Bling and Butterflies

One of those days at the beach – reminiscing….     It’s a semi-overcast day and I’m at the beach lying on a towel periodically peering up to check on my two little boys and one big boy in the water.  I may have jeans on and a long sleeve t-shirt with a scarf and as I peer at the lady to my left, so does she!

It’s school holidays, so the majority of the other beach goers are kitted up with swimmers, boardies and wetsuits and everyone’s having fun.

We are so lucky to live where we do. Surfing is almost a daily occurrence.  There’s the early morning 6am surf, the afternoon surf, the let’s go look at the waves and go for a surf at high tide surf and the just because we want to surf, surf…

While it feels strange that my legs and arms are fully covered, what doesn’t feel strange is the freshness of the salty breeze clearing my head. I never get tired of it.  So invigorating.

Hubster is out with our oldest who is surfing. Our little big man got a new steamer for Christmas and no longer surfs a dozen waves and wants to get out because he’s cold.  He did this for years until we realised he really needed to surf in a steamer all year round.  The new one’s a beauty and now hubby’s the one who gets cold first.

The littlest of my men has chosen his boogie board over his surfboard today and has just befriended another boy in the waves who looks around the same age. He’s teaching him how to stand on a boogie board like a surf board and ride it all the way to shore.  The new friend has picked it up after only a few attempts and by the look on his mum’s face it’s much to her surprise.

Meanwhile, my fellow jeans and t-shirt wearing lady has decided to have a snooze. I’m envious!  Her beach companion, who I assume is her husband, has gone out on a sea kayak.  Again, I’m envious.  She’s not on safety supervision and it’s a great day to have forty winks on the sand!

I decide it’s time to supervise a little closer to the water and head down to the small waves zone and am instantly disappointed to find the water is deliciously warm. I roll my jeans up and soak up the water on my pasty legs.  Now I wish I had swimmers on!!!

A social place is the water’s edge.  I meet a grandfather who’s also supervising kids. His wife is the water lover and in among the waves with the grandkids.  He quizzes me, thinking I’m a tourist and I the same!  He was surprised to hear this was our local break and I was surprised to hear he lived in the local caravan park across from the beach for 20 years until they retired and moved up the road to suburbia.  Jeepers you meet some nice people on the beach.

My mind then wonders to snoozing jeans and t-shirt lady and what her story is. I look up and am nearly pummelled by an empty sea kayak.  Turns out the sea kayak man is a local too and got his new toy for Christmas and still learning the ropes… obviously!

It’s been a great afternoon, the sun’s going down and it’s time to head home. We wash the sand off our feet at the shower and our tummies begin to rumble… there’s a family in the midst of barbecuing their dinner in the park making us even more hungry!

This summer has been a strange one, some quite cool days but not quite cool enough to deter steamer wetsuit boy, his little brother and the dad who now needs some sort of wetsuit himself so he can spend extended hours in the surf a little warmer.

Every outing to the beach brings some sort of experience. I know I’ve said it already but I do love where we live, the people we meet, the friends we enjoy it with and the experiences we create.

Take a deep breath and I hope you can enjoy where you are too…

Bling and Butterflies xo