What goes in must come out

We made it to the real beach this weekend. Brisbane isn't right on the Pacific, it's very slightly inland so we went for a little drive. There are beaches very close by, but we decided to make a weekend of it and we drove down (south) the Gold Coast to Byron Bay, about 2.5 hours south of here. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights and did fun things like shop for rashies, tour the eastern most point of mainland Australia, and hit the beach. (below: Tallow Beach)
This was FFM's first trip to a true beach, one where we let him sit and play in the sand. Just like most everything these days he puts whatever he can reach directly into his mouth, this includes sand. I don't think he ate too much as I haven't changed any diapers full of sand, and it has to come out the way it goes in. We had a great time, the water was pleasant, a little cool which felt good after the hot day, and we stayed in the shallow water and watched the surfers play out in the big waves.

FFM in his rashy. Everyone here wears these. It's not a wetsuit, it's more like an all over swim suit that protects you from the sun. In surfing, a rashy (rash guard) offers protection not only from the sun, but also from irritation and rash caused by sliding up on the board. Travis is wearing his, it's just a shirt. FFM is a great water baby, he and I play in the pool all the time and he's comfortable going completely under. Today we had our first official swim lesson and he 'swam' through a hoop placed underwater. 'Swimming' is simply the instructor giving him a healthy shove in my direction and me catching him underwater while he kicks and wiggles like mad. We'd never done that before, but he came up out of it with a big grin on his little face. I'm so glad he likes the water, I'll admit it would be hard for me (who surely is part fish) if he didn't.