Day 42 | Today started off with great plans, went well, needed a change to Plan B part way through, but ended up with lots of fun and was all well worth it! That's the short version - if you want the long version, read on ;)

The boys had haircuts across town at lunchtime today, so since the forecast was HOT, we decided that we'd take a picnic lunch, and the dog(!), and head to the beach afterwards. It's not very often that we are on the 'beach' side of town, so the boys were really looking forward to it. We headed to Sumner for our picnic and sat on the grass down the far end of town. The tide was right in, so there wasn't a lot of 'beach' down there to walk on. So we got back in the car and drove down to the other end of town so we could take Alfie for a run on the beach and the boys could play. We were all out of the car again when the boys spotted the "No dogs on the beach" sign. It was a little confusing as there were definitely people further along with dogs on the beach. But not being 'locals' and not knowing how we were meant to get there other than walking on the main beach, we jumped back in the car. By this stage it was 2 o'clock and I was really aware that we actually had to be home by 4.30pm for a last minute planned cricket practice for Hayden! And we all really wanted to go to the beach!

So, we took a slight 'detour' on our way home (ie: we drove in the complete opposite direction) and headed over to New Brighton Beach - we weren't going to have come this far and not get to the beach at all! Well, it turned out to be a great decision, as we could pull right up in the car park, walk a couple of metres and we were on the beach! AND, there were dogs on the beach! Alfie started going crazy the second we got out of the car, and the boys and I ended up having to absolutely run across the hot sand and straight into the water!

I took this photo not long after we arrived and we were all relatively dry. It wasn't too much longer after this that the boys were completely soaked through, the dog was drenched, and we were all feeling some what cooler! The boys had the absolute best time (as did Alfie!) We ended up staying about an hour, and, just for the record, made it home in time for cricket practice - just!! We will definitely be back to New Brighton Beach - but with togs on next time!