Oliver's Adventures at the Tide Pool

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At noon, Oliver was fed and rested, so we dressed him up for a day at the beach and took him to a tide pool at Cape Cod.

Oliver's Grandpa Paul went metal detecting nearby while his Grandma Colleen, Andrew and I took him over to the water. The water was nice and warm (I'd say 70 degrees or so). We plopped Oliver at the edge of the water with his bucket and shovel and watched him marvel at the feel of sand and ocean water. Hermit crabs crawled all around us. Although we didn't see regular crabs, there were shell evidence of them.

Oliver squished the wet sand with his hands and feet. He gnawed at his shovel. He had a great time! Then, we took him into the water. Colleen had purchased a baby floating device for the occassion. I thought it was going to be super cute (it even came with a sun shade), but Oliver got quite mad at the whole floating-on-the-ocean ordeal. He wouldn't calm down, even when we took him back to shore, so I wrapped him in a towel and wandered down the sand. He calmed and played a little bit more with a sea shell I found, but ultimately was too over-whelmed and -stimulated by the experience to enjoy much more. In fact, he fell asleep and couldn't be woken. Andrew and I took him back home where he napped for about an hour. I enjoyed the outdoor shower while he napped, and when he woke, I got as much sand off of him as I could (You wouldn't believe where all the sand ended up! OK, maybe you would...).

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