we could find. We were hoping to figure out which one was best while we were home because we knew that the chance of the exchange here actually carrying the sippy cup Jacob loved would probably be very small. We left AMERICA with no real resolve. I was very disappointed.

We tried the Munchkin cup but the plastic spout on it just made him want to teethe on it and the same thing for Gerber's sip and smile cup. He hated the Playtex trainer cup and mostly just wanted to chew on the handles. He never liked the Nuby cup because he couldn't overcome figure out the suction on it. He got the hand of a the Nuby straw cup and I thought we had made a break through when he drank 1/4 of a sippy cup of water one night. I was rejoicing but that was short lived because soon he found out that if he got water to the tip of the straw and then pulled the straw out with his teeth clamped on it then water would spray everywhere. That was short lived and the cup just ended up on the floor everytime instead. I went ahead and tried some more advanced in age Playtex sippy cups with cool cars on the side thinking a character/cartoon might intereset him but how do you teach a child to hold a sippy cup that has never held a bottle let along teach him he has to tilt his head to get anything out or lift the cup up when he has never done either before with a bottle so that turned into a crawling toy to chase on the floor. My mom sent a few more straw cups but only for him to bite on the straw. Must frustrating because I knew soon that he would need to be weaned and if he couldn't drink from a sippy cup how was that possible!?! We learned he would drink from a straight up cup just fine without a problem and seemed to enjoy it but how do you sit down to do this countless number of times a day if you want to get anything done. (He was EBF every 1 1/2 to 2 hours for his first 8 months and now is every 3 so it's not that I'm saying I don't want to spend time with my child because I obviously spend time with him and love him very much) But, I am saying I would like a little break and be able to let Jon get up with him so I can sleep 30 minutes longer for once!! Okay, I got off the topic of sippy cups.

One day out of the blue I decided to try this Playtex cup again and he drank and drank and drank. We have still not finished a whole sippy cup all day but he drinks about 3/4 of it which makes me happy and gives him more than enough of flavored water and practice each day. I could kiss the person that designed this cup but Jon probably wouldn't be happy about that! But, it does make sense why he loves this cup. He knows how to nurse and latch on. He has been great at that since about two or three days old but all the other cups had too soft of spouts on them which only lead to chewing or biting them. This cup is has a spout on it that isn't soft and easy to chew even though at times I see his 8 little teeth knawling on it it but when watching him from the side I see that he essentially latches on to the cup as he does me. (sorry for the graphic image if you find that graphic) Point is, is that this cup works which makes me H-A-P-P-Y!!!

If Toucan, You can..

Before Jon's last deployment he spent an afternoon at Zukeran Elementary school here, which is a DOD school, teaching but more so talking about what he does on a daily basis as a helicopter pilot. He went and spoke at another school for career day last year and wanted to do it again this year. He has to fly the day it was scheduled so they scheduled a day for him to come instead. He took Jacob's coast guard tonka replica of the CH-46 phrog that he flies along with a female pilot. If you know my husband, you know he can talk. He had a blast! The schools motto is "If Toucan, you can" so when I found this cute onesie on Gap.com (yes, i'm a little obsessed with shopping online for cool clothes that not every other American baby boy on Okinawa is wearing) that said the school's motto I immediately bought it. Little did I know that the day of Jon's NSI check flight would be the day I would decide to finally dress Jacob in it. Jon loved the shirt (or so I hope) and I hope it reminded of him throughout the rest of the day while he was getting ready for his very important flight.

Here's my little peanut in his shirt reminding Daddy that if Toucan you can!

The shirt must of helped. Actually I know it's God that helped because Jon is one of the newest NSI's in the Marine Corps now. I have to brag on him a little because I am so proud of him and I love him!!! =)

Show us your LIFE - Wedding Reception and Honeymoon

We had our reception at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. It was my second choice but most likely my husband's number one choice for a wedding reception venue. My first was already booked. Our reception was catered by the Mustin Beach Officer's club catering department. I wish I had wonderful things to say about the food but since I barely ate any of it I have no review to write. The catering manager left the week before our wedding so I'm thankful we at least had a dinner meal for our guests!

