A Hop, Skip and a Jump Away: The Beach Marauder

On this Labour Day weekend, if you happen to find yourself at one of New Brunswick's many beaches, be on the look out for this guy:

He is notorious for harassing beach-goers until they give him beach toys or food. Local police warn that he is still at large and that he can be volatile. If this beach menace approaches you, remain calm, smile kindly, say hello and then quickly hand over the goods.

. . . tee hee.

My favourite time to be at the beach is after supper. The sun is beginning to set, the air is cooler, the water seems warmer and the mood is relaxed since everyone there is wrapping up their day. Last night, while Zoe was working, Avery was at his friend's camp and Mr. Level-Headed and Elliot were at Elliot's high school soccer try-out, I decided to take the two-under-two crew to the beach. We are so blessed to have a lovely beach just five minutes away from our home. We hop onto the ferry and there it is.

Carrying our supplies on my back and Harriet on my chest, while holding Leif's hand, I am sure we were quite the sight and probably momentarily struck fear in the hearts of many . . .

I really hope they do not set up camp beside us.

The other thing I love about the beach at night is that it is not very busy, so I placed our blanket by the water's edge and declared this spot ours. A kind woman who was coming out of the water as we settled in, commended me for bringing the babies to the beach all by myself. Then it hit me:

Oh. My. Land. I am ALONE!!! What was I thinking?!

See the thing is, I never think before I act. I just do and deal with the consequences as they arise. Typically, things work out for me, but every once and awhile a disaster ensues. And as I looked at my crazy toddler and the large body of water before us, I had a brief moment of doubt. Yep, this will be one of those disasters, but being an optimist and never a realist, I immediately squashed that fear and went about my business. I got Leif set up with all his beach toys and started a thrilling game of Hide-the-Dinosaur, while Harriet and I nestled up on the blanket for a little nursing sesh. Harriet is a firm believer in public displays of breastfeeding and loves to sample her mama's milk in different locales. It makes her feel rebellious:

Free the boobies!

This bliss lasted a whole five minutes before Leif decided to chase some sea gulls.

Yep! Most certainly a disaster.

I placed Harriet on our blanket and then took off after Leif who refused to heed any of my pleas for him to turn around and come back.Thankfully, the seagulls flew off and Leif decided our spot looked suddenly interesting once again. After we returned, though, things went surprisingly well. We all waded in the water, buried the dinosaur countless times and sat and enjoyed the cool, gentle breeze, while Leif, intermittently, pillaged neighbouring beach blankets for toys and snacks.

I knew we shouldn't have named him after a viking.

. . . tee hee.