Wet Hot American Summer

Nom nomnom nom nom. Tasty.

The long July 4 weekend marked what will no doubt be the first of many trips by young Silas to the beach. His Uncle Russ and Aunt Morgan recently bought an awesome beach place in Pine Knoll Shores, NC and invited us to spend the weekend with them.

Given our previous sunscreen fail when we took Silas camping, we were a little concerned that we might repeat that rookie parent mistake and leave the poor child red and crispy. To avoid such a disaster, we spread 60 SPF sunscreen on the boy like mayonnaise on a sandwich, taking special care to cover every square centimeter of his skin.

Why are you guys laughing at me? *I* didn't pick out this outfit.

After greasing him up with sunscreen, we put Silas in a "rash guard" shirt made from 50 SPF material and put a Gilligan's Island-style hat on his head.

The young bubble baby plays quietly with his hypoallergenic, sterile toys.

To finish the job, whenever we were just sitting on the beach, Silas sat inside a little protective dome that kept the sun at bay. This may have been overkill, but it was effective. After three days on the beach, Silas got a little sun but no burn.

Seriously, y'all.... This sand stuff is delicious! It should be added to my lunchtime rotation.

Silas did, however, ingest quite a bit of sand. For some reason that escapes us, his principal goal during every second on the beach was to grab and cram into his mouth as much sand as possible. Much of the time on the beach was spent barricading him inside his sun-dome so that he could only swallow a few grains of sand at a time rather than gulping entire handfuls.

Now, the wet stuff was pretty good, but I think I like the dry, finer version as well.

The water temperature was great, but a little choppy for an 8-month-old. Matt's attempt to dip the boy's feet into the water was foiled when a wave slapped into Silas's back, abruptly soaking both of them.

Oh, heck no! You were "just going to wet my feet," my heinie!

Off the beach, Silas had a great time, making earnest efforts to crawl on the hardwood floors at Russ and Morgan's place while their 4-pound miniature Yorkshire terrier, Cooper, made earnest efforts to restrain herself from licking Silas's face over and over again. (It was very tempting!) Given the sleeping challenges that we have sometimes faced with Silas, we were very pleased that he slept soundly through the fireworks and general revelry outside the night of July 4.

In addition to frolicking in the ocean, young master Silas also took his first dip in the pool, thanks to his Grand. The two of them had a blast swimming and floating and Silas was so relaxed by the warm pool and the safety of Grand's arms that he almost fell asleep!

I like this great big bathtub!

Grand, why was the baby pool so much warmer than the big pool?

Swimming makes me tired, Grand.

Silas will have at least two more opportunities to hit the beach and/or the pool this summer: in Destin, Florida with his Papa (Matt's dad) later this month and in Emerald Isle with John & Heather and Jim & Ginny for a week in August. We can't wait.