I wish I had wonderful pictures from our reception but we don't have any wedding pictures out here really and the ones we do have are in frames. We used my bouquet and my bridesmaid's bouquets on the head table. On our guest tables we had red roses, white alstras and white daisies in vases. Our table settings were simple but my black, red and white color theme was carried out.

Our cakes came from a wonderful bakery in Pensacola. I still have the top of our cake frozen at my in-law's house. Hopefully, one day we will actually get to eat it!

Our wedding cake was butter cream with butter cream frosting. It has a black ribbon on the bottom of each layer along with edible accent silver balls. Our cake topper wasn't the one I wanted but it was our initials which worked just fine which will some day be somewhere in a house of ours once the military stops moving us! I wanted a Marine groom and a bride for a cake topper but I couldn't find one in an officer's dress uniform!

For Jon's groom cake I went with an NC state theme. Jon graduated from NC State in 2003 and was actually Mr.Wuf for three years! I'm sure he expected a CH-46 helicopter themed groom's cake but instead I surprised him with this one. I think it was chocolate. I can't even remember. I didn't get a piece of this cake! =(

Our getaway car was my husband's first wife "Roxy" We have no cool pictures of any decorating of Roxy because I'm pretty sure Jon would have had a heart ache if anyone would have touched her (yes, I refer to the car as a her) and I'm also pretty sure that Roxy was taken to a secret location after we arrived at the reception. Roxy is my husband '96 Pontiac trans am that is his first love. I say that with all honesty. He loves his car and has spent countless hours working on her, modifying her and putting money into her so it was only fitting that we used Roxy in our wedding! Too bad poor ole Roxy is sitting in a storage unit in North Carolina until we return!

We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon. Jon had researched and planned out our honeymoon. He picked out a Sandals resort to stay at per recommendations from people he knew who had stayed at the resort. Unfortunately, Sandals left an unpleasant sandy taste in our mouth! IT was not what was pictured in the photos. Our ocean view room had no ocean view to it! We found roaches, dust and other "things" on the floor in our first room. We were finally moved to another room the next day after having to track down the hotel manager all day. We ended up checking out two days earlier and finishing our honeymoon at another Sandal's resort on the island once a room became available. Of course changing hotels was at our expense but we both agreed it was well worth it! We did however get a wonderful honeymoon souvenir 9 months later so of course we wouldn't change anything about our honeymoon!!

Some baby toys we are loving!

As Jacob learns to play more independently I have noticed that he has favorite toys! Each of these toys can entertain him endlessly and we love them!

This is Jacob's beloved apple. Jon brought it back to us from the ToysRus in Hong Kong along with many other cool tools we had never seen before. This apple cracks me up because it sings/ talks with a British accent. The worm pops up like a Jack-in-the-box would but unfortunately Jacob hasn't figured out how to push the button in the center to make the worm pop up. The button is harder to push than the other two on there which both play music that at times like any toy can get annoying. Jacob will chase his apple all over the house and get frustrated if it rolls away too quickly!

This is one of Jacob's 1st birthday gifts. It came in a box that my Mom sent over to us and since it wasn't wrapped Jacob saw me pull it out of the box and fell in love with it. So, I couldn't break my baby's heart by taking it away. (Yes, i realize he would forget abou t it in about 5 minutes) He has been playing with this toy for the last month. He loves to bang the hammer on the toy and on our floors as well as chew on the hammer. He is good at pushing the buttons, the pegs on top and the blue dog on the front. He pushes this toy all around on the floor and sometimes can't figure out how it rolls away so fast! I love V-tech because some of their toys come with strings attached for pulling but Jacob loves to chew on the strings so they have a nice compartment next to the batteries that you can tuck the string into. How smart is that!?!

We bought this Leap Frog learning table for Jacob for Christmas even though he was only a little over 3 months old when we opened it for him on Christmas Day. We bought it for the fact that it could grow with him. It has truly been the best $34.99 we have spent on a toy! Back in Decemeber, we would give him tummy time on the floor with it on the floor (minus the legs) and he would reach and stretch to touch the different buttons to make it sing, talk or play music! He loved it. We went back to AMERICA for a few months and so Jacob didn't play with it for a long time. When we came back Jacob was about 8 months old. We added the legs and it was one of the first things (besides the bathtub and Daddy) that he would pull up on. I wish the legs were weighted but who really lets there baby pull up on something if they aren't close by especially if they are just learning how and are unsteady. He still gets the biggest kick out of this toy and cruises along it's sides. He loves the green flap that opens and closes. Maybe one day I'll start hiding snacks in there for him to find!

