the day the storm came

It was Saturday ~ our last full day at the beach.

Our grandkids had spent the night.

David, Erika, Gus, and Walt were on their way.

Gus had an early morning soccer game which prevented all of them from coming sooner.

I just couldn't wait to get down to the beach.

Our chairs were waiting...

the umbrellas slightly fluttering in the breeze.

It was a beautiful morning.

The weather man had predicted rain, 

but it had been SO LONG since we had any that I wasn't worried at all.

I sent Lucy and the boys ahead to get the kites up.

Oh what a fun day lay ahead!

We had a great life guard all week.

He set up the chairs for us every day.

When I got down to my chair he stopped by to say,

"The rain is right down the beach (to the north)...

we think it's going to get kinda rough today."

I think,

"But we have a big day planned...

a little weather won't bother us.

We'll just stay under these nice big umbrellas when the showers come.

The kids will love playing in the rain."

Wrong!!

 I had barely gotten settled in my beach chair before the rain came sashaying down the beach,

we could actually see it coming.

 👀

Thankfully the kids started frantically getting the kites back to earth

and quickly took cover under the umbrella.

You can't see Lu,

 but she is sitting in the sand building a quite beautiful sand castle.

This is Harry...

the brave one.

The one who is not afraid of lizards.

He had been trying to build a shelter for me with his boogie board and some towels.

He ended up hiding under this towel and soon left the beach for higher ground.

Lu, Arch, and I stayed on.

Soon after Harry departs, the wind gets up,

the rain is blowing under the umbrellas from every direction,

and the fine white sand is slicing into our bodies.

It wasn't a minute after I took these pictures that two of our umbrellas launched

in a gust of wind and went blowing down the beach.

One landed out in the ocean and Lu and Arch chased the other one and brought it under control.

Sadly, our day on the beach ended before it got started.

The three of us waited for a break in the storm and headed back up to the condo.

We were carrying all of our stuff...

Towels,

kites,

boogie boards,

my book of course,

my beach bag,

my phone,

my good and very expensive camera,

a basket of sand toys for Walt,

and tons of kite string that got tangled up in the frantic kite bring-down.

When we finally made it to safety and got dried off and warmed up it felt really comforting.

What an adventure!

Wouldn't trade those memories for the world!

I 💙 grandkids and the beach and really awesome storms all rolled into one.

I also love seeing 💗s in the clouds.