Little guy's little brother, big beach

As I slowly get back into a somewhat normal groove - operative word is "slowly" given the fact that my brain is still firmly in vacation mode - I'll post some pictures, stories, and other notes-from-the-road-type missives from our just-finished trip.

I'll do my best to avoid boring you in the process, which means it won't be a blow-for-blow travelog reminiscent of the nap-inducing slide shows of yore. Instead, I'll pick and choose snippets that I think (hope?) will pique a happy thought in the mind of anyone who reads this. As always, I'll take requests.

With that in mind, onward.

I took this picture on Deerfield Beach, which is on the Atlantic coast of Florida somewhere south of Boca Raton (don't ask me to get more precise than that...I'm still amazed that we even made it there without getting massively lost!)

It's a few miles east of my in-laws' winter place, and is the same beach where, almost 7 years ago this month, we took our then-three-year-old Zachary and four-month-old Dahlia for their first ocean experience.

Seven years on, it was Noah's turn (he's four) to see the ocean for the first time. Just like his big brother, he played in the sand and managed to carve out a little world for himself despite the enormity of where he was. Zach's picture is included in my earlier post. Can you see any similarity?

Interestingly, I hadn't originally planned on taking the picture this way. But as I crouched down to capture it, I was reminded of that long-ago scene. And as I snapped picture after picture of a little guy who wasn't even aware of the buzz going on around him, I once again wiped tears away. I guess I'm too much of a softie for my own good.

More later.