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Yesterday, I introduced M and Emmy to the beach. 

I grew up in Florida, so I'm pretty familiar with beach life (despite how pale I am!). I know the best beaches, the best times to go, and I'm a master of the "stingray shuffle". I grew up building sandcastles and chasing away seagulls. The beach has always been my happy place and even though we have lakes in Kingston, nothing compares to the ocean or the smell of the saltwater. 

It always surprises me when someone says they haven't seen the ocean before because I just can't imagine that. 

But, M was one of those people who had never been to the beach or seen the ocean before and it was the only thing that he wanted to do for our trip. Yesterday was his last day here in Florida (he had to fly back early to go back to work) so I picked up my brother and sister from school early and we all took a beach day. 

We went to Clearwater beach which was about a 45 minute drive. It was super clean with amazing white beaches. We were going to go to a closer beach, but I wanted M to have the ~ultimate beach experience~ and I think Clearwater beach is one of the prettiest ones around us. 

Using our sling at the beach was great. It was so nice to have Emmy secure and by our sides while we explored the beach and the water. 

I loved bringing them to one of my favourite places in the entire world. I dropped M off at the airport around 7:30 this morning and we'll see him again in about a week when we fly home. Hopefully we can squeeze in another beach day (or two!) before then.