Aurelie's post on her day at the windy beach.

Well to be exact it's often windy and we've been loads to the beach, but what happen yesterday will hopefully make you smile ( it certainly made Stephen laugh).

So here we are heading to the local beach this afternoon. As we get use to it we get better organised (by "we" I mean Stephen), and today was a "mostly everything" time. (and there is a lot to think of: swim suits, towel, toys, snacks and drinks, sun cream...)

We actually forgot the children hats (no mine, that would be hard to miss) but it was not too bad as we had just invested in a parasol!

I'll pass the joy of settling on a chosen spot. Of course I like the beach and the sea, but there are the little things that I'm not so fond of, like the sand everywhere (in everything), getting changed (either I do it before going, and then you can sure be I forget some of my clothes, or it's the let flash everyone on the beach cos I haven't figured out how to tie my top with a t-shirt on), or just that I and all the stuff has to be rinsed once home. With the kids, just multiple sand everywhere by 10 and had screams at the rinsing phase.

I got much better to the getting changed in public thought. I don't like topless, but I don't care so much about some boobies showing for a minute. I've also improved a lot in the skirt/surong/pareo method for the bottom so I'm now ok with getting changed on the beach.


I always do the kids first so Samuel can run off in the water with his dad, and Ela can start putting sand everywhere. So I had been sitting for a while under the parasol, looking at the most gigantic waves so far, when Ela decided she was ready for a dip, which meant time for me to get changed (no point getting undress if I'm not going in the water).

So after the top, I did my pareo skirt, take off my underwear, and at this precise moment the parasol flew away. Of course it had to be at that moment!

The parasol started rolling away from me. A few nano second of hesitation (putting my swimsuit would take too long and I didn't want the parasol to got too far as it could injure someone) and I started running after it. Funny the way it stopped so I could catch up and them flew a bit further as I was going to grab it. I could use only one hand since the other was holding the sarong (the skirt was not made to last that much) and I was hoping it was still covering most of what I wanted to hide.

I had the feeling that people around were looking at me and probably finding the whole scene quite entertaining.

Finally got hold of the parasol with my free hand (it did not go that far, it just felt that way), and turn to Stephen who was still in the water and certainly found the whole thing very amusing. Because of the young public around me (including my own kids) I could not express my feeling as strongly as I wished to conclude this moment of shame.

Note to self: parasol should stay closed until I am ready.

By the way I did not stay long in the water as a big wave took us and Ela got underwater while I was struggling to stay up while holding her and Samuel. Then Ela and I stayed safely out.

Finally in the water, but not for long.