Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Beach Down the Street

I've had a fun couple days with Aila.

Anneka and Jason are in Winnipeg for a week right now. Jason is there for business meetings, and to do an Exodus Cry info night. Anneka is hanging out with Oma and Opa, and her cousins!

Anyway, Aila and I went to the beach today. In fact, we're going tomorrow, and we went on Monday. My friend Vikki has mentioned "Petrie Island" to me a number of times over the last 2 years we've lived here, but I never knew what she meant. She'd talk about "the beach" and "just right down there" (we live on top of a hill, and the beach is 'down the hill') ...or she'd say "on the Island"...but I wondered what she could mean. How could you have a beach in the city, and on the Ottawa River? And how the heck is there an island? I pictured a bunch of gravel beside the smelly Red River. Ewe. Yuck.

But when my Mom was here, I thought we'd go for a drive and check it out. Holy Moley!! It's a beach! It's huge...and with gorgeous well-groomed sand. It's literally a 12 minute drive from our house (I timed it!)....just 3 minutes past the mall here. The water isn't like Grand Beach...but it isn't as gross as Rock Lake, MB either (I can't believe I ever swam in that!)! In fact, it's pretty clear considering its a river, and the only rivers I've ever known were the colour of sludge.See all the sand on the bottom right corner of the photo? That's the beach. Here's a pic I took with my phone:

When a beach is that close to home, it's not a big deal to throw on a bathingsuit, grab a towel, and go for a couple hours. Its as easy as taking the girls to the park. But nicer, because there is something so relaxing about laying on the sand.

So yeah...Aila and I at the beach. I was worried that she'd be bored without Anneka...but I was wrong. She had her life jacket on, and splish-splashed in the water a bit, but mostly sat in the sand dumping water, filling buckets, and playing with other kids. I'd open one eye to see where she was at, but other than that, it was kind like being there alone. I just sat...read my book, talked to Rhonda on my cell, and enjoyed the sun. Aila would come for a snack every 30 minutes, sit quietly on the blanket munching, and then scamper off again. I love this age!!

So yeah...good day. AND my house is clean. (Amazing how easy it is to keep it looking nice when there are 2 fewer people in the house!)

4 comments:

Kristi said...

The water at Rock Lake is pretty nasty sometimes! I just love that place though! Funny you would mention it....we were there last weekend! It was awesome!

Yvonne Parks said...

Kristi...

Cool! I basically grew up there! We spent weeks and weeks there every summer when I was a kid. Our camper had a permanent spot!! Some summers the water was covered in a blanket of green. We swam anyway. hahaha.

Deanna Momtchilov said...

Oh, this reminds me of the East Coast. Beautiful swimming rivers and ocean within minutes of our home. Miss that on the prairies...

Vikki said...

I think I found my house in that picture :) I'm so glad you found it... and love it!!!!!