Last Beach visit

Our last visit to the beach for the summer was somewhat spur of the moment. It was a Saturday and we left after running some errands, hitting the McD's drive-thru and then having to get coolant so my car wouldn't overheat. It was a HOT HOT day. So we drove down and met some friends at Del Mar...and learned that parking at Del Mar beach on a Saturday is a big FAT joke. Dan finally dropped us off and spent forever looking for a spot. But once we were settled, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The Parks were there and so we took turns going out in the waves. The boys got in some good boogie boarding but the waves were a bit too daunting for us girls so we just went swimming.
I lost Cole TWICE!! The first time Dan was boogie boarding and I had just finished nursing the baby and I had been watching him until he was digging in the sand behind this huge 6 person raft sitting on the shore. When I didn't see him pop out from behind it after a while, I got up and he was gone!! I laid the baby down, a nice lady said she'd keep an eye on her, and I started telling everyone I walked by that I was missing my blond two year old boy named Cole. I started yelling his name when I saw him running toward me, searching for me. He apparently got up to come up to our stuff and when he didn't see us, he went searching. So I gave him some landmarks to spot us easier. I pointed to our two umbrellas and what they looked like. We played by the water a bit and this nice lady was chatting with us commenting on how I had my hands full. Next incident, was right as we were packing up to leave. Dan and Matt were out in the water again, and we had both put our umbrellas away...I wasn't even thinking about how that would make us hard to find (I mean he was literally digging in the sand right in front of us, but after loading up most of my stuff, I look up and Cole is gone. By this time, Dan was coming out of the water....I sent him one way, and I went the opposite way. People could see the look on my face and a lady asked if I was looking for a little boy, I told her yes, and she said he was wandering saying, "mommy?" I looked ahead and the lady I was chatting with early was quite a ways ahead of me holding his hand bringing him to me. I was soooo relieved. That was a bit much for me. Both times, I hadn't QUITE hit panic mode. BUT the beach is so frightening to lose a kid at because they could be swiped away in the waves. Cole really doesn't venture into the water too much without one of us, but he could have also been taken! I felt bad that I had removed the landmarks!!! Anyway, we left there and packed up the car....getting to the car, feeding the baby and loading up took FOREVER. Then we headed to Oscars for dinner with the Parks. We love hanging out with them because they always are go with the flow people and they throw everything out the window to be with us.....naptime, bedtime, whatever time, they just take the time to hang out and we love it!
We really went to the beach a lot this summer...for having a brand new baby. I'm thinking that I'm about ready to pack up the Wonder Wheeler until next Summer :)