Lily's Beach Adventure

Monday morning was really the first time that we had planned to spend time at the ocean. We did go out on Sunday evening after we arrived but only for about an hour. So Monday, I was very pleased with how smoothly things were going. I had packed a lunch for everyone, we remembered Zach’s pacifier and the plan was to spend ¾ of the day sitting on the beach. I asked Amanda and Haley to watch the little girls while Matt and I set up Zach’s little tent. They all headed to the ocean with out a second thought. About 3 minutes later Amanda and Kendall came back to get the sand toys. I didn’t give it a second thought because I assumed Lily was with Haley. After walking half way back to the beach, Amanda turned and asked where Lily was. I was still thinking with Haley until we spotted Haley in the water. Amanda and I both start looking for Lily as did Haley when I got her out. Amanda actually went to the lifeguard. Lily was no where to be found. I had walk between the 3 closest lifeguard stands without locating her. The lifeguard sent out a page down the beach including what suit she was wearing. Amanda was extremely panicked at this point. As I was walking down the beach looking for her I could barely scan ahead of me because of people asking if they could help look. The lifeguard told me that “in the case of small children they usually follow the current.” I disagreed but just kept walking. The lifeguard then sent a little cart so we could drive and look for her. As I got in the cart, the call came in that she had been found. Where? 4 lifeguard stands in the opposite direction from the current. So what happened?

According to Lily she was following Amanda but “she would not hold my hand.” I pieced together that Lily poor eyesight combined with the fact we had just gotten to the beach and she had not gotten familiar with it or with what everyone was wearing, Lily started following someone else down the beach by mistake. The whole ordeal lasted no longer than 10 minutes but was enough to scare us and for us to not let anyone out of sight again! The rest of the day was almost perfect, we spent 4 hours on the beach!