grass stains: Beach 2014: Wednesday

Wednesday was sort of bizarre.

It was a totally gorgeous day, but we spent a lot of it discussing our options if the warnings about Arthur got worse. Lots of people were asking via Twitter and text if we were going to evacuate.

Have you ever evacuated 23 people out of a beach house on short notice? HAVE MERCY. It's hard enough to pack up and leave on the day you PLAN to leave.

Local and national meteorologists alike were predicting that Arthur was going to remain a Cat 1 storm, and if we were going to leave, we needed to leave on Wednesday -- not as it was making landfall on Thursday.

Meaning that we'd miss half of our vacation together.

WE DECIDED NOT TO EVACUATE.

Did Arthur eventually become a Category 2 storm? Yes it did.
Bygones.

The only clue that Arthur was on his way on Wednesday was the wave intensity. We definitely got some great waves that day, WAY better than the waves earlier in the week.

But the skies were still blue and there weren't any rip currents ... not even any strong undertow.

We kept adults in the ocean with the kids the entire day -- and some kids didn't get in the water much at all.

But the ones who did ... well, they had the time of their lives.

"NO HANDS, MOMMY!"

I tried to keep Jake on his bodyboard the entire time he was in the ocean, just because he's so short and the waves were so tall that day.

See? Almost as high as Grayson's shoulders ... they were taller than I am.

Taller than Nathaniel is.

Nathaniel is a TOTAL waterbug. I would go out there and stand with him or behind him, just because I'd get worried when he'd been out there for four hours that he might give out.

NOPE.

Even in the middle of what looks like a washing machine with another wave bearing down on him, he's cool as a cucumber. LOVING IT.

(And who was the idiot standing there in the middle of the washing machine with her digital SLR? Umm.)

At any rate, it really was something to watch. I've never seen my kids have that much fun in the water.

Wednesday was my night to cook, so I had to go in early, but Grayson and the boys stayed out until the very last possible minute before it was time to rinse off before supper.