Life has been so full recently, full of enjoying the pleasures of spring, of life in our new hood, of time with new friends, and of adventuring to places nearby.  We headed off to our first day at the beach yesterday to enjoy the Great Lakes Kite Festival in Grand Haven.  We procured our beach pass to the state park beaches and look forward to many more visits soon.  My kids have never really been to a proper beach (poor souls) and felt like the world had just turned into a giant sandbox.

I tried to balance snapping photographs with actually enjoying the moments, which can be a tough task.  I have some things to learn about beach photography, as I overexposed most of my shots, but they still capture wonderful memories for me.  Time is flying by so quickly, it's nice to preserve a bit of it.

This was a last minute trip, but we managed to remember most of the necessities.  I think I may make up a "day at the beach" checklist because there are so many things required when venturing away for the day with the littles.  I am also thinking of what makes good beach food so I can get stocked up.  We decided to leave our kites at home yesterday and leave the flying to the pros, but when I snapped a photo of this superman kite, the man flying it handed me the line, saying only "enjoy" and walked off.  And then my husband surprised me with a citrus green oval box kite that I admired.  Generosity at every turn these days.

More at flickr.