White Rock

Last year we went as a family of 5 to White Rock

for the first time. My parents (Nana and Grandpa) came along also.

Marshall loved it there.

I had bought him some water shoes as i was

worried that he wouldn't like the sand.

Earlier that summer he'd freak out if one of those playground pebbles would get between his toes. He actually did not like the water shoes

and was totally ok to run around barefoot.

The tide was out that day so there was so much room to just run...

Marshall was in his glory!!

It was great for us cause it wasn't busy there due to

quite a few clouds and a lot of wind,

but we didn't mind that it was cool.

Also, it meant that M could run pretty far away from us

without concern cause we could see him

a mile away!

Marshall stood mid-shin in the ocean and became a

statue. lol.

Nana stood there with Marshall as he was completely

still and just watched the sunshine

reflect off of the waves as they came towards him,

repeatedly hitting his legs.

He seemed so peaceful.

He stood there for an HOUR!!

I suppose this should have been a big Austism red-flag,

and looking back now it makes sense that Marshall

was in his own world.

I got him to come out of the water to eat.

Fish and Chips is always on the menu when we head to

White Rock.

So we all sat down on a blanket with our boxes

of greasy fish and chips and loads of tarter sauce - yum!

Marshall sat down and ate well...

and soon the seagulls found us,

tons of seagulls.

I hate that!! It gives me such an uneasy feeling having

those dumb birds flying overhead and walking

right up to the blanket.

You can't scare them away!

My Dad decided to start feeding them, oh joy.

But actually, it was really fun to watch!

He went away from us a bit and stood with his arm

up in the air with a french fry.

The birds were grabbing the fries from

Grandpa's hand.

Marshall loved the seagulls - go figure.

At first he didn't seem to,

but after Grandpa started feeding them and they

were surrounding him,

M was in there like a dirty shirt running all around

and 'chasing' the birds and laughing and smiling

and just having a great time. lol.

The train drove past too

which Marshall thought was awesome.

It was a wonderful day!

We only took happiness away from that adventure

and have been excited to go again this summer.

This past weekend, we did :)

We looked ahead and saw that the tide was not going to

be out in the time frame that worked for us,

but due to my husband working a lot

and also the timing of doing big family days only when

my step daughter is with us,

we just had to make use of this 'free' day and hoped

we would have some sand to play on for even

a short period of time.

We got to White rock around noon

and the tide was pretty far in and coming,

but there was some sand still available so we found a spot

(a spot that we kept having to move back of course)

and started to play!

Marshall was very whiny.

He walked to the beach fine and seemed to like

the environments, but he didn't

want to play in the sand.

He didn't want to go into the water.

He did go in briefly,

but was very upset when the bottom of his shorts got wet.

Then he went pee, a lot, in his diaper and i forgot the

diapers in the van which was far away,

so he was unhappy about that.

We took off the diaper and just let him go

free in his shorts which he was ok with.

He wanted me to carry him and cuddle him

the whole time.

It wasn't fun.

The train even came by which he pointed at and said

"train", but he didn't even really care.

We had just done the waterslides the day before

so perhaps he was still tired from that long day in the sun,

i dunno.

Then i started to dig a hole and we'd get buckets of water

and fill the hole.

Marshall thought this was fun - finally, something that

isn't whining!

So he had a good time dumping the water in the hole

and then throwing/pushing the sand back into

the water.

Daddy dug a trail both out to the ocean, as well

as away from it and then let the waves push the water

into our canal, and also kept dumping

buckets of water...

he was really into this activity.

So we had about an hour where Marshall was really

into the beach experience and seemed

to enjoy himself. Yeah!

Then he was done.

The tide was coming in quickly and so we headed back

to get our fish and chips.

Marshall didn't want to walk and was freaking out,

so i had to carry him for 10 minutes as we walked back to

where the van was parked.

If you remember, my body was broken from the slides,

so this was quite painful for me. lol.

We got to the car and i put dry shorts on Marshall,

got our blankets and pop,

and set up on the grass near the walkway.

Daddy brought over the fish and chips and we all

enjoyed some lunch.

The birds were not present this year :)

We chilled on the blankets for a bit.

Marshall kept pointing out the "waer" and at the "boat"s.

The weather was perfect.

The all of a sudden Marshall took an interest in the

people walking along the pathway.

He stood up and he started waving at everyone! lol.

It was adorable and hilarious too :)

He would wave well in advance and look right at them,

really engaging which is awesome,

and everyone waved back!

We were all just laughing at the cuteness of it all...

B was taking video and i got some good still shots of it too.

It was great to end the day on a good note!

Next time we head out

we will be sure to go when the tide is out for longer

and then to actually 'set up camp' there.

So this ends our very busy week of adventure!

It was chaotic, but fun, and i'm happy to have positive memories

with the family i am sooo blessed to have.