I found this one day at the exchange here in Okinawa. Living here has taught me one thing...if you see it buy it, attach the reciept to it, and decide later if you want it or not. Items here come in stock and you can go back within hours and they can be gone. Jacob liked this toy in the store but then could care less for it once we brought it home. The "moo" sound that it is suppose to make when you tip it over doesn't sound like a "moo" at all. It sounds like an alien or something. Maybe it's just because it's Fisher Price. I love our Fisher Price toys but it's bad when Jon asks me or vice versa if we dropped a toy to see if that would fix it and make it work again! But that aside the last few days Jacob has loved this toy! He use to just sit and chew on the cookies. Why not they are plastic and textured so what isn't to love about them! Now he is actually putting the cookies in the milk jug from the slat at the top and then patiently waiting for someone to open it to get it out. Fisher price did one thing write with this toy and made it too hard for a baby to open it so they can't rip the top off if they get frustrated with it! Unlike his block sorter!! I wish we still had all five plastic cookies but one accidently made it's way into the dishwasher and fell onto the heating element in the dishwasher! (I still love you Jon!)

I bought this Fisher-Price walker while we were at home visiting but mostly only because ToysRus was having a buy one get one free sale on Fisher-Price toys and I had gone to buy this toy and another one but ended up coming away with this one and the one above. (That's a long run-on sentence) Jacob loves the bright lights and I no longer care for the music it plays. He loved sitting in front of it when we first bought it and manipulating all the different parts of it. He also learned to pull up on this pretty early too. This week however he has learned or more so decided he is going to walk and push this. He does it pretty quickly down the hallway of our apartment here. He loves it and smiles most of the time unless he is concentrating on someone taking pictures of him! We or should I say Jon took some good pictures of him pushing it down the hall the first time this week!

I believe this toy should really say for 3 months and up! Jacob received this for Christmas and even at 3 1/2 months loved to knock the tower we will build over! And even now at 11 months he still loves it. He loves banging two blocks together and of course throwing them down and watching them slide across the floor. The other day he actually put all the blocks back inside one another with a little coaching as to which block was next. We took this home with us to AMERICA so he has never missed a beat playing with it. LOVE LOVE LOVE these stacking cubes!!

Last but not least we have a toy similar to this but I couldn't find a picture of the actual Playskool ball popper that we have. This is another toy I regretted buying a few months ago. Jacob loved it in the store and dind't even want to touch it at home. Now he lifts it up and down and presses the button up on top to make the balls spin. He also is really good at banging this toy on the floor. I guess he likes loud noises! Who knows.

11 months old!

Jacob is 11 months old today!! When did this happen and how do I make it stop? He is growing up way too quickly! He has changed so much in just the last month it is unbelievable. I can't believe in a month he will be smashing a cake or a cupcake just the way I smashed cake in his Daddy's face at our wedding!! Time to plan Jacob's big day now!!

What to do on a H-O-T day!

It sure seems like each day it gets hotter and hotter here. It is like someone has left the gas stove on at 425 degrees for days and days now. I believe it is the humidity that makes it so hot here since the temperature has only been in the upper 80's and lower 90's. I sure can't wait for some rain to come in a few days and cool things off!

We were outside a few days ago to clean out my car and bring some items upstairs that I have been meaning to bring up for weeks. We came inside after 5 minuets because poor Jacob had sweat running down his little face. He was even in the shade outside!

This is how Jacob likes to cool off. I can't say I blame him. Jacob has discovered the refrigerator and loves to sit in front of it and cool off after being outside as well as pulling out all of the water bottles.

Moving on up...or pulling on up...

