After days and days of rain, we finally saw the sun this weekend. The weather yesterday was a bit schizophrenic but there was a good deal of sunshine. After one tennis lesson (James), a piano lesson (Claire), the very filthy car being washed (Mariz) and lunch being cooked (me), we headed to the pool. Brrrrr...it sure was chilly after all the rain and lack of sun. It didn't bother the kids, though, and Claire was especially happy to be back in the water.
I decided that we should hit the beach today. James, for some unknown reason, was completely against the idea. I vetoed his veto, though. At about 11, we headed to Clearwater Bay Second Beach. Unfortunately, many other people had the same idea and we could not park. We drove back to the club and parked up near the Country Club. Fortunately a staff bus was heading out and we were able to catch a ride back to the beach.
The beach was hopping even though it was overcast the entire day. I really like Clearwater Bay Beach as it is much more local and family orientated than Repulse Bay Beach. At RB, there are coach loads of tourists who are dropped off and traipse around taking photos. It feels a lot less friendly there, in my opinion and the sand isn't as nice. (I think the Leisure and Cultural Services Department created a lot of the beach there---trucked in loads of sand. The water is also a bit mucky, especially at low tide.)
We had our usual beach lunch. Hot dogs from the Marina Shop (which we bring along with us), bottles of water, chips from the shop at the beach and, later, ice cream. I could not find the beach toys on the boat (I bet they're underneath all of the car washing paraphernalia in the outdoor storage locker), so we went without. The kids were completely fine with that and we built the largest sandcastle (more of a mountain, actually) ever. With just our hands. It created a stir in our section of the beach and a couple of people got competitive (but no one built a taller castle).
Later Claire built several fairy dwellings---one villa and two hotels.
My favorite pictures of the day (I love action shots) are of James demolishing our castle/mountain:
I used my new (small) camera to take these photos. The Panasonic DMC-LX3 is not in the same league as my Canon EOS 450D but it sure is easier to carry around for casual photo taking opportunities. It also has a very cool retro case that you can buy. Thanks Tom & kids for the great Mother's Day gift!
After the beach we walked all the way back to the car. I'll have to measure the distance tomorrow but my guess is that it was at least 3 or 4 km with a fair stretch that was uphill. The kids didn't complain but I know Claire was hoping that either the club bus or a taxi would head our way! She was happy later when the "pod trees" had pods on them. We collected a bunch of pods and the kids later "planted" seeds near the marina.
Last, but not least, the complete set of photos from the beach:
