We took our first trip to the beach this summer on Sunday, when we went to North Beach, Maryland, which is part of the Chesapeake and only an hour drive away. (We had originally planned to go to Rehoboth but decided to save that for a whole weekend when we could stay overnight, as it’s a 3 hour drive away.) North Beach was a cute little town and while the beach was small, it was pretty private and ideal for small children in that there were no strong waves and the water remained shallow pretty far in. We felt that it was a really safe beach for Mio to splash around in.

At first, Mio was very upset and reluctant about stepping onto the sand, and just kept pointing at the water saying “ocean!” from our beach mat, imploring us to just carry her over to the water so that her little feet wouldn’t have to to touch the dreaded sand. Once she got into the water, though, she loved it and kept going in and out and splashing around in it with Daddy for about two hours! The Atlantic is so much warmer than the Pacific waters that we’d taken Mio to in California and Hawaii, so this was the first time she could really stay in the water for a long time without freezing! By the end, she didn’t even seem to notice the sand because she’d had so much fun.

After spending a few hours on the beach, we packed up, enjoyed some Rita’s Italian Ice and then headed to lunch at Neptune’s Seafood Pub nearby because we were craving shrimp! All the food there was delicious, and Mio discovered how much she loves sour cream. (She kept dipping every food she tried in the sour cream, and then ended up just scooping it up by the handful with her little fingers. She definitely has her Daddy’s taste buds, because I hate sour cream.)

I love that summer is officially here and I look forward to more little mini trips and outings to the beaches in the area! 🙂