Presque Isle – Beach #6

My parents have been married for a long time – 41 years. They met during the summer of 1967 when they were both 16 at Presque Isle Beach #6 on Lake Erie. I was surprised when my mom recommended that we take the kids to the beach to play Friday afternoon and as we were driving there was a lot of discussion about which beach we would visit. While on the phone with my Grandmother my cousin said that he usually goes to beach #11. My Dad thought we should go to the beach #1 since it is the first beach (you would think that we had to drive 5 mph down a single lane gravel road the way he was talking about driving further down the peninsula). But I wanted to go to beach #6, the place where my parents met. In all of our summer visits to Erie growing up I don’t remember going to the beach very often.  My grandparents had a huge yard and a big pool so we played there and spent the rest of the time visiting all of the family in town.

My Grandmother came with us to the beach and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for an updated 4 generations picture. Usually the picture includes the girls: my Grandmother, my Mom (her first daughter), Juliana (her first Great-Granddaughter) and me (her first Grandchild), but the boys would have escaped so we included them this time.

This was the kids first trip to the lake and we had so much fun that I think we will need to make this a regular summer excursion. I loved that they were able to experience it with my parents and all play in the sand together with my Dad.

It was such a difference for Ruslan compared to last summer at the ocean (where he cried most of the time we were in the sand or near the ocean). He took some time to sit back and assess the situation and then he let me take him into the water until a wave got him a little bit more wet than he expected.  He spent the rest of the time playing in the sand and smiling and waving to everyone who walked past him.

Wyatt walked around like he owned the beach. It was crowded and he walked around checking out the other families and looked to see if they had better sand toys that he could take. He was especially excited when he found abandoned sand castles that he could destroy. At one point he crashed in the sand and lay there for a while. When he got up he had sand stuck all over his body including his face, but he didn’t care.  He was off to continue wandering the beach and digging in the sand. He had no interest in the water.

Juliana was in love the beach – she is her Daddy’s girl when it comes to the water. The waves were gentle and she was able to run in and out of the water without a parent – she had so much fun!