Drove the Chevy to the levee, Papa, don't let Mama die...

P wanted some beach time last Saturday, but we (I;) wasn't up to the long hike into Crescent.  E hoped we'd hit low tide and sneak into Crescent Beach from Cannon Beach.  It was a perfect plan, if not for the fact that tight timelines aren't really our specialty :)

The Little Man could have cared less.  There was a large dune to run down along with ample sun and surf at Cannon.  But the beauty of leaving a very busy metropolis and furthering our options beyond Coney Island, is not being amongst a lot of people :)  So we found a secret-ish spot just off the main beach and its bustling tiny town, had a great picnic and tried to race across the sand in time to hit that low tide...  My waddle and P's crawl (he was busy being Woof-Woof) may have slowed us a tad bit ;)  As we rounded our hopeful spot, waves sprayed, announcing our lateness.  Whoops.  Well, there was this lovely rock-face we could climb over....

E and I had barely glanced at one another to confer before the child, sensing the solution, was already scaling the wall.

It was steep, but there were plenty of handholds and good footing and the rocks were, ahem, rock solid (har-har), with no slide.  I figured it would be totally doable.  And, really, it was.  But, about half way up, that silly little thing called pregnancy (8 months now!) gave me vertigo (I never really have issues with heights) and I closed my eyes and leaned into the wall to regain equilibrium.  No sweat.  E, who really treats me like an equal, no babying or bothering (which I appreciate) noticed and used his frantic voice (this guy is soooo not cool when worried that its actually funny).  This, alerted the child who, apparently assessing the situation (E was closer to me than he was) shouted out, "Papa!  Don't let Mama die!"

Broke. My. Heart.  And made me chuckle :)  But, lesson learned.  We're done climbing until this baby comes out.  There is no more denying it, I am very pregnant :)

Atop the rocky face was a lovely incline of wildflowers.  The boys, full of hope, raced to the top... only to find a sheer drop off on the far side.  No Crescent Beach for us!  And no wonder it was so vacant when we were there the other weekend.  Its a wee challenge to get to.

The view was lovely.

Back down we went.  P figured any beach was still a beach :)

He chanced upon a tidal pool and went into discovery mode.

Then, sand play.  Poor BB, he was buried.  Alive.  A feather was used to mark his grave.  P malevolently chuckled as he bounced and danced above the buried monster, saying the sand, mysteriously, was extra sproingy...  BB, where are you?  Check out this bouncy sand!  BB?  Mwahahaha.

Per request, Ethan dug P another huge hole.  The child wanted to check it out and was lowered in. 

Right side up, he wasn't as impressed with its depth....(though the dedicated father had dug till he hit water)

The poor pink monster was eventually unearthed and taken for a nice dunking, er, swim...

P bouldered for a bit after his sand and water needs were met.  Then we had another picnic and headed home for an early evening.  En route, P discovered his other new favorite song (since E required a brief break from Akufen's "Train to Barcelona":), Don McLean's "American Pie."  The child sang the chorus over and over and over this week, trying to work it out.  Not knowing what a lot of the words meant, he filled in what he could with repetition.  So, for the first few days, it went something like this, "drove the levee to the levee but the levee was dry.  And good ol' boys, whisky whisky and die, this will be the day that I diiiiiiiieeee."  Now, he's also become really interested in foreign languages in the last couple of months, requesting tutors and the whole nine yards.  He spends inordinate amounts of time speaking in "foreign tongues", trilling his letters and rhyming (he typically sounds very Italian).  So he incorporated this into McLean's work with the bestest rolled "r" in the world in "dry."  E and I had to work overtime not to chuckle at the cuteness, as this is highly insulting to the child.  Finally, around Wednesday, he nailed the lyrics and told me he was proud of himself :)  Now, if I could only find a way to catch a performance on a video....