Jacob has been pulling up now for about a month. He started to pull up on Jon before he left and hasn't seemed to stop pulling up on things yet! He likes to pull up in the tub, onto our one stair in each bathroom, on the couch, onto his activity table, the glass tv stand, his government issued bookshelf with his toys, the laundry basket, the computer desk and the computer box itself. If he can reach it he will get up to it. The funniest thing is him trying to stay standing up with a drawer while pushing it in and out! He cracks me up!

He accomplishes this by one of three methods. The first is being completely flat on his belly and extending his arms over head to where ever he wants to stand and he pulls himself up with his upper body. The second way is how he does it the most which is up onto his hands and knees and then up. The third is what I call a kickstand because his one arm looks like a kickstand. He puts one hand on whatever he is wanting to stand at, the other arm is locked in a straight position against the ground with him on his knees. This has to be the funniest of them all. Why he must do it this one way when he knows how to do it the other..I'm really not quite sure. But whatever works for him.

How to get into the pool...

Step 1: Notice that the sliding door is open and that the water is running into the pool.

Step 2: Check to see if there is enough water yet into the pool.

Step 3: Check to see if anyone is watching you.

Step 4: Act as if you don't notice your Mommy watching you and snapping pictures and climb on in the pool.

Step 5: Have fun because you are already soaking wet in your clothes!

4th of July

I wish I had something exciting to write about that happened on the Fourth of July! We celebrated with grilled cheese sandwiches. I wasn't much in the mood to do anything since I had been up all night sick and then Jacob woke up super early. We enjoyed a nice quiet day at home. Maybe next year we will make it out to Americafest at the AFB but then we've already been trying to go for three years and we have yet to go!

Did he really just put himself to sleep??

Did Jacob really just put himself to sleep all by himself for the first time ever!?!?! Usually it takes either some rocking or some time nursing before he will fall asleep unless of course he is in the car. I nursed him and he wasn't wanting to sleep. So I put him in his crib, turned the music part of the mobile on, listended to him talk to himself for a few minutes, checked on him when he got quiet and what did i find?? A sleeping baby nestled against his bumper pad with eyes closed!! Maybe I won't dread bed time once he is weaned in 3 months anymore.

So my slick little monkey...

So, tonight in the tub out of the blue my slick little monkey decides that he is going to reach up from where he is safely sitting in the tub, grasp the side of the tub, proceed to get on his knees only to pull himself all the way up to his feet. The look on his face was priceless. It was so full of pride and accomplishment. I returned him every time after a few minutes of standing to a sitting position only for him to return to standing within ten seconds!!

Father's Day!

It was love at first! I believe that Jon fell in love with Jacob at first sight...well maybe once all the goey slime was cleaned off but still I think he fell in love with him immediately just like I did. Jacob has changed both of our lives forever! That is the honest truth of it. I always knew that Jon would be a good dad but what I didn't realize was what a GREAT dad he would be and that when he became a Dad I would fall in love with him all over again. I absolutely love watching Jon and Jacob together. I seriously think that Jacob thinks Jon always comes home to play with him. They have a blast together whether it's playing their peek-a-boo game on our bed, bath time, spa daddy time or reading books. They both always have smiles on their faces! I love them both so very much. Happy First Father's Day Jon...even if you are surrounded by water on the tuna can!

Eating sand is good!

Today was the first day in well over a week that the sun came out to play! We have had swimming lesson for a week and every lesson has almost totally been in the rain! This morning we woke up to sunshine. Jacob and myself headed out to Araha Park/Beach where we use to live to go and walk along the beach on the sea wall. I wanted to be outside today. We ran into friends from the squadron and actually ended up back at the beach after a quick milk snack for Jacob and a change of clothes. Jacob loved the beach. The last time we went to Araha with him was 7 months ago. He didn't like it then. He really didn't even like the Florida beach either but today my waterbug loved it! I don't know if he had more fun eating the sand, feeling the sand, playing in the sand, sitting in the water and having it come up on him, floating in the water, or attempting to get washed off but he had fun or at least I think he had fun! We even ended up taking a bath together because he had sand in every possible crevice on his body! And the sand here is gritty and rough not smooth like the white beaches in Florida so the stuff gets nasty when it gets wet! I was so thankful to have a sunshine filled day! Back to the rain for another week tomorrow!