The weather forecast called for rain and a dust storm, but we did let that come in the way of the beach day we’d planned with friends. Instead, we packed up family-sized bento of snacks and our bag of beach toys, convoyed out to Khiran, and hoped for the best. The afternoon worked out perfectly – the weather was warm but not too hot, the kids played happily, and the rain held out just until we were packing up to leave around 5 o’clock. It was a lovely day that ended with a filthy munchkin and a long bath, but all good days should end that way, shouldn’t they?
Another day at the beach. Because it’s too gorgeous to be anywhere else. 
With days as gorgeous as today, there’s no choice but to soak it all in. It was a morning of sand and sunshine at Spanish Banks for us today.
Saturdays don’t come better than this.
Vancouver sunshine plus an impromptu dinner picnic at the beach and ocean-dipped toes makes for a very happy mama and babe.
Today Miss G and I trudged off the beaten path a little to check out somewhere that’s been on my mental list for a very long while now… Iona Beach. Nestled in a quiet area out beside the Vancouver Airport, Iona Beach is definitely unique. After you pass the farms lining the airport runway, you come to Iona Beach Regional Park, a piece of rural heaven just outside of the city.
Now I must admit that there were some very serious tears when we got out of the car and Miss G realized that this beach was not the awesome playground-having beach she’s used to visiting. Our saving grace, however, was this lookout tower that was cool enough to {at least semi} make up for the disappointment. 
While there were tons of swampy beach areas to explore, we opted to head out for a walk on the park’s jetty.
We were definitely the odd ones out in a community of bird watchers and dog walkers (every single person we passed had a dog or binoculars and/or a camera with a giant zoom), but what we really loved was the plane watching! They were amazingly close and basically came one after the next.
The other fascination during our jetty walk was with potato bugs. I’m not sure if Grae has seen these much in the past, but they were plentiful and she certainly loved them. 
What I didn’t realize when I suggested we check out the jetty was that it was 4.5 kms long! We made it a couple of kilometres out before Miss G called it quits and asked to turn around. On the way back, there were definitely a few bouts of carrying, several sitting breaks, and even an attempt to crawl ‘because it’s easier for tired legs’. (Note to self: bring the stroller next time!)
File all of these lovely things – cool sunshiny mornings, layers and boots, days with grandmas – under things we’ll miss once back in Kuwait.
We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous sunny day today and immediately packed up a lunch and headed down to our favourite beach-front playground. As always, Grae spent tons of time climbing ladders, sliding through tunnels, riding the swings, and spinning on the merry-go-round, but during this visit, she spent just as much time climbing on and off this log, adding bits and pieces, and tending to her delicious-looking mud soup.