11 October 2011

a slow Sunday at Clontarf Beach

Greetings all,
A lovely way to unwind the day after a HUGE party . . . was to take the children to Clontarf Beach.  The children like surf beaches but i wanted to relax & let them paddle, splash, swim, play . . . a gentle Sunday pace thank you . . . not go blind eyeballing 4 children going up, down, under & dumped in the crushing waves in the crowds.
 
 Slow motion running shot . . .
 the building sandcastles shot . . .
 the running with sticks shot . . .
 the this-beach-sucks-i-am-not-swimming-here shot.
 It's a good thing my children don't rule me.  It was this beach or nothing & the high schooler chose 'nothing'.  Teenagers will honestly ruin a day to spite themselves, blink, then have no idea or forget whatever it was they were so negative about.  I don't take it personally, it's so unreasonable & fleeting.  As long as she's not rude about it, she can sulk in silence, wrapped in a towel & skip the beach experience.  Her loss. 
 Look at the children running out to our motor cruiser . . . i wish!!  My 3rd girl always drifts away from the others into her own world, building sandcastles, collecting seaweed & shells.
 We had the whole beach to ourselves.  There is a fantastic park around the corner - further up the beach & a swimming area with a shark net, but i really wanted serenity & this spot off the reserve was perfect (+ free parking!!)
I do love the beach for the children, but much prefer a swimming pool for me.  My non-swimming-English-farmgirl-mummy would bring us to these harbour beaches, as we were unlikely to drown here.  Such a beautiful area with a horrible name, The Spit!!  We had a huge family swimming pool, yet she could never bring herself to learn how to swim. 
Anyway, my children have a long wait for the next beach trip - Canberra is a couple of hours from the coast (curse Australia's only inland capital city) or in our case . . . 11 weeks away, as we're not going anywhere until the Christmas school holidays, we're still on Spring school holidays.  Love Posie
 
PS Want to win a neat crafty giveaway with handmade goodies & Mollie Makes magazine??  Enter here!!

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Miss Posie

It's been a while love - I'm still here but just been sooo busy.

Don't children love water, sun and free time - it makes everyone happy.

have a great day

x loulou

Gillian said...

Just the tonic you need, party weekend and happy times at the beach. You just can't beat a beach.

: )
x

Anonymous said...

Is this Clontarf in Redcliffe? We spend many wonderful hourse whiling away the time there :)
and yes we just leave our sulking kids to get over themselves too.

x

The Moerks said...

There is just something special about watching your kids enjoying the beach. We have just spent some time at the beach and they were just so free and unrestrained. Magic. Too bad about the sulky one. Perhaps she was tired and just needed some time to herself.

Libby said...

You were just round the corner from us!!! Next time, try Little Manly, bit further around and no Spit Bridge traffic to ruin your view :)
Looked like a lovely morning for everyone except the teenager!!!

Jennie said...

What a great place to just breath and have a break from the day to day. I like the calmer beaches too!xx

Anonymous said...

i have an often sulking boy. he can be a pain in the butt. we try and not let him ruin our fun. he can be such a grump sometimes. this looks like a lovely day poise! xo.

ally said...

Aaah - teenagers and their cut their nose off to spite their face attitudes....can't wait!!!
We use the beach a lot as a chill out tool :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Posie,

I looks like you had a wonderful trip to the beach even with a sulky puss. I think I will call on you for advice when my girls become teenagers. You have a lovely outlook. I, on the other hand, take it all to heart.

Kel x

The Provincial Homemaker said...

Very wise handling of your oldest me thinks:) Glad the rest of you had a good day.

Amy said...

I'm not looking forward to having teenagers!

Looks like everyone else had a blast!

Bron said...

We take for granted the beach having grown up all our lives next to it....can't believe my kids are swimming at the beach this early in Spring.

Anonymous said...

Surely a perfect piece of writing! We’ve book marked it and sent it out to all of my friends since I know they’ll be intrigued, thank you very much!

A said...

Ah, to be a kid again!

All For Love said...

Haha, had to laugh at the teenage shot and the attitude, priceless. There is just so much to be pissed off about when you're a teen, I remember well ;o)
Clontarf is a nice place, but I don't go there often. It reminds me of an ex and therefore kind of puts me off. But some of those boats, oh my, they're impressive. Looks like you had a lovely day anyway, great pics. Maybe next holiday's it can be teen's choice on the beaches xo

Farmers Wifey said...

Hey there, that's my boat! NOT!!!

Mum on the Run said...

Love your beach babe shots.
And your great attitude when it comes to dealing with difficult teenagers (or any age, really!).
What a gorgeous day.
:-)