Rite of passage

Growing up back East, I (Becky) always took it for granted that when I had kids I'd take them to the shore when they were a year old to introduce them to the ocean. But here in the NW, there's no "shore" with swimming, boogie boarding and throngs of people. There's a coast and while it's beautiful, the water is icy cold and wild - not a place to take toddlers for the rite of passage I'd imagined. I'd been missing taking my kids to Rehobeth beach, DE or Ocean City, NJ this summer and rolling my eyes at suggestions that we take them to the beaches on Lake Washington here in Seattle. However, today the weather was warmer than usual so we took them to Madrona beach along Lake Washington and although it's not the ocean with roaring waves, it was surprisingly similar. We all had a blast introducing Rosie and Augie to the water and I was surprised by how happily sentimental the trip (only a few miles from our apartment) made me.
Before heading to the beach, the August and Rose splashed around in the water pump by the parking lot.
The river of water from the rinse-off area to the Lake is one of the best parts of the park for our kids. They tromp back and forth and dig around with their shovels before getting into serious sand play.
Oops. I meant to crop this picture before posting. Rose and her dad wading at the edge. August and Mommy in the water. Augie had an impromptu swimming lesson when he fell in head first and thrashed around before his dad fished him out. He coughed a little and scolded us for letting him fall in, but was fine and went right back to playing in the water.