Boxing Day at the Beach

Here in Australia, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas and is also an official holiday. Some say its for 'boxing up' the unwanted gifts you got on Xmas day. Others say its just a day to recover from your Xmas celebrations. Lately, the shops use it as a day of great sales. Therefore, its is now a tradition of shopping for the ladies, men staying home watching TV and the kids playing with their new toys.

However, we chose to start our own tradition on this day. We go to the beach! Its the best time really, not much people around so we can even get really good parking spots. We started going about 3 years ago when Nico was just a baby and we struggled to push the pram into the sand! In hindsight, that was really crazy. Last year we brought along some sand toys so we spent some time playing in the sand. The kids had so much fun playing with the sand that they asked us to bring home a bag full of sand!

This year, we did not have to bring the pram as Nico was big enough to walk with us. It was funny though that we saw another family struggling to push their pram in the sand. Also, we finally braved the cold waters! Bianca was very keen on getting into the water this time. However, Nico was not .... as soon as he saw the waves coming in towards him he pointed towards the shore saying "That Way!". He wanted me to take him back to shore where the waves will not reach him. However, after showing him that he could stomp and splash his way into the water, he stayed a bit longer in the water.

We all splashed around for a while, until we felt a bit cold. At this point, we made sand castles. Bianca made a big sand castle and decorated it with shells that she collected in the beach. She also asked if she could make a sand angel, just like she'd seen on TV. And so she did, and Nico gamely copied her even though the sand was getting into his eyes!

For lunch, we took our picnic rug out of the sand and into the park near the playground. We just ordered some of the traditional aussie summer food - fish and chips. When our food arrived, the kids we so hungry it was not hard to convince them to leave the playground for a while and have their lunch .... that was a pleasant surprise! After lunch, Bianca wanted to go back to the playground to 'make room for dessert. A few minutes later, she was back and we got her a nice cool ice block. Perfect for this nice summer day that we choose to spend at the beach each and every year.