Beach bum

It's Aiden's last week of summer school, so I took advantage of having only one kid this morning and took Ava to the beach, just us girls. We didn't stay long, only an hour, but she was having a grand time shoveling, playing with the trucks, pointing out the boats, and chasing the ducks (much to their chagrin, of course).

These are definitely not the best pictures I've ever taken, but just watching her on the beach, I was struck with such a sense of awe and pride and...accomplishment? Anyone that has kids will surely understand when I say that I was watching her and just thinking to myself, "Wow, she's mine. I helped create her. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and I did that." Pretty damn amazing. Thank goodness no one else was there because they probably would have thought I was completely mad, watching her play and crying just because of the intensity of it all. I felt like, for the first time since I've had both of the kids, I really know what people mean when they say, "You're gonna miss these days." This morning I truly realized how much this time home with them means to me. I felt like the luckiest person in the whole entire world.

Ok, ok, enough gushing. Pics of my sweet girl:)